Frederic-Antoine Mesmer

Frederic-Antoine Mesmer (Franz Anton Mesmer) (May 23rd 1734 - March 5th 1815), German doctor, founder of the theory of the animal Magnetism, also known under the name of Mesmérisme.

Biography

Mesmer was born on May 23rd, 1734 in Iznang, small village close to the Lac of Constancy.

In 1752, it is registered at the school of Théologie Jésuites of Dillingen and in 1754 at the university Jesuit of Ingolstadt for its third year of theology. It was registered in right to the university of Vienna in 1759, then in medicine in 1760.

In 1766, Mesmer publishes its thesis of doctorate, influence of planets on the human body , in which one finds the influence of the theories on the magnetism of the Swiss doctor Paracelse, of the Belgian doctor Jan Baptist van Helmont ( magnetic treatment of the wounds , 1621), of the Scottish doctor William Maxwell ( De Medicina Magnetica , 1679), of the German Jesuit Athanasius Kircher and of Ferdinand Santanelli ( Geheime Philosophie oder magish-magnetische Heilkunde , 1723). Mesmer is also influenced by the rosicrucians and had been established in their district-general in Vienna.

In 1767, Mesmer marries the widowed rich person Maria Anna von Posch. Many musicians Viennese attend their house, in particular Mozart, Haydn and Gluck.

In 1773, he undertakes its first treatment on the basis of idea of a universal fluid. For that, it uses the magnetized plates invented by the father Jesuit Maximilian Hell (1720-1792). Following a polemic with Hell on paternity this process, Mesmer will insist on the fact that the animal Magnétisme is distinct from mineral magnetic fluid. In 1775, Mesmer is brought to deliver its opinion to the Academy of Science of Munich on exorcisms of the father Johann Joseph Gassner. In 1777, it leaves Vienna, following a therapeutic failure with the musician plugs Maria Theresa von Paradis.

Arrived at Paris in 1778, it publishes its Mémoire on the discovery of animal magnetism in 1779 with the support of its disciple Charles Deslon, personal doctor of the Count d' Artois. The principal theses of this Memory are the following ones:

a subtle physical fluid fills up the universe, being used as intermediary between the man, the ground and the celestial bodies, and between the men themselves;
the disease results from a bad distribution of this fluid in the human body and the cure amounts restoring this lost balance;
Thanks to techniques, this fluid is likely to be channeled, stored and transmitted to other people, causing " crises" among patients to cure them;

According to Mesmer, the animal Magnétisme is the capacity of any man to cure his next thanks to a fluid naturalness whose hypnotizer would be the source, and which it would diffuse thanks to master keys , known as " master keys mesmériennes" , on all the body.

In 1780, having more patients than it cannot about it treat individually, Mesmer introduces the method of collective treatment known as of the bucket. It is in particular during these colletifs treatments that contagious phenomena of " appear; crises magnétiques" during which the women of the best Parisian company lose their control, burst of a laughter " hystérique" , pâment, convulsions are taken…

Mesmer is highly attacked by the medical college but obtains influential customers, the such lawyer Nicolas Bergasse and the banker Guillaume Kornmann and in 1781, it publishes his Précis history of the facts relating to animal magnetism .

In 1782, learning that Charles Deslon constituted itself customers of animal Magnétisme, Mesmer organizes with the assistance of Nicolas Bergasse and Guillaume Kornmann, a subscription to buy the " secrecy of Mesmer". For that, they create the Société of the Universal Harmony , which proves to be an enormous financial success. Armand Marc Jacques de Chastenet de Puységur and its two brothers will be members of this company.

In 1784, Louis XVI names two commissions to study the practice of the animal Magnétisme, one of the Academy of Science, the other of the royal Société of Medicine. The police chiefs, the astronomer Jean Sylvain Bailly, the doctor Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, the chemist Antoine Lavoisier, the ambassador of the United States Benjamin Franklin and the botanist Antoine Laurent de Jussieu are based on the observation of the work of Charles Deslon. Jean Sylvain Bailly concludes that " imagination without magnetism produces convulsions… magnetism without imagination does not produce rien" , he as declares, in a secret report/ratio as " the magnetic treatment can be only dangerous for the moeurs". On the other hand, Antoine Laurent de Jussieu declares that " the physical influence of the man on the man must be admise".

In 1785, Mesmer leaves France, reproaching its pupils for not having maintained its “secrecy”.

Works

Of the influence of planets on the human body , 1766
Memory on the discovery of animal magnetism , 1779, Combined, 2006, Source on line, on wikisource
Précis history of the facts relating to animal magnetism. I , 1781, Harmattan, 2005,

Random links: