Franz Anton Mesmer; a history of mesmerism

Images show the book's cover and title page. The book is the first full-length biography of Mesmer, written by a journalist who had also written about the lives of Christina of Sweden and Frederick the Great. This popular study of Mesmer idealizes him, depicting him as consistently honest, patient and ethical and his opponents as selfish and bigoted. Though reasonably accurate in its facts, it is marred by the pretense that the biographer has access to her subject's thoughts: "Mesmer was haunted by a nagging curiosity about the healing fiuidum… " (p. 58). The book begins with a summary of medical cures by suggestion beginning with the ancient Greeks and ends with the role of suggestion in late nineteenth century spiritualism.
Archival master image scanned as 8-bit RGB color TIFF using Indus BookScanner 9000. Display image is 8-bit 150 dpi JPG, quality rating 8, generated from uncompressed archival TIFF using Adobe Photoshop CC 2015 (64-bit).

Publisher

Garden City, N.Y. : Doubleday, Doran & Company
Wichita State University Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives, http://specialcollections.wichita.edu

Digital Collection

Tinterow Collection of Mesmerism, Animal Magnetism, and Hypnotism

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/10057/40625

Use and Reproduction

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Collections

Tinterow Collection of Mesmerism, Animal Magnetism, and Hypnotism