Allen Esterson wrote: > On 28 August 2008 Chris Green wrote: > >> It's about the history of mesmerism in Victorian England. >> Mesmerism had a long and interesting life well after the Franklin >> commission (which, despite the claims of most history of >> psych textbooks, convinced few that nothing was going on). >> > > It is of more than a little interest to read the view of a perspicacious > British author on Mesmerism, published in 1841. In *Extraordinary Popular > Delusions and the Madness of Crowds* Charles Mackay says about the 1784 > Franklin commission report: "For clearness of reasoning and strict > impartiality it has never been surpassed." He goes on to say that the > report "was the ruin of Mesmer's reputation in France... [...] But the > seeds he had sown fructified of themselves, nourished and brought to > maturity by the kindly warmth of popular credulity. Imitators sprung up in > France, German, and England, more extravagant than their master, and > claiming powers for the new science which its founder had never dreamt of." >
Yes, well, there was a nasty ongoing debate about Mesmerism throughout the much of 19th century (it cost John Eliotson his job at UCL), so it is not surprising that some on the side "opposed" would make definitive statements like this, much as politicians do today about matters that are anything but definitively decided. Although it does seem to be true that Mesmer himself "retired" back to Austria sometime after the Franklin commission's pronouncement, there is more than a small element of /post hoc ergo propter hoc/ here because it was also the time of the French Revolution, which drove almost all foreigners out of the country. Perhaps more interestingly, it was a Frenchman, Charles Dupotet, who started the enormous popularity of "magnetism" (as he called it; "Mesmerism" was a term mostly used derisively by its critics) in England in the 1830s (so apparently the practice had not been wiped out in France by the Franklin commission, despite what its opponents liked to claim). Regards, Chris -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ "Part of respecting another person is taking the time to criticise his or her views." - Melissa Lane, in a /Guardian/ obituary for philosopher Peter Lipton ================================= --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
