ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

Contested Mesmerism, a Plural Medical Science in Global Perspective

Session Submission Type: Organized Session

English Abstract

Animal magnetism is a medical theory and practice invented in the 1770s by German physician Franz Anton Mesmer, hence the name mesmerism, by which it is often referred to. Mesmerism posits the existence of a universal fluid whose action on living beings is beneficial to their health and whose disruption can cause illness. Despite, or perhaps because of, its success, mesmerism has been a highly controversial medical theory since its invention. Despite being condemned in 1784 by an official academic commission, which deemed it unfounded and even dangerous, mesmerism continued to attract patients and arouse the interest of doctors and public opinion throughout Europe and even beyond throughout the 19th century. At the same time, mesmerism was changing and diversifying. Magnetic somnambulism, or hypnosis, which Mesmer himself was not very fond of, was becoming increasingly central to the practice. Theories of animal magnetism themselves multiplied and its practitioners clashed. At the same time, opponents of mesmerism did not give up, and the controversy surrounding it continued throughout the century.
In this session, we will examine, through a few specific examples, the spread of mesmerism and its mutations, as well as the lively debates it sparked. This will be an opportunity to highlight the importance of this subject and the dynamism of ongoing research, which is profoundly renewing our knowledge of it.

Sub Unit

• Organized Session

Chair

• Bruno BELHOSTE, Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne

Individual Presentations

• The Diffusion of Mesmerism in Switzerland (1780s) : a Largely Uncontested Practice - Lisa Magnin, Université de Fribourg (Suisse)

• A magnetic triangle: Malta between Paris and Italy - Armando David, ISPF/CNR

• From South Asia to Europe and Back Again: Inter-Imperial Circulations of Mesmeric Theory and Practice, 18th-19th Centuries - Kapil Raj, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales

• Publications on mesmerism between 1780 and 1870: a bibliographical analysis of a contested medical science - Bruno BELHOSTE, Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne