The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1908-04-16
THE INDUCED TRANCE.
Franz Anton Mesmer and His Weird
Hypnotic Methods.


Charlatan though he was, mankind !
owes 4 greater debt to Franz Anton |
Mesmer than has generally been ae-
knowledged. AS the present writer has |
elsewhere said, "When Mcsmcr pub |
lished in 1913 his account of the mar
velous cures effected by what he was
pleased to term animal magnetism, he
sowed seed which was to render in
evitable the diligent husbandry Of to-
day" Grant snat hypnotism had still
to be clarified by the researches Of an
Esdaile. an Elliotson Il Braid Char
cot, Liebeault, Gurney, before it be-
came what it is today-a wonderful
curative instrument and aid to ps"-
Geological eXpcrimentation-gra all
this, and Mesmer remains the first Of
a line of psychotherapeutists and psy-
chopathologlsts whose fame, if bclatcd
is steadily growing. That he should
have been rebuffed by the orthodox
practitioners of his day is not sur
prising. When in 177S he went to
Paris he went with well developed
sense of the value of advertising. The
campaign he inaugurated was of Il
character to disgust the conservative
and thoughtful, but to take 4 scnsa
ton loving populace by storm. Most
eXtravagant tales of cures he had ac-
complshed in Berlin, Vienna and else
where were noiScd abroad. Through Il
convert he challenged the physicians
of Paris to enter into a contest with
him, they to treat twelve patients by
the orthodox methods, he to treat twelve
by his. OF course this challenge was
rejected, and equally, of course, its re-
lection was interpreted by the thought
less as an acknowledgment of the su
periority of Mesmcr's treatment. His
rooms We're throngcd; his purse waxed
constantly heavier.
The treatment he gave was such as
to appeal wildly to the imagination Of
the paticnt-in word, to increase his
suggestibility. Suggestion. indeed, was
its root element. although Mcsmer
failed or pretended to fail to recognize
| this and taught that its efficacy de-
I pended upon the clilucncc of Il mystic
| rious fluid. In Il room dimly lighted
l and hung with mirrors the patients
/ were seated about circular vat of
4 considerable size covered with lid
/ and containing various chemicals. \
! long cord connected the patients with
one another, while in the lid of the
tub were several holes, through each OF
which passed in iron rod bent in such
4 Il way that its point could he applied
to any part of Il patients body. The
patients were requested not to speak
the only sound in the room bcin:
strains of soft music When eNpectan
cy was at its flood Mcsmcr would cn
| ter clad in the robe of a magician ant
CARRYING an iron wand. At one pa
tient he would gaze intently; another
he would stroke gently with his wand
Soon some would burst into laughter
others into tears, While still other.
would fall into commissions, iinall.
passing into Il lcthargic state, out O
which, it is claimed they emerged
cured or on the highroad to cure
Occasionally the treatment was gIver
outdoors. a tree being ''magnetiZcl'
and the patient coIlapsing in Il swooI
so soon as he approached it.
In such wise We're Europeans firs
made acquainted with the phenomenon
of the induced trancc.''-From The
Riddle of Personality" by IL. Adding
ton Bruce.