Franz Anton Mesmer – Biography of Franz Anton Mesmer

Franz Anton MesmerBorn May 23, 1734, in Iznang, Swabia, he was a German physician whose system of therapy, known as mesmerism, was the forerunner of the modern practice of hypnotism.

The dissertation of Mesmer at the University of Vienna (MD, 1766), drawn largely from the work of British physician Richard Mead, suggested that the gravitational attraction of the planets affected human health by affecting an invisible fluid found in the human body and throughout nature.

In 1775, Mesmer he revised his theory of “animal gravitation” and changed it to one of “animal magnetism”, in which the invisible fluid in the body acted according to the laws of magnetism. According to Mesmer, “animal magnetism” could be activated by any object magnetized and manipulated by any trained person. The disease was the result of “obstacles” in the flow of fluid through the body, and these obstacles could be broken by “crises” (trance states that often end in delirium or seizures) to restore harmony to the flow of personal fluids. .

Mesmer He designed various therapeutic treatments to achieve a harmonious flow of fluids, and in many of these treatments he was an energetic and quite dramatic personal participant.

Accused by Viennese doctors of fraud, Mesmer He left Austria and settled in Paris in 1778. There he continued to enjoy a highly lucrative practice, but again he attracted antagonism from the medical profession, and in 1784 King Louis XVI appointed a commission of scientists and physicians to investigate the methods of Mesmer; Members of the commission included the American inventor and statesman Benjamin Franklin and the French chemist Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier. They reported that Mesmer was unable to support his scientific claims, and the hypnotic movement thereafter waned.

Whatever is said about your therapeutic system, Mesmer he often achieved a close relationship with his patients and seems to have alleviated certain nervous disorders in them. More importantly, further investigation of the trance state by his followers eventually led to the development of legitimate hypnotism applications.