A Mesmerizing Personality

Who was Franz Anton Mesmer?

Franz Anton Mesmer was born in 1734 in Germany. He was educated in the University of Vienna. He studied astronomy, law, philosophy, and medicine. In those days the study of medicine included purging, bleeding, and the administration of opium. These were the most modern techniques they had. Mesmer considered himself a scientist and observed the world around him. He was very interested in healing. He went to the public square to see a healing ceremony done by Father Hell.

Father Hell was a priest who used a huge metal cross to heal the multitude of people who flocked to the square for healing. Mesmer concluded that the healings were not predicated by faith, but rather, were somehow related to the huge metal cross.

Mesmer originated the theory of "Animal Magnetism," based on his observations and his own experiences. He theorized 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.

Mesmer died in obscurity in 1815, but 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. Nevertheless, Mesmer is called the "father of hypnosis." And his followers called his method, "mesmerism," giving us the words mesmerize and mesmerizing.