An Introduction to the Study of Animal Magnetism

them to practical application. This eminent individual was born at Mersburg, in Swabia, on May 23, 1734, and studied medicine at Vienna, where he attended the lectures of Van Swieten and De Haen, and received his medical degree in 1766. He was a man of quick perception, vivid imagination, and a persevering disposition. His inaugural dissertation, which he published and publicly defended, was on the influence of the planets on the human body,The fact that Mesmer chose an astrological subject—the influence of the planets on the human body—for his dissertation exposed him to considerable derision. However, it should not be forgotten that many men of high medical reputation have not disdained the same inquiry. In 1704, the eminent Mead published his Latin treatise "On the Power and Influence of the Sun and Moon on the Human Body, and the Diseases which arise from them." In 1747, Richter published at Göttingen an essay, "De Potestate Solis Humanum Corpus" (On the Power of the Sun on the Human Body). In 1795, Balfour published a treatise on "Sol-lunar Influence in Fevers," and in 1806, Murat another, "De l'Influence de la Nuit sur les Maladies" (On the Influence of the Night on Diseases). A host of authorities, ancient and modern, could be cited to the same effect. In fact, many physicians of the present day believe that sol-lunar influence affects the course of certain diseases, especially nervous and mental affections. Even if their views concerning the direct nature of this influence are erroneous, it remains certain that the human body, in health and in disease, is materially influenced by atmospheric changes. How far the relative positions of the heavenly bodies might disturb its equilibrium or otherwise affect its conditions remains a curious problem for those interested in meteorology. In selecting this subject for his thesis, Mesmer was not guilty of the extravagance that many—ignorant of the existing evidence—have attributed to him. wherein he maintained that the sun, moon, and fixed stars mutually affect each other in their orbits; that they cause and direct a flux and reflux on our earth, not only in the sea, but in the atmosphere;