The 18th century gave mankind not only musicians, writers and scientists, but also an amazing breed of pseudo-scientific figures, out of nothing capable of making an ingenious discovery, a multi-step intrigue or a deafening scandal. The true master in all these matters was Franz Anton Mesmer, who, nevertheless, is considered the founder of modern hypnosis.
Art lover, connoisseur of people
The future "father of hypnosis" was born in 1734 in a small German town in the venerable family of a gamekeeper. As expected in those days, little Franz received a very versatile education: the boy studied philosophy, law, theology and rhetoric, but in the end he chose the medical path.
He entered medical school at the University of Vienna, but studied without much zeal and graduated only at the age of 32 with his thesis "On the influence of stars and planets as healing forces." The topic, as we can see, was not entirely medical. The content of the work caused confusion among the examiners: Mesmer announced in it that the constellations are capable of influencing a person through a mysterious force, the so-called "world fluid" that permeates the entire Universe, and at the same time human beings.
The dissertation had little to do with science, but it was all filled with mysticism, and it remains a mystery why it was accepted. Apparently, Mesmer was eloquent enough and managed to convince the commission that he was right.
After becoming a doctor, Mesmer was in no hurry to delve into medicine. He made acquaintance with a rich widow, married happily and took up what his heart was in - music, home theater and the organization of noisy parties. At that time Haydn, Mozart, Gluck and other famous musicians were regulars in his salon.
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The owner himself played the cello, clavier, and even personally built a glass harmonica, the sound of which was praised by all the guests. He could have been in high society for a long time, if not for an annoying surprise: Mesmer suddenly ran out of money. This is not surprising, since holidays, home theater performances and other social expenses required hefty funds.
Anyone would be discouraged, but not Mesmer. The medical degree was still valid and made it possible to earn a living, although perhaps not as luxurious as before. True, Mesmer was going to furnish medical practice with theatrical entertainment, and for this it was necessary to come up with a fundamentally new method of treatment. And chance allowed Mesmer to discover such a method just when the need arose.
The basis of the universe
In the summer of 1774, a visiting Englishman turned to the astronomer Maximilian Gell with a request to make a magnet of a special shape for his wife to treat stomach cuts.
Gell told Mesmer about the unusual order, who instantly jumped at an interesting idea. Less than a month later, he had already tested miraculous magnets on one of his patients. Fraulein Esterline suffered from migraines, hysterical fits, seizures and vomiting, and none of the remedies Mesmer suggested helped her. But as soon as you put a few strong magnets on the girl's chest, the seizures sharply intensified and almost immediately stopped.
After several sessions, the patient was completely cured, and Mesmer made an attempt to present his newest method to his fellow scientists. In scientific circles, he did not have success, which did not prevent the innovator from opening his own clinic and starting treatment with magnets on an ever-increasing scale.
In order for the treatment to have a scientific basis, Mesmer invented the theory of so-called animal magnetism, according to which everything around - from nature to living things - is permeated with magnetic fluids. A person should be considered healthy if his fluids move through the body correctly. But as soon as the magnetic lines distort at least a little, the body becomes ill. To get rid of them, it is necessary to use magnets capable of directing magnetic currents in the right direction.
As time went on, the number of patients grew exponentially, and Mesmer began to think about the accumulation of magnetic fluids, which could provide treatment at the same time to entire groups of patients.
After a little reflection, he invented a "tub of health" - a large wooden vat in which there were bottles with magnetized water. The bottles were connected to steel plates around an iron bar, from which wires led to the diseased organs of the patients. Patients sat around the unit, touching each other with their hands, which ensured better fluid permeability. During the sessions, Mesmer moved along the circle of patients, intently gazing each of them in turn in the eyes.
The fame of the healer grew so quickly that soon the wonderful tub could no longer cope with the healing of those who wanted. Mesmer, however, was only pleased. He magnetized an entire marble pool, and then also the trees in his park, so that the vibes soared unrestrictedly everywhere. It would seem that all these dubious actions were much more like quackery than a new word in medicine, but the number of patients not only did not decrease, but, on the contrary, increased.
The success was so evident that the Bavarian Academy of Sciences solemnly elected Mesmer as its member. However, this was the first and last example of official recognition of the works of the magnetizer. Published 27 theses on animal magnetism have not found a response in any scientific community. The Berlin Academy of Sciences called Mesmer a dreamer and branded his method as flawed.
It remained to be comforted by the number of recovered patients and the financial success of the enterprise. The treatment with fluids seemed to go on. as usual, but Mesmer was haunted by one inexplicable oddity, to which at first he did not pay attention at all.
This is the power of the magnetizer himself
In some patients, miraculous cures occurred even before the effects of the magnets, as a result of just one conversation with the healer. Mesmer once worked with a group of deaf and voiceless women. As soon as he went out to the patients and carefully examined them, two of them immediately regained their hearing and voice, and several more ladies felt a noticeable improvement.
No one noticed, of course, that the magnets hadn't come down to it, but Mesmer himself was at a loss. Obviously, in a number of cases, the therapeutic effect on patients was not exerted at all by magnets, to which the doctor attributed a miraculous effect, but by Mesmer himself, his personality, bewitching eyes and hand passes. The magnetizer lacked only one step to a real scientific discovery: suggestion sometimes works on patients better than any medicine. But fearful for a well-functioning harmonious treatment regimen, Mesmer stubbornly continued to develop the idea of miraculous fluids permeating the universe.
Physicians all over Europe unanimously regarded him as a charlatan and, little by little, with increasing zeal, ridiculed his method. Anonymous articles appeared, poetic libels about a deceiving doctor, but they did not dare to openly poison him for a long time. However, soon Mesmer's enemies were presented with the opportunity to pretty much spoil his medical reputation.
Once a healer was approached by a certain Maria Theresia von Paradise, who was blinded in early childhood. This girl was such a talented musician that the empress herself patronized her. The best ophthalmologists in Vienna did not help Mary to see clearly, they considered her blindness incurable due to damage to the optic nerves.
Mesmer, however, found the nature of her ailment hysterical and took up treatment. Magnetism did not disappoint: the girl partially regained her sight. But a specially assembled medical council ruled that the return of vision was instilled in the patient, but in fact there was no improvement. As a result, Maria again became completely blind, and an unheard-of scandal erupted.
The healer had to abandon all acquired property and clientele and leave Germany. First he moved to Switzerland, and after a while he found himself in Paris.
End of an adventurous biography
It must be admitted that Mesmer got to Paris on time. On the eve of the revolution, French society, more than ever, was interested in magic, fortune telling and the like. The miraculous methods of the German physician made a splash in Parisian living rooms. Mesmer's popularity grew day by day, everyone was interested in him, from the common people to the royal couple.
Mesmer himself did not consider himself a sorcerer and did not find anything mystical in his theory. On the contrary, he believed that he was healing on the basis of a rigorous scientific theory, and passionately wanted to gain recognition in the scientific world. But the French Academy of Sciences, having received unflattering reviews about Mesmer from its Viennese colleagues, completely ignored the dubious magnetism. And although the success of the healer in the French salons was absolute, scientists were in no hurry to recognize the new method.
Louis XVI issued a decree obliging the scientific world to make the final decision on Mesmer's methods. The commission firmly stated in its conclusion that no animal magnetism exists, but noted something in the personality of the physician: “Everything is determined by the man himself, who magnetizes the patients … There is undoubtedly a force that controls the actions of man and subordinates them to himself. This is the power of the magnetizer himself."
The verdict was final and took away from Mesmer any hope of gaining recognition among his colleagues. Deprived of further meaning of existence, he left for Switzerland and lived there in the wilderness for several more decades so unnoticed that many believed him dead.
Even during his lifetime, Mesmer found followers, but he himself died forgotten. Stefan Zweig wrote about him: "There is hardly an example of such a rapid fall from the top of noisy glory into the abyss of oblivion and obscurity in the whole world history …"
Ekaterina KRAVTSOVA