Franz Anton Mesmer
Born in 1734 in Weiler Germany, Mesmer wrote a doctoral thesis on the 'influence of the planets on the human body.' He tried to demonstrate that a kind of energy, which he called animal magnetism, originating in space, penetrates the body and has an impact on our health. The theory resembles that of the oriental concept of vital energy, called Qi by the Chinese and prana by the Hindus. Soviet and Czech researchers studying the phenomenon use the terms bioplasmic and psychotonic energy respectively.
In their book on Soviet parapsychological research, Sheila Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder report that a Czech researcher, Robert Pavlita, developed a motion-generating device that can be recharged with mental energy. Dr. Julius Krmessky, a mathematician and physicist, submitted a report about the device to members of the Physics and Science Institute in Trnava Czechoslovakia. In the report he states: "The energy being generated to rotate the device cannot be explained by fluctuations in temperature, static electricity or air flow. The energy can only be coming from the person using the device. In addition, the operator is able to control its output mentally. The energy passes through glass, wood, all kinds of metal, water, paper, etc., without any loss of intensity or deviation in trajectory."
In France, an electrical engineer, L. Turenne, discovered what he called 'form waves,' claiming that certain forms have the ability to focus energy. A team of researchers and doctors in Saclay, France, conducted further studies and obtained interesting results concerning the impact of these waves on health, using a device called a 'cosmic wave charger.' Were the results due to psychological factors? Were subjects in any way predisposed to believe that the device would help cure their health problems? Or were the test results really a confirmation of the existence of psychotronic energy? We'll be taking a closer look at these and other related issues later on.
But first, back to Mesmer. According to him, beneficial 'cosmic fluid' could be transferred from one subject to another. Using hand passes and other gestures, he actually succeeded in curing a number patients, arousing great hostility among many of his colleagues. His detractors seized on one incident to create a scandal: a young woman named Maria Theresa Paradies, a pianist at the court of the Empress of Austria, was suffering from partial blindness. While being treated by Mesmer, she became his mistress. After showing some signs of improvement, she suffered a relapse and went completely blind some weeks later. Mesmer was forced to leave Vienna in disgrace.
He returned to Paris where he rented rooms in a hotel (the Louis-le-Grand, still standing today at 16 Place Vendome). Instead of private consultations he began offering group seances (as one doctor later remarked, Mesmer actually initiated the concept of group therapy!). It was here that he began using his famous device - a kind of reservoir filled with bottles of magnetized water. Rods made of iron were inserted into the bottles. Their protruding tips were applied to diseased organs. Subjects were joined together by a wire, in order to 'balance' the flow of the cosmic fluid, while loud music was played on a piano (Mesmer loved music, especially Mozart, and is reputed to have introduced the harmonica to France).
Wearing a purple robe, holding an iron wand in his hand, the 'Master' would walk around the room touching patients at strategic points on their back and stomach. Bailly, an astronomer and member of France's Royal Academy of Science, submitted a report on Mesmer. Here is an excerpt:
"Some subjects feel nothing at all. Others spit and cough, feel local or general heat, and sweat profusely. Others become agitated, and some even go into convulsions. These convulsions are extraordinary, both in their frequency, duration and intensity. I have seen some cases where they continued for three hours. They are characterized by involuntary movements involving all the limbs, and sometimes even the whole body, including tightening of the throat, fluttering of the hypochondria and epigastrium (upper and lower abdomen), bulging eyes, piercing shouts, tears, hiccups and uncontrolled laughter. They are preceded or followed by a state of languid reverie, as if subjects were exhausted or numb.
"I also observed that many more women than men experienced these kinds of reactions; that it took one or two hours for a crisis to reach its peak, and that as soon as one subject began convulsing, all the others followed suit, and that in a very short time."
We can easily see how Mesmer's subjects resemble those described in the section on voodoo earlier on.
Immense controversy arose concerning Mesmer's work, largely fuelled by Mesmer himself who, like the Athenian general Alcibiades, knew the value of publicity, whether it was good or bad.
fury of controversy that could not be extinguished even after both the French Academy of Science and the Academy of Medicine issued an outright condemnation of his work in 1784:
"Having demonstrated through conclusive experimentation that pure imagination without magnetism can produce convulsions, and that magnetism without imagination produces none, we can safely say that there is absolutely no proof of the existence of animal magnetism or cosmic fluid."
At the same time there was no lack of support for Mesmer's theories. De Jussieu, a journalist, wrote a personal letter to the Academy of Medicine, in which he claimed to have witnessed a number of incontestable cures. He suggested that the Academy study Mesmer's work more closely in order to learn more about the phenomenon. Delon, one of Mesmer's disciples and principle physician to the Count d'Artois, remarked that. "If medicine of the imagination works best, why not use it?"
The controversy raged on long after the master himself had passed away.
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