Although Mesmer met with resistance from the scientific community, it is important to note that he did in fact cure thousands of people. The high level of success in healing with the Mesmeric method was undeniable. In the early decades of the nineteenth century, Mesmerism was the most commonly used Western method of surgical pain-relief beyond drinking ethyl alcohol. Americans lapped up the Mesmeric cure eagerly, and Mesmerists touring the country helped cure many legitimately incurable diseases;
Evidently, Americans felt mesmerism treated the whole person rather than isolated complaints. They believed that the mesmerizing process helped them to reestablish inner harmony with the very source of physical and emotional well-being. While in their mesmeric state, they learned that disease and even moral confusion were but the unfortunate consequences of having fallen out of rapport with the invisible spiritual workings of the universe.14
The downfall of Mesmerism, in the eyes of the scientific community, was essentially twofold. Firstly, it was due to a woman, and secondly, it was due to large groups of women.
The first woman involved was Marie Antoinette. At the time of her acquaintance with Mesmer, Marie Antoinette was the wife of King Louis XVI. Marie became enraptured with Mesmer and took to visiting him incessantly for “healing” sessions. She helped fund his institute and provided him with salon audiences of the most prestigious sort in Paris. It wasn’t long before the king took offense to his wife’s growing interest in this powerfully magnetic individual, and he took actions against Mesmer and his theories. In 1784, King Louis XVI appointed commissioners to investigate animal magnetism. These included the chemist Antoine Lavoisier, the physician Joseph-Ignace Guillotin,15 the astronomer Jean Sylvain Bailly and the American ambassador Benjamin Franklin.16 The commission conducted a series of experiments aimed not at determining whether Mesmer’s treatment worked, but whether he had discovered a new physical fluid. The commission concluded that there was no evidence of such a fluid, even though in every case the treatments were effective. The committee also concluded that magnetic treatment was hazardous to women, since its effects might destroy their sexual inhibitions, a ruling which was most probably influenced by the involvement of Marie Antoinette in the matter. Mesmer was stigmatized as a deviant and accused of using his powers for the seduction of the fairer sex. He was forced to leave Paris and return to Vienna, lest Guillotin engage the use of his favorite device.
The second group of women who brought about the decline of Mesmerism were the spiritualists and mediums of America. Spiritualism, which tried to communicate with the spirit world through the use of mediums, was a popular movement in America from the 1840s through the 1930s. The spiritual mediums of the day found that once they were put into a Mesmeric trance, or hypnotized, their clairvoyant abilities increased considerably. Once word spread of this phenomenon, every medium adapted Mesmeric practices, claiming them for the spiritualist movement.
Due to the resulting quackery, doctors were forced to abandon the techniques. Before long, no self-respecting doctor in the country would go near a Mesmerist. This is a true tragedy because, at the time, Mesmerism was being studied extensively by the medical community for use as anesthesia during surgeries. Most Mesmerists ended up becoming spiritualists, as that was the fad at the time, and they followed the most plausible source of income.
When table-turning and spirit-rapping were introduced into this country from America, the Mesmerists soon identified the mysterious force which caused the phenomena with the mesmeric or neuro-vital fluid. A little later, when the trance and its manifestations were exploited in the interests of the new gospel of Spiritualism, many of the English Mesmerists, who had been prepared by the utterances of their own clairvoyants for some such development, proclaimed themselves adherents of the new faith.17
The last nail in the coffin of Mesmerism would come not from any of these ladies, but from an actual Mesmerist: Phineas Quimby was ultimately responsible for all but eradicating Mesmerism from America, by transforming it into his own brand of “Mind Cure.” There was a time when Quimby was considered the most famous and accomplished Mesmerist in America.18 When Quimby turned on Mesmerism, the American followers turned with him, investigating instead the Christian Science method of healing.
Phineas Quimby’s Mesmeric Adventures
Every phenomenon in the natural world has its origin in the spiritual world.
—Phineas Quimby
It was in 1838 that Quimby learned of Mesmerism by attending a lecture by a Dr. Collyer, and he shortly thereafter set about becoming a Mesmerist. Quimby went through spurts of success and failure with treating patients for many years, until finally he found one individual whom he could influence no matter the situation.
This patient was a young boy named Lucius Burkmar. Lucius appeared not only to be prone to Quimby’s influence, but to actually possess clairvoyant abilities of his own. Quimby discovered that Lucius could in fact diagnose the diseases of others with great accuracy.
One day Lucius offered a diagnosis for Quimby himself, who had been suffering considerable back pain that he had never mentioned to Lucius. Lucius told Quimby that his kidney was detaching, and he proceeded to pass his hands over the area, telling Quimby it was now fixed. Afterwards, Quimby never again felt a pain in this area, and was effectively cured. This lead Quimby to believe that Lucius was reading his mind, and convincing him that his ailment did not exist.
Phineas Quimby’s son George wrote about his father’s life and curious healing techniques for New England Magazine in 1888:
Mr. Quimby was of medium height, small in stature, his weight being about one hundred and twenty-five pounds; quick motioned and nervous, with piercing black eyes, black hair and whiskers; a well-shaped, well-balanced head; high, broad forehead, a rather prominent nose, and a mouth indicating strength and firmness of will; persistent in what he undertook, and not easily defeated or discouraged.
In the course of his trials with subjects, he met with a young man named Lucius Burkmar, over whom he had the most wonderful influence; and it is not stating it too strongly to assert that with him he made some of the most astonishing exhibitions of mesmerism and clairvoyance that have been given in modern times . . .
Mr. Quimby’s manner of operating with his subject was to sit opposite to him, holding both his hands in his, and looking him intently in the eye for a short time, when the subject would go into that state known as the mesmeric sleep, which was more properly a peculiar condition of mind and body, in which the natural senses would or would not operate at the will of Mr. Quimby. When conducting his experiments, all communications on the part of Mr. Quimby with Lucius were mentally given, the subject replying as if spoken to aloud. . . .
It should be remembered that at the time Mr. Quimby was giving these exhibitions, the phenomenon was looked upon in a far different light from that of the present day. At that time it was a deception, a fraud, and a humbug; Mr. Quimby was vilified and frequently threatened with mob violence, as the exhibitions smacked too strongly of witchcraft to suit the people.
As the subject gained more prominence, thoughtful men began to investigate the matter, and Mr. Quimby was often called upon to have his subject examine the sick. He would put Lucius into the mesmeric state, [and Lucius] would then examine the patient, describe his disease, and prescribe remedies for its cure.
After a time Mr. Quimby became convinced that whenever the subject examined a patient, his diagnosis of the case would be identical [to] what either the patient himself or someone present believed, instead of Lucius really looking into the patient, and giving the true condition of the organs; in fact, [Quimby believed] that he was reading the opinion in the mind of someone, rather than stating a truth acquired by himself.
Becoming firmly satisfied that this was the case, and having seen how one mind could influence another, and how much there was that