The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-03-02
THE INDUCED TRANCE.
Franz Anton Mesmer and His Weird
Hypnotic Methods.

Hypnotic Methods.
Charlatan though he was, mankind
owes a greater debt to Franz Anton
Mesmer than has generally been ac-
knowledged. AS the present writer has
elsewhere said. when Mesmer pub
lished in 1TT3 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
evltable the dlligent husbandry Of to-
day" Grant that hypnotlsm had still
to be clarified by the researches Of an
Esdaile. an Elliotson Braid, Char
cot, Llebeault. Gurney, before 1t be-
came what 1t is today-a wonderful
curative instrument and aid to psy-
Geological acknowledgement all
this, and Mesmer remains the first Of
line OF psychotherapeutlsts and psy-
chopathologists whose fame, If belatcd,
Is steadily growing. That he should
have been rebuffed by the orthodox
practitioners of his day Is not sur
prlsing. When in 1T7S he went to
Paris he went with well developed
sense of the value of advertising. The
campaign he inaugurated was of a
character to disgust the conservative
tlon loving populace by storm. Most
extravagant tales of cures he had ac-
complished In Berlin, Vienna and else
where were nolsed abroad. Through a
convert he challenged the physicians
of Paris to enter into contest with
him, they to treat twelve patients by
the orthodox methods, he to treat twelve
by his. or 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 Mesmer's treatment. His
rooms were thronged; his purse waxed
constantly heavier.
The treatment he gave was such as
| to appeal vividly to the imagination OF
| the patient-in word, to increase his
| suggestiblllty. Suggestion. indeed, was
| Its root element. although Mesmer
failed or pretended to fail to recognize
this and taught that its efficacy de
| pended upon the efiluence OF mystic
rious fluid. In room dlmly lighted
and hung with mirrors the patients
were seated about circular vat oi
considerable size covered with a lie
! and containing various chemicals. a
long cord connected the patients will
one another. while in the lid OF tho
tub were several holes, through each o.
which passed an iron rod bent In sucl
way that its point could be applied
to any part OF a patients body. Tit
patients were requested not to speak
the only sound in the room beini
strains Of soft music. When expectan
cy was at It's 1ood Mesmer would en-
ter clad in the robe of magician ant
carrying an iron wand At one pa
tient he would gaze intently: anothe
he would stroke gently with his wand
Soon some would burst into laughter
others into tears, while still other
would fall into convusions, finall.
passing into lethargic state, out o
which, 1t Ia claimed, they emerge,
!. cured or on the hlghroad to q cure
Occasionally the treatment was glveI
outdoors. tree being "magnetlzed
and the patient colapsing in a swoo
so soon as he approached 1t.
In such wise were Europeans frs
made acquainted with the phenomena
Of the "induced trance."-From "rh
Riddle of Personality" by IL. Adding
ton Bruce.