An Introduction to the Study of Animal Magnetism

and affect in a similar manner all organized bodies through the medium of a subtle and mobile fluid, which he conceived pervaded the universe, and associated all things together in mutual intercourse and harmony. About this time, the mineral magnet was held in much repute as a therapeutical agent, and Father Hell, a Jesuit and professor of astronomy at Vienna, invented steel plates of a peculiar form, which he applied with much success in the treatment of various diseases.

The medicinal efficacy of these mineral plates he imagined depended on their form; but Mesmer soon discovered that, although their application apparently produced certain manifest effects, he could induce the same effects without using them at all, simply by passing his hands from the patient's head downwards toward the feet, even at a distance from the body. He therefore concluded that the magnetic property, which he termed animal magnetism, originated in himself, and that he could communicate it at pleasure to organized or unorganized bodies. In 1773–1774, he undertook the treatment of a girl named Æsterline, who had been afflicted for several years with severe convulsive fits, based on this principle. In this case, he thought he observed the flux and reflux of this fluid, and he also noticed that after every crisis she was relieved. He communicated his discovery and his method of operation without reserve to Baron de Stoërck, president of the faculty of medicine at Vienna, and first physician to his Majesty. His advice to Mesmer was on no account to publish his discovery, as such an innovation in medical practice would inevitably expose him to the censure and hostility of the faculty. But notwithstanding this admonition, Mesmer adopted, in