Fathers of Hypnosis

Who was the "father of hypnosis?"

There are several contenders for this title. I would like to discuss some of them.

The first may have been Anton Mesmer, who originated the theory of "Animal Magnetism," which basically stated that there was a magnetic fluid inside all living animals which could be influenced by iron rods and restore health to those afflicted with various conditions.

He believed that some kind of blockage of this magnetic fluid would inevitably lead to sickness. He desired to release this blockage, and devised many methods to do so, affecting many cures. Mesmer was very successful for a long period of time, but his ideas and some of his methods were so unusual, that the ruling establishment appointed a committee to investigate his claims. In 1784 Ben Franklin, Dr. Guillotine and others concluded that his cures were based on imagination, not “animal magnetism." Mesmer left France in 1791 and eventually settled in Switzerland.

Though Mesmer died in 1815, many of his followers continued to perform healings based on his methods. The discovery of the hypnotic state was stumbled upon by accident by one of Mesmer's students, the Marquis de Puysgur, one day when trying to magnetize a young shepherd boy. Rubbing the boy's head had put the boy into a hypnotic sleep. Trying to awaken the boy, the Marquis gave several commands, such as stand up, walk, and sit down, and was astounded to observe the boy obey, yet still remain in his sleeping state. When the shepherd boy finally woke up, he had no memory of these events.

The method used by the Marquis de Puysgur sounds a lot more like hypnotism as it is practiced today than Mesmer's methods.