|
|
.state was a sleep, in which the ideas and actions of the magnetized person
could be directed by the magnetizer. Whether Mesmer knew of this condition or
not is uncertain, but it seems to me probable that he did. About the same time
Petetin, a doctor of Lyons, occupied himself with magnetism ; besides catalepsy,
Petetin describes phenomena of sense-transference (hearing with the stomach).
The French Revolution and the wars repressed the investigation of magnet-ism
in France until about the year 1813.
In Germany, animal magnetism was recognized at the same time in two different
places—on the Upper Rhine and in Bremen. In the year 1786 Lavater paid
a visit to Bremen, and exhibited the magnetizing processes to several doctors,
particularly to Wienholt, through whom Albers, Bicker, and later on Heineken,
were likewise made acquainted with magnetism (Sierke, Wienholt). Bremen was
for a long time a
HISTORY OF HYPNOTISM. 9
focus of the new doctrine ; the town was often even brought into bad repute
in the rest of Germany on account of the general dislike to animal magnetism.
About the same time the new doctrine spread from Strassburg over the Rhine provinces;
Bi ckmann, of Carlsruhe, and Gmelin, of Heilbronn, occupied themselves with
it ; later on they were joined by Pezold, of Dresden. Getting encouragement
from Bremen, people began to make experiments in other parts of Germany. Selle,
of Berlin, brought forward, in 1789, a series of experiments made at the Charite,
by which he confirmed a part of the, alleged phenomena, but excluded all that
was supernatural (clairvoyance). In Berlin magnetism was taken up by the Court.
According to Vehse, magnetizers flocked to the palace where Frederick-William
II. lay ill; and one of them in particular, a Parisian named de Beaunnoir, tried
to induce Countess Lichtenau to obtain his admission to the sick-chamber. He
advised the imposition of a magnetic hand to ensure the king's recovery, and
asserted that his own, or the Parisian de Puyegsur's, or Count Brnhl's would
suffice.
Notwithstanding the early dislike to it, magnetism finally gained ground in
Germany. It flourished very much during the first twenty years of the nineteenth
century, and many journals were devoted to its advocacy. In Austria only it
made no progress; indeed the exercise of animal magnetism was forbidden in the
whole of Austria in 1815. In the rest of Germany, however, many doctors began
|
|