We now come to a man called Franz Anton Mesmer [1734 - 1815].
He rekindled the interest in this area in the late 1700’s. Mesmer – born Friedrich A Mesmer in 1734 Iznang, Germany – studied medicine at the University of Vienna in 1759. He had originally intended to study law but soon changed his mind and worked towards a medical degree. He also had an interest in astrology and published a paper in 1766 on the Influence of the planets on the human body. It was believed that this was not all his own work, rather than that plagiarised from Richard Mead a friend of Isaac Newton’s.
Mesmer achieved great status for himself in the city of Vienna and as a physician by marrying a wealthy widow. There are even tenuous links to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart when aged just twelve, Mozart got to have a performance of his one act opera in Mesmer’s garden. The Term Animal Magnetism is one that can be attributed to Mesmer, although he originally used the term Animal Gravitation as he believed the the gravitational pull of various planets had a direct affect on the health of humans. Whilst still at university in Vienna, Mesmer met a Professor Hehl. Professor Hehl had been experimenting himself with the use of magnets and after having read Mesmer’s paper, he encouraged Mesmer to try magnets for himself. He sent him a set to try out on a patient of his own.
Mesmer’s subject, showed a noticeable response to the application of the magnets. When the magnets were removed a relapse would occur and reapplying the magnets would once again restore the patient back to health. These results were reported back to Hehl who published them as being his own. This led to a life long disagreement between the two with serious consequences.
After a while, Mesmer stopped using magnets in favour of the Animal Magnetism that he believed he contained himself. Mesmer was labelled a Charlatan and despised by much of the medical fraternity. He success’ clearly undermined their professional status an they decided that he should be suppressed at all costs.
Mesmer was approached to treat a young pianist who had lost her sight. Although she had received treatment from the best physicians in the land it had been to no avail. After a short while with Mesmer, Mademoiselle Paradis had already begun to regain her sight. The news of his success was published and gained the attention of his old enemy, Professor Hehl. Hehl and his co conspirators Herr Bath and Herr Ingenbaus, told the young Pianists father that if her site was to return, she would lose the generous pension afforded to her from the Empress Maria Theresa. The pianist was removed from Mesmer’s care and returned home leaving herself and Mesmer as the losers this time around. Unable to prove himself to the medical fraternity in Vienna, Mesmer took his leave and headed for Paris.
He received a pleasant welcome in Paris and although some laughed at his techniques, his results and self confidence won them over. His popularity in Paris was such that he was unable to treat all those seeking his help and so he devised a method for multiple treatment. This was known as the Baquet and allowed for many people to receive the affects of Mesmer’s treatment simultaneously. He employed Magnetists to help him and often, patients would need to be taken to a quiet place to allow the crisis brought on by the treatment, to pass.
Mesmer spent much of his time in Paris trying to win over the medical profession there too. He made several attempts to prove that his techniques worked but the Royal Society of Medicine did not want to take the chance that there might actually be something in this. He did gain one follower amongst the French physicians. His name was Dr Deslon and he tried to convince his peers to listen to what Mesmer had to say. Eventually in 1784 the king appointed a commission to look into the claims of animal magnetism. Their tests were carried out at the home of Dr Deslon. Mesmer was not pleased though, as Dr Deslon believed fully in Animal Magnetism but was convinced that it was related to imagination and suggestion.The commission concluded that it was the art of imagination that one man can have upon another with faith in them, that was responsible for any outcome.
Mesmer eventually retired to Spa, Belgium in 1781 and spent much of his time there publicising his ideas. With the help of an attorney patient of his called Bergasse, Mesmer set up a series of hospitals under the heading The Societies of Harmony where students of magnetic healing trained. Throughout his life, Mesmer had never sought wealth or notoriety only to pass on his knowledge for the benefit of others. He died in 1815 at the age of 80.
Mesmer was very much a ‘State Theorist’ as he believed that any subject of his entered into an altered state of mind whilst under his influence. This has been the opinion of State Theorists through the years right up to and including today. They claim that a hypnotic trance is a special state of awareness whereby the subject has heightened imagination and a greater ability to visualise. They become more susceptible to suggestions and prone to involuntary behaviour, which is in the hands of the Hypnotist who remains in control of them throughout this hypnotic trance.
Whilst Non-State Theorists often use the term ‘trance’ – if only to make the concept of hypnosis easier to understand by the layman – they reject the notions of the State Theorists. The Non-State theorists have gone to great lengths to prove that all the phenomena produced during hypnotic suggestion can be reproduced without the hypnotic trance. They believe that it is more to do with the subjects attitude, motivation and expectations. The ability to which they can use their imagination is also a key point and that a persons ability to respond to suggestion is a normal psychological response and not something extraordinary. They also claim that no scientific proof will ever be produced to back up the claims of the State theorists as no such state exists.
This is an argument that has raged on through time with various eminent people putting their opinions and views forward to prove otherwise.
