An Introduction to the Study of Animal Magnetism

...convinced me that, in addition to those principles already admitted in the sciences, others existed that had been neglected. I repeatedly said to myself, "So long as the principles of the sciences remain uncertain or false, the efforts of the greatest geniuses for the happiness and instruction of their fellow-creatures can be of no avail." I then compared medical men to travelers who have lost their way and go further and further off the right road, instead of turning back to discover their mistake.

In 1775, desiring to further pursue his research, Mesmer traveled into Swabia and Switzerland. At the public hospitals at Berne and Zurich, in the presence of numerous physicians, he performed many remarkable cures. On his return to Vienna, he passed through Munich, where his highness the Elector of Bavaria consulted him and sought an explanation of his reported wonders. Accordingly, Mesmer performed the magnetic operation on several patients in his presence and convinced him of the truth of the doctrine. The Académie des Sciences (Academy of Sciences) of Bavaria shortly afterwards elected him a member—an honor which Mesmer, in the present probationary state of the science, could not fail to have appreciated. He therefore, in 1776, made a second journey into Bavaria and was equally successful, curing, among many other interesting cases, M. D’Osterwald, director of the Academy of Munich, who had been suffering under partial amaurosis (loss of sight) and paralysis. He then returned again to Vienna, where he continued treating a variety of cases magnetically, some account of which was published in an anonymous pamphlet titled, “Recueil des Cures Opérées par le Magnétisme” (Collection of Cures Effected by Magnetism). Printed in Leipzig, 1778.