Animal magnetism

Animal magnetism, also known as mesmerism, is a theory invented by German doctor Franz Mesmer in the 18th century. It posits the existence of an invisible natural force (Lebensmagnetismus) possessed by all living things, including humans, animals, and vegetables. He claimed that the force could have physical effects, including healing.
The vitalist theory attracted numerous followers in Europe and the United States and was popular into the 19th century. Practitioners were often known as magnetizers rather than mesmerists. It had an important influence in medicine for about 75 years from its beginnings in 1779, and continued to have some influence for another 50 years. Hundreds of books were written on the subject between 1766 and 1925, but it is no longer practiced today except as a form of alternative medicine in some places.
Etymology and definitions
"Magnetizer"
The terms "magnetizer" and "mesmerizer" have been applied to people who study and practice animal magnetism. These terms have been distinguished from "mesmerist" and "magnetist", which are regarded as denoting those who study animal magnetism without being practitioners; and from "hypnotist", someone who practises hypnosis.
The etymology of the word magnetizer comes from the French "magnétiseur" ("practicing the methods of mesmerism"), which in turn is derived from the French verb magnétiser. The term refers to an individual who has the power to manipulate the "magnetic fluid" with effects upon other people present that were regarded as analogous to magnetic effects. This sense of the term is found, for example, in the expression of Antoine Joseph Gorsas: "The magnetizer is the imam of vital energy".
"Mesmerism"
A tendency emerged amongst British magnetizers to call their clinical techniques "mesmerism"; they wanted to distance themselves from the theoretical orientation of animal magnetism that was based on the concept of "magnetic fluid". At the time, some magnetizers attempted to channel what they thought was a magnetic "fluid", and sometimes they attempted this with a "laying on of hands". Reported effects included various feelings: intense heat, trembling, trances, and seizures.
Many practitioners took a scientific approach, such as Joseph Philippe François Deleuze (1753–1835), a French physician, anatomist, gynecologist, and physicist. One of his pupils was Théodore Léger (1799–1853), who wrote that the label "mesmerism" was "most improper".
Noting that, by 1846, the term "galvanism" had been replaced by "electricity", Léger wrote that year:
Royal Commission
In 1784 two French Royal Commissions appointed by Louis XVI studied Mesmer's magnetic fluid theory to try to establish it by scientific evidence. The commission of the Academy of Sciences included Majault, Benjamin Franklin, Jean Sylvain Bailly, Jean-Baptiste Le Roy, Sallin, Jean Darcet, de Borey, Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, and Antoine Lavoisier. The Commission of the Royal Society of Medicine was composed of Poissonnier, Caille, Mauduyt de la Varenne, Andry, and Antoine Laurent de Jussieu.
Whilst the commission agreed that the cures claimed by Mesmer were indeed cures, it also concluded there was no evidence of the existence of his "magnetic fluid", and that its effects derived from either the imaginations of its subjects or charlatanry.
Royal Academy investigation
A generation later, another investigating committee, appointed by a majority vote in 1826 in The Royal Academy of Medicine in Paris, studied the effects and clinical potentials of the mesmeric procedure - without trying to establish the physical nature of any magnetic fluidum. The report says:
Among the conclusions were:
Mesmerism and hypnotism
Faria and "oriental hypnosis"
Abbé Faria was one of the disciples of Franz Anton Mesmer who continued with Mesmer's work following the conclusions of the Royal Commission. In the early 19th century, Abbé Faria is said to have introduced oriental hypnosis to Paris and to have conducted experiments to prove that "no special force was necessary for the production of the mesmeric phenomena such as the trance, but that the determining cause lay within the subject himself"—in other words, that it worked purely by the power of suggestion.
Braid and "hypnotism"
Hypnotism, a designation coined by the Scottish surgeon, James Braid, originates in Braid's response to an 1841 exhibition of "animal magnetism", by Charles Lafontaine, in Manchester. Writing in 1851, Braid was adamant that, in the absence of the sorts of "higher phenomena" reportedly produced by the mesmerists,
and in contra-distinction to the Transcendental [i.e., metaphysical] Mesmerism of the Mesmerists … [allegedly] induced through the transmission of an occult influence from [the body of the operator to that of the subject,] Hypnotism, [by which] I mean a peculiar condition of the nervous system, into which it can be thrown by artificial contrivance … [a theoretical position that is entirely] consistent with generally admitted principles in physiological and psychological science [would] therefore [be most aptly] designated Rational Mesmerism.
"Mesmerism" and "hypnotism"
While there is a great range of theories and practices collectively denoted mesmerism, research has clearly identified that there are substantial and significant differences between "mesmerism" and "hypnotism" however they may be defined.
Vital fluid and animal magnetism
A 1791 London publication explains Mesmer's theory of the vital fluid:
Modern philosophy has admitted a plenum or universal principle of fluid matter, which occupies all space; and that as all bodies moving in the world, abound with pores, this fluid matter introduces itself through the interstices and returns backwards and forwards, flowing through one body by the currents which issue therefrom to another, as in a magnet, which produces that phenomenon which we call Animal Magnetism. This fluid consists of fire, air and spirit, and like all other fluids tends to an equilibrium, therefore it is easy to conceive how the efforts which the bodies make towards each other produce animal electricity, which in fact is no more than the effect produced between two bodies, one of which has more motion than the other; a phenomenon serving to prove that the body which has most motion communicates it to the other, until the medium of motion becomes an equilibrium between the two bodies, and then this equality of motion produces animal electricity.
According to an anonymous writer of a series of letters published by editor John Pearson in 1790, animal magnetism can cause a wide range of effects ranging from vomiting to what is termed the "crisis". The purpose of the treatment (inducing the "crisis") was to shock the body into convulsion in order to remove obstructions in the humoral system that were causing sicknesses. Furthermore, this anonymous supporter of the animal magnetism theory purported that the "crisis" created two effects: first, a state in which the "[individual who is] completely reduced under Magnetic influence, although he should seem to be possessed of his senses, yet he ceases to be an accountable creature", and a second "remarkable" state, which would be "conferred upon the [magnetized] subject … [namely] that of perfect and unobstructed vision … in other words, all opacity is removed, and every object becomes luminous and transparent". A patient under crisis was believed to be able to see through the body and find the cause of illness, either in themselves or in other patients.
The Marquis of Puységur's miraculous healing of a young man named Victor in 1784 was attributed to, and used as evidence in support of, this "crisis" treatment. The Marquis was allegedly able to hypnotize Victor and, while hypnotized, Victor was said to have been able to speak articulately and diagnose his own sickness.
Jacob Melo discusses in his books some mechanisms by which the perceived effects of animal magnetism have been claimed to operate.
Skepticism in the Romantic Era
The study of animal magnetism spurred the creation of the Societies of Harmony in France, where members paid to join and learn the practice of magnetism. Doctor John Bell was a member of the Philosophical Harmonic Society of Paris, and was certified by the society to lecture and teach on animal magnetism in England. The existence of the societies transformed animal magnetism into a secretive art, where its practitioners and lecturers did not reveal the techniques of the practice based on the society members that have paid for instruction, veiling the idea that it was unfair to reveal the practice to others for free. Although the heightened secrecy of the practice contributed to the skepticism about it, many supporters and practitioners of animal magnetism touted the ease and possibility for everyone to acquire the skills to perform its techniques.
Popularization of animal magnetism was denounced and ridiculed by newspaper journals and theatre during the Romantic Era. Many deemed animal magnetism to be nothing more than a theatrical falsity or quackery. In a 1790 publication, an editor presented a series of letters written by an avid supporter of animal magnetism and included his own thoughts in an appendix stating:
"No fanatics ever divulged notions more wild and extravagant; no impudent empiric ever retailed promises more preposterous, or histories of cures more devoid of reality, than the tribe of magnetisers".
The novelist and playwright Elizabeth Inchbald wrote the farce Animal Magnetism in the late 1780s. The plot revolved around multiple love triangles and the absurdity of animal magnetism. The following passage mocks the medical prowess of those qualified only as mesmerists:
Doctor: They have refused to grant me a diploma—forbid me to practice as a physician, and all because I don't know a parcel of insignificant words; but exercise my profession according to the rules of reason and nature; Is it not natural to die, then if a dozen or two of my patients have died under my hands, is not that natural? ...
Although the doctor's obsession with the use of animal magnetism, not merely to cure but to force his ward to fall in love with him, made for a humorous storyline, Inchbald’s light-hearted play commented on what society perceived as threats posed by the practice.
De Mainanduc brought animal magnetism to England in 1787 and promulgated it into the social arena. In 1785, he had published proposals to the ladies of Britain to establish a "hygean society" or society of health, by which they would pay to join and enjoy his treatments. As both popularity and skepticism increased, many became convinced that animal magnetism could lead to sexual exploitation of women. Not only did the practice involve close personal contact via the waving of hands over the body, but people were concerned that the animal magnetists could hypnotize women and direct them at will.
Political influence
The French Revolution catalyzed existing internal political friction in Britain in the 1790s; a few political radicals used animal magnetism as more than just a moral threat but also a political threat. Among many lectures warning society against government oppression, Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote:
William Pitt, the great political Animal Magnetist, ... has most foully worked on the diseased fancy of Englishmen ... thrown the nation into a feverish slumber, and is now bringing it to a crisis which may convulse mortality!
Major politicians and people in power were accused by radicals of practising animal magnetism on the general population.
In his article "Under the Influence: Mesmerism in England", Roy Porter notes that James Tilly Matthews suggested that the French were infiltrating England via animal magnetism. Matthews believed that "magnetic spies" would invade England and bring it under subjection by transmitting waves of animal magnetism to subdue the government and people. Such an invasion from foreign influences was perceived as a radical threat.
Mesmerism and spiritual healing practices
During the Romantic period, mesmerism produced enthusiasm and inspired horror in the spiritual and religious context. Though discredited as a medical practice, mesmerism created a venue for spiritual healing. Some animal magnetists advertised their practices by stressing the "spiritual rather than physical benefits to be gained from animal magnetism" and were able to gather a good clientele from among the spiritually inspired population.
Mesmerism has been used in parts of the world as an attempt to treat illness in humans, as well as disease in domestic, farm, circus, and zoo animals.
Authors Johann Peter Lange and Allan Kardec wrote that the source of Jesus' miracles was animal magnetism. Other, like John Campbell Colquhoun and Mary Baker Eddy, denounced the comparison. Mary Baker Eddy went so far as to claim animal magnetism "lead[s] to moral and to physical death."
Professional magnetizers
In the Classical era of animal magnetism, the late 17th century to the mid-19th century, there were professional magnetizers, whose techniques were described by authors of the time as particularly effective. Their method was to spend prolonged periods "magnetizing" their customers directly or through "mesmeric magnets". It was observed that in some conditions, certain mesmerizers were more likely to achieve the result than others, regardless of their degree of knowledge.
In literature
Ursule Mirouët, an 1841 novel by Honoré de Balzac, features a character who converts to Christianity in part because of an experience with animal magnetism.
Edgar Allan Poe's 1845 short story "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" is based on the premise that a person could be mesmerised at the moment of death. Poe published the work without explicitly stating that it was fictional, leading some readers to believe it was a true account.
Aldous Huxley's 1962 novel "Island". References Professor John Elliotson and animal magnetism as a way to perform painless surgery without anaesthesia. Mesmerism/Magnestism/Hypnosis are themes running throughout the book. Used primarily as a tool to enhance independent thought within the population.
Axel Munthe's 1929 book of memoirs "The Story of San Michele". A lightly embellished biography of Dr Axel Munthe and his history around owning Villa San Michele in Ana Capri; with a series of completely unsubstantiated fanciful references to Charcot and mesmerism in chapter XIX, "Hypnotism".
William Faulkner’s 1930 novel “As I Lay Dying” references animal magnetism in a brief chapter in which the character Cash explains his rationale for the design of the wooden coffin he built for his mother Addie.
Robert Browning's poem "Mesmerism" was published in 1855. It describes the experience of violent passion for a woman. In after years, Ezra Pound wrote a poem of the same name, acknowledging his debt to Browning while gently mocking the poet's obscure style.
See also
Biomagnetism
James Esdaile
Magnetoception
Royal Commission on Animal Magnetism
The Zoist: A Journal of Cerebral Physiology & Mesmerism, and Their Applications to Human Welfare
Caloric theory
References
General references
Barth, George H., The Mesmerist's Manual, London (1851), Reprint, .
Bloch, G., Mesmerism: A Translation of the Original Scientific and Medical Writings of F.A. Mesmer, William Kaufmann, Inc., (Los Altos), 1980.
Braid, J., Observations on Trance; or, Human Hybernation, John Churchill, (London), 1850.
Buranelli, V., The Wizard from Vienna: Franz Anton Mesmer, Coward, McCann & Geoghegan., (New York), 1975.
Carrer, L., Jose Custodio de Faria: Hypnotist, Priest and Revolutionary, Trafford, (Victoria), 2004.
Chenevix, R., "On Mesmerism, Improperly Denominated Animal Magnetism", London Medical and Physical Journal, Vol.61, No.361, (March 1829), pp. 219–230; No.364, (June 1829), pp. 491–501; Vol.62, No.366, (August 1829), pp. 114–125; No.367, (September 1829), pp. 210–220; No.368, (October 1829), pp. 315–324.
Chester, R.J. (1982), Hypnotism in East and West: Twenty Hypnotic Methods, London, The Octagon Press.
Colquhoun, John Campbell. Isis Revelata: An Inquiry Into the Origin, Progress, and Present State of Animal Magnetism. Vol. 2. 1836. Reprint. London: Forgotten Books
Darnton, R., Mesmerism, and the End of the Enlightenment in France, Harvard University Press, (Cambridge), 1968.
Deleuze Practical Instruction in Animal Magnetism (1843)
Donaldson, I.M.L., "Mesmer's 1780 Proposal for a Controlled Trial to Test his Method of Treatment Using 'Animal Magnetism'", Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Vol.98, No.12, (December 2005), pp. 572–575.
Edmonston, W.E. (1986), The Induction of Hypnosis, New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.
Engledue, W.C., Cerebral Physiology and Materialism, With the Result of the Application of Animal Magnetism to the Cerebral Organs: An Address Delivered to the Phrenological Association in London, June 20th, 1842, by W.C. Engledue, M.D. with a Letter from Dr. Elliotson on Mesmeric Phrenology and Materialism, H. Ballière, (London), 1842.
Fulford, T., "Conducting the Vital Fluid: The Politics and Poetics of Mesmerism in the 1790s", Studies in Romanticism, Vol.43, No.1, (Spring 2004), pp. 57–78.
Gauld, A. (1988), "Reflections on Mesmeric Analgesia", British Journal of Experimental and Clinical Hypnosis, (5), 17-24.
Gibson, H.B., & Heap, M. (1991), Hypnosis in Therapy, Hove: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Goldsmith, M., Franz Anton Mesmer: A History of Mesmerism, Doubleday, Doran & Co., (New York), 1934.
Hallaji, Jafar, "Hypnotherapeutic Techniques in a Central Asian Community", International Journal of Experimental and Clinical Hypnosis, Vol.10, No.4, (October 1962), pp. 271–274.
Harte, R., Hypnotism and the Doctors, Volume I: Animal Magnetism: Mesmer/De Puysegur, L.N. Fowler & Co., (London), 1902.
Harte, R., Hypnotism and the Doctors, Volume II: The Second Commission; Dupotet And Lafontaine; The English School; Braid's Hypnotism; Statuvolism; Pathetism; Electro-Biology, L.N. Fowler & Co., (London), 1903.
Kaplan, F., ""The Mesmeric Mania": The Early Victorians and Animal Magnetism", Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol.35, No.4, (October–December 1974), pp. 691–702.
Kaplan, F., Dickens and Mesmerism: The Hidden Springs of Fiction, Princeton University Press, (Princeton), 1975.
Kaplan, F., John Elliotson on Mesmerism, Da Capo Press, (New York), 1982.
Leger, T. [sic], Animal Magnetism; or, Psycodunamy, D. Appleton, (New York), 1846 [N.B. author is Théodore Léger (1799–1853)].
MacHovec, F.J., "Hypnosis Before Mesmer", American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, Vol.17, No.4, (April 1975), pp. 215–220.
MacHovec, F.J., "The Cult of Asklipios", American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, Vol.22, No.2, (October 1979), pp. 85–90.
Mancini, S. & Vale, J., "Animal Magnetism and Psychic Sciences, 1784-1935: The Rediscovery of a Lost Continent", Diogenes, Vol.48, No.2, (1 June 2000), pp. 94–101.
McGarry, J., "Mesmerism vs. Hypnosis: A Comparison of Relaxation Responses and Evaluation of Mental and Psychophysiological Outcomes", Australian Journal of Clinical Hypnotherapy & Hypnosis, Vol.8, No.1, (March 1987), pp. 7–36.
Moore, W., The Mesmerist: The Society Doctor Who Held Victorian London Spellbound, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, (London), 2017.
Orsucci, Franco., "Mind force : on human attractions", World Scientific., (London) 2009
Parssinen, T.M., "Mesmeric Performers", Victorian Studies, Vol.21, No.1, (Autumn 1977), pp. 87–104.
Pattie, F.A., "Mesmer's Medical Dissertation and Its Debt to Mead's De Imperio Solis ac Lunae", Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, Vol.11, (July 1956), pp. 275–287.
Pattie, F.A., Mesmer and Animal Magnetism: A Chapter in the History of Medicine, Edmonston Publishing, (Hamilton), 1994.
Pearson, John (ed.), A Plain and Rational Account of the Nature and Effects of Animal Magnetism: In a Series of letters. With Notes and an Appendix, W. and J. Stratford, (London), 1790.
Podmore, F. (1909), Mesmerism and Christian Science: A Short History of Mental Healing, Philadelphia, PA: George W. Jacobs & Company.
Porter, R., "'Under the Influence' Mesmerism in England", History Today, Vol.35, No.9, (September 1985), pp. 22–29.
Pulos, L., "Mesmerism Revisited: The Effectiveness of Esdaile’s Techniques in the Production of Deep Hypnosis and Total Body Hypnoanaesthesia", American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, Vol.22, No.4, (April 1980), pp. 206–211.
Rosen, G., "Mesmerism and Surgery: A Strange Chapter in the History of Anesthesia", Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, Vol.1, No.4, (October 1946), pp. 527–550.
Sutton, G., "Electric Medicine and Mesmerism", Isis, Vol.72, No.3, (September 1981), pp. 375–392.
Völgyesi, F. (1938). "Eigene Hypnoseversuche mit gefangenen wilden Tieren [‘(The author’s) hypnotic experiments with captive wild animals’]", pp.90-101 in F. Völgyesi, Menschen- und Tierhypnose [‘Human and Animal Hypnosis’], Zürich & Leipzig: Orell Füssli.
Völgyesi, F.A. (1966), Hypnosis of Man and Animals, London: Baillière, Tindall & Cassell.
Wilson, J. (1839), Trials of Animal Magnetism on the Brute Creation, London: Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper.
Winter, A., Mesmerized: Powers of Mind in Victorian Britain, The University of Chicago Press, (Chicago), 1998.
Wonders and mysteries of animal magnetism displayed; or the history, art, practice, and progress of that useful science, from its first rise in the city of Paris, to the present time. With several Curious Cases and new Anecdotes of the Principal Professors. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. London (1791)
Wyckoff, J. [1975], Franz Anton Mesmer: Between God and Devil, Prentice-Hall, (Englewood Cliffs), 1975.
Yeates, L.B. (2013), James Braid: Surgeon, Gentleman Scientist, and Hypnotist, Ph.D. Dissertation, School of History and Philosophy of Science, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, University of New South Wales, January 2013.
Yeates, L. B. (2018), "James Braid (II): Mesmerism, Braid’s Crucial Experiment, and Braid's Discovery of Neuro-Hypnotism", Australian Journal of Clinical Hypnotherapy & Hypnosis, Vol. 40, No. 1 (Autumn 2018), pp. 40–92.
Further reading
Anton Mesmer, "Propositions Concerning Animal Magnetism" (1779), from: Binet, A. & Féré, C. Animal Magnetism, New York: Appleton and Co., 1888; web archive
The Baron Dupotet de Sennevoy. An Introduction to the Study of Animal Magnetism. London: Saunders & Otley, 1838; full text
William Gregory. Letters to a Candid Inquirer on Animal Magnetism. Philadelphia: Blanchard and Lea, 1851; full text
Charles Poyen. Animal magnetism. Boston: Weeks, Jordan & co., 1837; full text
External links
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