MESMER, Friedrich (or Franz) Anton, fred'ric an'ton German physician: b. Itzmang, near Constance, Baden, 23 May 1733; d. Meersburg, Baden. 5 March 1815 Er was educated in medicine by Van Swieten De Haen of the University of Vienna. raa?:, some study of astrology, came to believe it influence of the stars, and attributed this 9:a posed influence to magnetism. Having at ET believed in the cure of diseased bodies by use of magnets, he came wholly to discard ta magnets and declared that an occult force, he called animal magnetism, pervading the verse, resided in himself and afforded him 2: influence over others. In 1778 he went to Pa and set the town astir. He had undoubtedv z honest belief in the efficacy of his discoyetir but he took advantage of popular interest to c shroud his methods with mystery. Final], & government appointed a committee of nc7-: physicians and members of the Academy Sciences, including Benjamin Franklin, to vestigate the matter ; and the committee in a Ti port, admitting many facts but attributing to physiological causes and not to any such posed agency as animal magnetism, so & credited Mesmer that he went to London. ar
later to Germany. The name mesmerism ira formerly applied to the entire class of plams ena now known as hypnotism (q.v.). It now claimed that there is a force in the he= body generally called magnetiscor, which ! under the control of the human will, and th when the control of this force passes to hypnotism occurs. Among his writings r sue la Decouverte du Mag.neliq. Animal' (1779) ; Abregie do Mar netisme Animal' (1783); and the (Memoire F. A. Mesmer sur ses Decouvertes' (17((.
See ANIMAL MAGNETISM; HYPNOTISM.