Animal Magnetism - Mesmerism and Hypnosis

Mesmerism and Hypnosis

Abbé Faria was one of the disciples of Mesmer who continued with Mesmer’s work following the conclusions of the Royal Commission. In the early 19th century, Abbé Faria introduced oriental hypnosis to Paris. Faria conducted experiments to prove that “no special force was necessary for the production of the mesmeric phenomena such as the trance, but that the determining cause lay within the subject himself;” in other words, that it worked purely by the power of suggestion.

Hypnosis originates from the practice of Mesmerism, being an attempt at what the surgeon James Braid described as "rational mesmerism". Braid based his methods of hypnotism directly on the practice of Mesmerism, but applied a more rational explanation for how the process worked. The term “hypnotism” was coined and introduced by Braid.

Hypnosis did not replace mesmerism at the end of the nineteenth century, but still existed alongside it. In fact, magnetism, and its variants, continued to be defended by serious students during the late nineteenth and into the twentieth century. Ideas, similar to the concept of animal magnetism, are still with us in many guises.