Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815) was a German physician and unwitting magus with an interest in healing and astronomy.
From a young age, Mesmer was gifted with exceptionally powerful magic circuits, and an affinity towards detecting and manipulating
. His condition was an extremely rare one, and with proper training, there was no doubt that he could have become a top-tier magus. However, such a thing never came to pass. Born to a non-mage family and lacking resources to properly cultivate his talent, his gift only manifested as superhuman healing ability. Seeking an explanation for his gift, Mesmer took up the study of medicine at the University of Vienna in 1759.
Mesmer finished his education in just a few years, but he failed to find a satisfying explanation for his gift. It was then that he started devising his own theories. In 1766 he published a doctoral dissertation with the Latin title
De Planetarum Influxu in Corpus Humanum (On the Influence of the Planets on the Human Body), which discussed the influence of the moon and the planets on the human body and on disease. Building largely on Isaac Newton's theory of the tides, Mesmer expounded on certain tides in the human body that might be accounted for by the movements of the sun and moon.
In 1768, Mesmer married Anna Maria von Posch, a wealthy widow, and established himself as a doctor in Vienna. While treating his patients, he never stopped looking for answers and furthering his theories on the nature of his gift. Due to his so-called "miracle-working" services, Mesmer's clinic was soon flooded by clients, earning him enough money to buy a large estate and become a patron of the arts. When court intrigue prevented the performance of
La Finta Semplice, for which the twelve-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had composed 500 pages of music, Mesmer is said to have arranged a performance in his garden of Mozart's
Bastien und Bastienne, a one-act opera. After he was acquainted with the prodigious composer, Mesmer continued to offer his support to him. Mozart would later immortalize his patron by including a comedic reference to Mesmer in his opera
Così fan tutte.
Over the years, Mesmer's reputation continued to grow as he expanded on his theories and healed more people. In 1778, he moved to Paris and opened a new clinic to broaden his horizons. The psychological disorders that were the focus of much of Mesmer's treatment were the hysterical disorders, in which people lose functioning or feeling in some part of the body for no apparent physiological reason. His patients sat in darkness around a tub containing various chemicals, and the affected areas of their bodies were prodded by iron rods emerging from the tub. With music playing, Mesmer emerged wearing an elaborate robe, touching each patient as he passed by, supposedly realigning people's magnetic fluids through his own powerful magnetic force. This process, Mesmer said, cured a variety of illnesses, including psychological disorders.
Once he had perfected his theories, Mesmer tried and failed to get either the Royal Academy of Sciences or the Royal Society of Medicine to provide official approval for his doctrines. He found only one physician of high professional and social standing, Charles d'Eslon, to become a disciple. In 1779, with d'Eslon's encouragement, Mesmer wrote an 88-page book,
Mémoire sur la Découverte du Magnétisme Animal, to which he appended his famous 27 Propositions. These propositions outlined his theory at that time. Some contemporary scholars equate Mesmer's animal magnetism with the
Qi (chi) of traditional Chinese medicine and mesmerism with medical
Qigong practices.
That was the beginning of his downfall. While Mesmer had a small group of devoted followers, Mesmer was considered an outcast by most of the scientific community. In 1784, further investigation was held by a special committee from the Royal Academy of Sciences. This committee included chemist Antoine Lavoisier, the doctor Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, the astronomer Jean Sylvain Bailly, and the American ambassador Benjamin Franklin. At the end of their investigation, the committee found no proof on the legitimacy of Mesmer's theories and branded him a fraud. From then on, while Mesmer still kept his clinic open, his career took a downward spiral. Less and less people sought his services, and many considered him to be nothing more than a delusional fool. Mesmer died in obscurity in 1815, still devoting his final years to help anyone who would believe him. While a small number of his followers remained, it would take about half a century until his works were reexamined and developed into more acceptable scientific theories. One of Mesmer's followers, Jean-Martin Charcot, tutored neurologist Sigmund Freud, who would later develop Mesmer's theories further, becoming the basis of psychoanalysis.