Franz Anton Mesmer

MADE THE FIRST EFFORTS
      . . . to bring Hypnosis into the realm of science, in the Western World, during the eighteenth-century!    He attempted to describe human illness on the basis of disturbances of the ^«Universal Fluids^» in which mankind and, indeed, all the planets were immersed.   Although he did not directly conceive of the concept of the human unconscious, he was first to focus the attention of the scientific community upon those observations, which ultimately led to developing the concept of the Human Unconsious.

      Debate over the actual nature of the hypnotic trance has fallen into two major categories:  the physiological one which views Hypnosis as an Alteration in the brain;  and the psychological one which considers the hypnotic trance to be a unique Interpersonal relationship between the Hypnotist and his subject.

      Early in its development, Hypnosis was considered to be the product of some mysterious emenation from the hypnotist which impacted upon his subject.   This idea had been maintained by Dr. Mesmer and his followers, ^«Mesmerists,^» along with their theory of  Animal Magnetism (...Mesmerism).

   Another manifestation of this idea was that of the notion of Transference;  in which the pathological phenomena exhibited by an hysteric could be transmitted to another person through physical contact, the other person thereby serving as a vehicle of cure.

      Dr. Mesmer (1781) practiced a form of therapy in Paris and later in Vienna that alienated most of his fellow physicians, but attracted thousands of patients.    This theraputic technique was referred to as the Magnetic Pass.    He believed his cures were mediated through the use and power of Magnets.

As an example:

      The patient and therapist sat opposite each other with knees touching.   The therapist would move his magnet filled hands down from the patient's head to his groin in repeated sweeping passes.   The patient responds initially by feeling warmth spreading over his body, and finally by surrendering to the theraputic crisis with convulsions (resembling hysterical seizures), from which he would awaken symptom free!

      Mesmer's theoretical formulations were baised in part on the ideas of scientific and philosophical predecessors who saw in the movement of the planets evidence of a universal magnetic attraction.
      Mesmer, with this idea in mind, proposed that while in a state of good health, this universal magnetic fluid flowed freely through the animal body;  that disease was a result of the pathological blockage of this fluid's flow through the human organs;  and that a cure resulted when the therapist caused fluid to enter the body of his patient and to flow within it with sufficient force so as to break through the pathological blockages (using the ^«magnetic pass^»), thus resulting in normal balance.
            This gave rise to the idea that
Animal Magnetism (as Mesmer termed it), was a universal fact that underlay both illness and its cure.

      Louis XVI, appointed the Royal Commissioners to investigate Dr. Mesmer's activities.   By a series of controlled experiments, they showed that patients were cured if they merely thought they had been magentized when, in fact, magnetic procedures had not been carried out at all.   The effects of this alleged animal magnetic fluid, they concluded, were merely the result of the mesmerist's imagination.    In 1784, they determined animal magentism to be an anathema.   Having damned the theory, they proceeded to derogate the facts and urged the banning of magnetic therapy as a dangerous and immoral practice.

      Dr. Mesmer eventually left Paris in disgust, leaving behind many followers (mostly laymen) who carried out his work and ideas.   One such follower being Armand Chastenet - Marquis de Puysègur.    Ultimately Mesmer leaned on astronomy, in an attempt to go beyond mere observation of the phenomena.

            It was the Idea of a Human Unconscious that became deeply Compelling to the Scientific Community !