First edition of a famous (or infamous) treatise by Anton Mesmer (1733-1815) on the medical and healing use of magnetism and the healing magnetic power in his own hands, which he called "animal magnetism". His theories gave us the English word "mesmerize". Mesmer was an Austrian physician who believed that a magnetic fluid pervades the universe, is present in every living being and affects the nervous system. A blockage in this system, could prevent the magnetic energy from flowing throughout the body, which would provoke illnesses. Mesmer thought that he could redress the energetic imbalances with the use of magnetism.
Mesmer did not produce any proof of his theory or describe his experiments so they could be scientifically replicated by others. Mesmer and his imitators relied on an extensive collection of case studies, which they used as propaganda for their theories. Mesmerism became a controversial issue that attracted a great deal of public attention. In the present pamphlet Memoire sur la découverte du magnétisme animal (1779) and another Précis historique des faits relatifs au magnétisme animal (1781), Mesmer first outlined his ideas on magnetism and especially animal magnetism with only limited polemics. The present book therefore gives Mesmers first account of his theories.
The notion that Mesmers techniques did bring benefits due to his patients suggestibility made Mesmer an unwitting pioneer of psychotherapy: Freud carried out his first experiments on hypnotic patients and Jungs belief that consciousness could transcend time and space brought him quite close to mesmerism.
In very good condition. En Français dans le texte (1990), 171; Kelly, p. 285; Morton 4992.1; Printing and the mind of man 225; Vijselaar, De magnetische geest: het dierlijk magnetisme 1770-1830 (2001), pp.17-39, 68-70; for the author: DSB IX, pp. 325-327.