Editing Franz Mesmer (section)

==Animal magnetism==
{{Hypnosis|origins}}
In 1774, Mesmer produced an "artificial tide" in a patient, Francisca Österlin, who suffered from [[hysteria]], by having her swallow a preparation containing iron and then attaching magnets to various parts of her body. She reported feeling streams of a mysterious fluid running through her body and was relieved of her symptoms for several hours. Mesmer did not believe that the magnets had achieved the cure on their own. He felt that he had contributed [[animal magnetism]], which had accumulated in his work, to her. He soon stopped using magnets as a part of his treatment.

In the same year Mesmer collaborated with [[Maximilian Hell]].

In 1775, Mesmer was invited to give his opinion before the Munich Academy of Sciences on the [[exorcism]]s carried out by [[Johann Joseph Gassner]] (Gaßner), a [[priest]] and [[Faith healer|healer]] who grew up in [[Vorarlberg]], Austria. Mesmer said that while Gassner was sincere in his beliefs, his cures resulted because he possessed a high degree of animal magnetism. This confrontation between Mesmer's secular ideas and Gassner's religious beliefs marked the end of Gassner's career and, according to [[Henri Ellenberger]], the emergence of [[dynamic psychiatry]].

The scandal that followed Mesmer's only partial success in curing the blindness of an 18-year-old musician, [[Maria Theresia Paradis]], led him to leave [[Vienna]] in 1777. In February 1778, Mesmer moved to [[Paris]], rented an apartment in a part of the city preferred by the wealthy and powerful, and established a medical practice. There he would reunite with Mozart, who often visited him. Paris soon divided into those who thought he was a charlatan who had been forced to flee from Vienna and those who thought he had made a great discovery.

In his first years in Paris, Mesmer tried and failed to get either the [[French Academy of Sciences|Royal Academy of Sciences]] or the [[Académie Nationale de Médecine|Royal Society of Medicine]] to provide official approval for his doctrines. He found only one physician of high professional and social standing, [[Charles d'Eslon]], to become a disciple. In 1779, with d'Eslon's encouragement, Mesmer wrote an 88-page book, ''Mémoire sur la découverte du magnétisme animal'', to which he appended his famous 27 Propositions. These propositions outlined his theory at that time. Some contemporary scholars equate Mesmer's animal magnetism with the qi (chi) of Traditional Chinese Medicine and mesmerism with [[Qigong#Chinese Medical Qigong|medical Qigong]] practices.<ref>Fenton, 105ff.</ref><ref>Mackett, J., ''British Journal of Experimental & Clinical Hypnosis''</ref>

According to d'Eslon, Mesmer understood health as the free flow of the process of life through thousands of channels in our bodies. Illness was caused by obstacles to this flow. Overcoming these obstacles and restoring flow produced crises, which restored health. When [[Nature]] failed to do this spontaneously, contact with a conductor of animal magnetism was a necessary and sufficient remedy. Mesmer aimed to aid or provoke the efforts of Nature. To cure an [[Insanity|insane]] person, for example, involved causing a fit of madness. The advantage of magnetism involved accelerating such crises without danger.

===Procedure===
Mesmer treated patients both individually and in groups. With individuals he would sit in front of his patient with his knees touching the patient's knees, pressing the patient's thumbs in his hands, looking fixedly into the patient's eyes. Mesmer made "passes", moving his hands from the patient's shoulders down along their arms. He then pressed his fingers on the patient's [[hypochondrium]] (the area below the [[diaphragm (anatomy)|diaphragm]]), sometimes holding his hands there for hours. Many patients felt peculiar sensations or had convulsions that were regarded as crises and were supposed to bring about the cure. Mesmer would often conclude his treatments by playing some music on a [[glass harmonica]].<ref>Gielen & Raymond, 32ff.</ref>

By 1780, Mesmer had more patients than he could treat individually, and he established a collective treatment known as the "baquet." An English doctor who observed Mesmer described the treatment as follows:[[File:Le baquet de Mesmer Georges Méliès 1905.ogv|thumb|A caricature of Mesmer "baquet" filmed by [[Georges Méliès]], 1905|262x262px]]<blockquote>In the middle of the room is placed a vessel of about a foot and a half high which is called here a "baquet". It is so large that twenty people can easily sit round it; near the edge of the lid which covers it, there are holes pierced corresponding to the number of persons who are to surround it; into these holes are introduced iron rods, bent at right angles outwards, and of different heights, so as to answer to the part of the body to which they are to be applied. Besides these rods, there is a rope which communicates between the baquet and one of the patients, and from him is carried to another, and so on the whole round. The most sensible effects are produced on the approach of Mesmer, who is said to convey the fluid by certain motions of his hands or eyes, without touching the person. I have talked with several who have witnessed these effects, who have convulsions occasioned and removed by a movement of the hand...<ref>{{Cite book |last=Morton |first=Lisa |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3CnxDwAAQBAJ&q=In+the+middle+of+the+room+is+placed+a+vessel+of+about+a+foot+and+a+half+high+which+is+called+here+a+%22baquet%22.+It+is+so+large+that+twenty+people+can+easily+sit+round+it%3B+near+the+edge+of+the+lid+which+covers+it%2C+there+are+holes+pierced+corresponding+to+the+number+of+persons+who+are+to+surround+it%3B+into+these+holes+are+introduced+iron+rods%2C+bent+at+right+angles+outwards%2C+and+of+different+heights%2C+so+as+to+answer+to+the%25&pg=PT91 |title=Calling the Spirits: A History of Seances |date=2022-10-10 |publisher=Reaktion Books |isbn=978-1-78914-281-5 |language=en}}</ref></blockquote>

===Investigation===
[[Image:Franz Anton Mesmers Grabstein 01 Gesamt.jpg|thumb|Mesmer's grave in the cemetery in [[Meersburg]], [[Germany]].]]
{{main|Royal Commission on Animal Magnetism}}

In 1784, without Mesmer having requested it, [[King Louis XVI]] appointed four members of the Faculty of Medicine as commissioners to investigate animal magnetism and Mesmerism. At the request of these commissioners, the king appointed Baron de Breteuil, minister of the Department of Paris, to establish investigative commissions. One was composed of individuals from the Royal Academy of Sciences, and the other of individuals from the Academy of Sciences and the Faculty of Medicine. The investigative teams included the chemist [[Antoine Lavoisier]], the doctor [[Joseph-Ignace Guillotin]], the astronomer [[Jean Sylvain Bailly]], and the American ambassador [[Benjamin Franklin]].<ref name=":0">Sadie F. Dingfelder, [https://www.apa.org/monitor/2010/07-08/franklin "The first modern psychology study: Or how Benjamin Franklin unmasked a fraud and demonstrated the power of the mind"],  ''Monitor on Psychology'', July/August 2010, Vol 41, No. 7, page 30.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=University |first1=© Stanford |last2=Stanford |last3=California 94305 |date=2017-03-15 |title=Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815) |url=https://exhibits.stanford.edu/super-e/feature/franz-anton-mesmer-1734-1815 |access-date=2023-08-12 |website=The Super-Enlightenment - Spotlight at Stanford |language=en}}</ref>

The commission conducted a series of experiments aimed not just at determining whether Mesmer's treatment worked, but whether he had discovered a new physical fluid. The commission concluded that there was no evidence for such a fluid. Whatever benefit the treatment produced was attributed to "imagination". One of the commissioners, the botanist [[Antoine Laurent de Jussieu]] took exception to the official reports, authoring a dissenting opinion.<ref name=":1" />

The commission did not examine Mesmer specifically, but instead observed the practice of d'Eslon. They used [[blind trial]]s, blindfolding the subjects, in their investigation, and found that Mesmerism seemed to work only when the subject was aware of it. Their findings are considered the first observation of the [[placebo effect]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The phony health craze that inspired hypnotism | date=27 January 2021 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQyAnKjD6W4 | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/KQyAnKjD6W4| archive-date=2021-12-11 | url-status=live|via=YouTube |publisher=Vox |access-date=27 January 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Even d'Eslon himself was convinced by the commission, stating that, "the imagination thus directed to the relief of suffering humanity would be a most valuable means in the hands of the medical profession."<ref name=":0" />

Mesmer was driven into exile soon after the investigations on animal magnetism. However, his influential student, [[Amand-Marie-Jacques de Chastenet, Marquis of Puységur]] (1751–1825), continued to have many followers until his death.<ref>Gielen & Raymond, 39–45.</ref> 

Mesmer continued to practice in Frauenfeld, Switzerland, for a number of years. He died in 1815 in [[Meersburg|Meersburg, Germany]].<ref>[http://www.knerger.de/html/mesmererfinder.html Mesmer's grave in the Meersburg cemetery], knerger.de {{in lang|de}}.</ref>