Mesmerizing
Aug 26th, 2014 by bachmann
Mesmerism orginated with Franz Anton Mesmer (1734 –1815), a German physician who postulated the theory of natural energetic transference, which occurs in all animated and inanimate objects. The term he used for this energy was “animal magnetism”. Mesmer considered all human illness a breakdown in the balance and flow of this magnetic force. When nature failed to resolve this blockage spontaneously, “mesmerism”could be used to remedy the problem. Mesmerism attracted practitioners and audiences, with its peak between 1780 and 1850. The technique usually involved some social role-playing where the mesmerizer would make suggestions to his clients who eventually became absolutely “mesmerized” by him in some sort of hypnosis-like trance. Mesmer used his extraordinary powers of suggestion to send people into frenzied convulsions, swooning, or sleeplike trances. It was all very ceremonious and dramatic, attracting audiences to observe and participate.
Chauncy Hare Townshend (1798-1868) was a poet who became fascinated with mesmerism during his tour of Germany. He became a enthusiastic supporter for its further study and application in England. Townshend is now mostly know for his collections donated to the Victoria & Albert Museum, but during his lifetime, he was an established literary figure and close friend of Charles Dickens (Great Expectations was dedicated to Townshend). Townshend published a work on mesmerism in 1841 where he acknowledged the worldwide skepticism of the theory, but offered a counter-argument for continued experimentation and examination. To support his quest, he supplied a number of testimonies, including Louis Aggasiz, who participated as a mesmeric subject for Townshend in 1839.
Townshend states:
“The original cause of the ill reception which
mesmerism has met with from the world, is undoubtedly
to be found in the character of its discoverer, Mesmer,
in his want of candour and philosophic strictness.
Had it been introduced to notice by a Newton or an
Arago, by one who would have stated his facts honestly,
and drawn from them none but legitimate conclusions,
the difference of its career may be estimated by
all who are aware how much depends upon a propitious
beginning. But, unfortunately, from the very outset,
mesmerism was associated with the soiling calculations
of self-interest and the errors of an over-heated brain.
Mesmer wished to make a monopoly of that which
should have been the property of all mankind..
…We should lay aside all prejudice,
connected either with the origin, name, or injudicious
exposition of mesmerism, and try the subject,
wholly and impartially, upon its own merits.
Unalarmed by the apparent strangeness and incongruity
of the phenomena to be investigated, we should call
to mind how frequently “appearances of external nature,
puzzling at first sight, and seemingly irreconcilable
with one another, have all been solved and harmonized
by a reference to some one pervading principle”… – Townshend
Under “hypnosis”-
Nothing could be more curious than to
see the two sisters sitting opposite to each other, both
with their eyes shut, and yet, by the expression of their
countenances, appearing to look at each other. I now
went away to another part of the room, when Anna
M got up, and walked to just half way between her
sister and myself; but she seemed arrested there by the
attraction of contending forces, and so she remained,
turning from me to her sister, and vice versa, as if she
knew not to which she should go, till I put an end to
this curious scene by returning to my sleepwaker, and
begging her to awake her sister. This, however, she declared
that she could not do, but added, ” The moment that
you awake me, my sister will wake also.”
While mesmerism began a steady decline in popularity in the later part of the 19th century, one practitioner carried on the tradition into the 1880s. D. Younger advertised broadly in newspapers as a mesmerist and healer of various maladies.
“With an experience of nearly forty years as a professional
practitioner of mesmerism, I publish this work to demonstrate
the wonderful resources of this science, especially in its
application to the alleviation of suffering and cure of disease.
The results I have been able to accomplish by this natural
method of treatment, in conjunction with the various herbal
remedies I recommend, have, in many cases, been most surprising,
never failing to afford relief, and often effecting a
permanent cure, after all the usual orthodox methods have been
tried in vain. “
- Description:
- Townshend, Chauncy Hare. Facts in mesmerism :with reasons for a dispassionate inquiry into it. New-York : Harper & Brothers, 1841.
- Persistent Link:
- http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL:11815343
- Repository:
- Widener Library
- Institution:
- Harvard University
- Description:
- Younger, D. Full, concise instructions in mesmerism (falsely termed hypnotism), curative magnetism, and massage :with brief hints on natural medicine, etc. : with illustrations showing various phases of mesmeric treatment. [London] : E.W. Allen, [1887?].
- Persistent Link:
- http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL:2562357
- Repository:
- Widener Library
- Institution:
- Harvard University