Franz Anton Mesmer
The modern era of hypnosis and hypnotherapy really begins with Franz Anton Mesmer (), the Viennese physician who left the word “mesmerism” to posterity. For various reasons, he also gave hypnosis the rather unsalubrious reputation that still persists in some quarters today.
Of course, as we now know, hypnosis and trance states are fundamental human traits, which have been around for as long as humanity itself. Ancient texts from Egypt, China, Greece and Rome all describe practices that we might now regard as hypnotic. For example, a 3rd Century CE papyrus discovered at Thebes describes a divinatory rite, in which a boy slave is entranced by the flickering flames of an oil lamp in order to give oracular advice (I).
It would, of course, be wrong to speak about “ancient hypnotherapy”, since most of the suggestive historical examples we have concern magical practices, rather than healing per se (although magic is often concerned with healing, of course). Mesmer was the first to lead hypnotism out of the realms of the occult and into scientific study, although some might argue that he didn’t lead it very far!
As a young man, Mesmer studied theology and
The Super-Enlightenment
by Jessica Riskin,
Associate professor of History,
Stanford University
Franz Anton Mesmer, a doctor from the Swabian village of Iznang, was born on 23 May , the third of nine children of a gamekeeper and forest warden to the Archbishop of Constance. Mesmer tried philosophy, theology and law before settling upon medicine, receiving his degree from the University of Vienna in for a dissertation on the influence of the planets upon the human body entitled Dissertatio physico-medica de planetarum influxu. Influenced by the views of the 16th century alchemist Paracelsus, the dissertation was also largely plagiarized from the English physician Richard Mead's De imperio solis ac lunae in corpora humana et morbis inde oriundis (). Mesmer joined the medical faculty at the University of Vienna in and, the following year, married a rich widow, Maria Anna von Posch. Her fortune supported her husband's burgeoning career, though her justifiably suspicious family placed increasing constraints on his access to it, while her luxurious estate in the Landstrasse offered a venue for the sumptuous musical soirées he liked to host. (Mesmer was a music e
Franz Anton Mesmer
Franz Anton Mesmer (May 23, – March 5, ), sometimes referred to as Friedrich Anton Mesmer, was a German physician with an interest in astronomy, who theorized that there was a natural energetic transference that occurred between all animate and inanimate objects that he called "animal magnetism". His methods were of considerable interest to Theosophists.
While he did not seem to be aware of the psychological implications of the power of suggestions on the human psyche, he paved the way for the discovery of hypnosis and for a scientific awareness of the subconscious mind and its functions. [1]
His followers adored him as a charismatic healer, and he repelled critics all the more because he surrounded himself with an aura of the supernatural.
Early Years
Franz Anton Mesmer, the third of nine children, was born on May 23, in Iznang, a small German village in the parish of Weiler on Lake Constance, close to the Swiss border. His father, Anton Mesmer, has been described as a simple and religious man. He was a forester employed by the Archbishop of Constance. His mother, Marie Ursula, the daughter of a locksmith, was kind and patient.
Franz Anton Mesmer
Early life
Let us however survey the captivating story of his life [1]: F. Anton Mesmer was born on 23 May , in the village of Iznang near Radolfszell, which lies by the shores of Lake Constance in Swabia.
Radolfszell in an old postcard
He attended the school run by the Jesuits, both on account, ostensibly, of the protection extended to him by the Bishop of Constance, which Mesmer’s father served as his personal forester, and on account of the brilliant innate qualities of his intellect. Mesmer grew up by the countryside. His eyes had the advantage of being enchanted by sublime landscapes: The blue waters of the lake reflected the lofty peaks which were coated by snow all the way till spring.
Iznang, in front of Radolszell in an ancient postcard
When spring came, the trees would be covered by red and white flowers.
Every season brought with it its own distinct kind of sensations. Nature’s giant book was thrown open in front of his sight.
A photo of the lake of Constance near Iznang
He drew indeed greater benefit from Nature’s teaching than those he received from his sc
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