Mesmerizing Mesmerism

Franz A. Mesmer

Mesmerism

Mesmerism is what would be referred to as hypnosis today, but is actually more complicated than hypnosis. It was initially used as a means to ‘cure’ mental or physical illnesses of varying severity. According to Mesmer, “singling out specific types of illnesses was not necessary” (Finger 222). When putting his theory into practice, Mesmer initially used magnets. This practice was eventually replaced by simply using his hands to replace magnetism in his patients; he was also known to use an iron rod, which Mesmer thought helped to intensify the magnetism (Ince 125). Mesmer would also magnetize other objects, such as “water, food, glass, and even someone’s pet” (Finger 222). Mesmer used his own appearance and demeanor to boost treatments; “he wore a flowing lilac taffeta robe with fine lace trim” (Finger 225). He would also use music, astrological symbols, rituals, lighting, and mirrors to set the tone of his sessions (Finger 225). Sessions could be done either individually or as groups. Group sessions included the use of four oak tubs, called baquets, which had iron bars coming out of them. Many patients were often induced into a deep trance-like state during the process, called ‘crisis,’ which could also involve fainting or convulsions. In group sessions, if one person went into crisis, the chances were good that others would follow quickly suit. What most do not realize is that Mesmer would also prescribe traditional medical treatments of the time, although he claimed it was because those treatments would help the “conduction of animal electricity” (Finger 225).

Franz A. Mesmer was born on May 23, 1734 in Iznang, which is in the parish of Weiler in Germany, and died on March 5, 1815 (Ince 75, 115). Although there is not much known about his early years, it is known that that he first attended the Jesuit University of Dillingen in Bavaira, where he studied theology and philosophy and became interested in mathematics and physics. Mesmer transferred to the University of Ingolstadt (later called the University of Munich), and then went to the University of Vienna, where he graduated in 1766 (Finger 219, 220). His dissertation concerned the “influence of planets on the human body” (Ince 75). In other words, Mesmer believed that the positions of the planets had a physical affect on human bodies. His theory involved a belief there is “subtle fluid” throughout the universe that is “in constant circulation” (Ince 117); another phrase applied to his theory was Animal Magnetism. Initially, the controversy surrounding Mesmer was that he stole ideas from past works, including Paracelsus, who wrote about same ideas in early sixteenth century; Richard Mead, personal physician of Sir Isaac Newton and Queen Anne; and Nicholas Culpepper, a physician in the seventeenth century (Finger 220, 221).

Skeptics tried several times to definitively validate or disprove Mesmer’s theories. An electrometer was used, but the needle did not move; that experiment did not disprove or confirm the theory as Mesmer claimed the forces were subtle, so the machine may not have picked them up (Finger 230). A friend of Benjamin Franklin, Jan Ingenhousz, conducted an experiment using mesmerism; he found that the patient did not respond to hidden magnets, just to items she thought had been magnetized (Finger 223). A group of seven people in the lower class were treated in another experiment; four people felt nothing, another was questionable, and the other two may have been affected. That experiment, too, failed to either confirm or disprove the theories. In yet another experiment, a woman went into crisis when the mesmerizer was not in the room but she was lead to believe he was, and later felt nothing when she was being magnetized (Finger 231, 232). The conclusion, then, was that “suggestion and imagination could account for every effect” (Finger 232) that Mesmer claimed was caused by his practices.

Most of Mesmer’s colleagues rejected his claim that he had “special powers that could make sick people better” (Finger 219). Although many patients claimed to have been ‘cured,’ fellow doctors refused to believe that Mesmer’s methods actually succeeded, and scoffed at his notions; many refused to even try to validate what Mesmer claimed was happening with his patients. His critics referred to the iron rod Mesmer used as a wand (Ince 125). The rejection of Mesmer’s ideas was so complete that the secretary of the Royal Society of Medicine ‘had done everything in his power to driver Mesmer out of [France] as a fraud” (Finger 227). Nonetheless, Mesmer held onto his belief that “the throwing of the system out of equilibrium that constitutes disease, and cure can only be obtained by bringing the system back into equilibrium” (Ince 118). Even though “invisible forces and fluids had…become something of an obsession” (Finger 227), when the public first heard of Mesmer and his methods, people laughed. Soon, however, “the number of patients who sought his aid became so great that he found it impossible to attend them all personally” (Ince 85). When mesmerism was at the height of its popularity, his clinics were treating “more than a hundred paying patients a day” (Finger 225).