Franz Mesmer Research Paper

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Franz Mesmer was a German Physician who coined the term mesmerism, which refers to his theory of animal magnetism. Mesmer was born in 1734, and grew up in Swabia, Germany. He went to study medicine at the University of Vienna in Austria after studying at two different jesuit universities in Germany. According to (History of Hypnosis), “The theory, which made his name and ensured his notoriety, was that of “animal magnetism”, something, which had its origins in his doctoral thesis, completed at the University of Vienna in 1766. Mesmer was highly influenced by the work of Isaac Newton and the theory of gravity.” His influnces led him to move around Europe, maily Austira, and France to conduct treatments. Franz Mesmer's uncanny theory of animal …show more content…

Mesmer had the patient swallow iron and attached magnetics to her body to create an artificial tide. This led to Mesmer curing the woman of her symptoms. Mesmer credited animal mesmerism as the cure and not the magnetics he used. Franz Mesmer began to do more research on his theory of animal mesmerism, which he believed animals had the natural forces to heal.
After treating his patient of hysteria, Frank gained some fame and began touring Europe to show people how he did it. Mesmer studied his theory for many years to find some proof about animals having the force to heal people. Mesmer’s theory would come under much scrutiny when he was ask to speak before the Munich Academy of Sciences on the exorcisms performed by then priest and healer Johann Joseph Gassner in 1774. Mesmer was asked to give his opinion on exorcisms and said that Gassner’s cure came from animal magnetism. The conflicts lead to Gassner’s career ending and led to Mesmer being well …show more content…

The controversy drove Mesmer to abandoned Vienna to settle in the rich part of Paris, France in 1778. While in Paris, Mesmer found it difficult to get his doctrine approved by fellow physicians in his first years. In 1779 however, Mesmer’s doctrine was approved by Charles d’Elson and became his disciple. Charles d’Elson would later encourage Mesmer to write a similar version of Qi’s Traditional Chinese Medicine and tilted it the 27 Propositions. These propositions would outline his theory of animal magnetism. This gained fame and more recognition from critics that distrusted the theory of animal magnetism. While still traveling and performing his practice on people, many of the Parisians, according to Jonathan Miller, “The Scottish novelist Henry MacKenzie recorded in his diary that "all Paris at present is mad about a Monsieur Mesmer, who pretends to cure all illnesses by magnetism.”(Magnetic

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