RHETOR 104 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Animal Magnetism, Vitalism, Phlogiston Theory
Rhetoric 104 Reading
Mesmerism and the End of the Enlightenment
in France
Mesmerism as an example of politics enmeshed with fads
It is necessary to examine Mesmer’s theory related to other interests or the time,
trace the course of the movement and consider the character of mesmerist societies
- Mesmer and followers put on fascinating performances
- People found interesting the crisis room, designed from violent
convulsions and the famous tubs filled with iron filings and mesmerized
water
- Mesmerists identified harmony with health, so used music in the
treatment
oSoft music, which sends reinforced waves of fluid deep into the
soul
- There was a rub for the poor every other day
- Mesmeric chain formed communal treatments recommended since
each individual reinforced the fluid
- Mesmer avoided knots in the rope, which would create obstacles to the
harmony of the fluid
- Not all crisis were violent, some developed into deep sleep and some
deep sleep provided communication with the dead or distant spirits, who
sent messages by way of the fluid to the person’s internal sixth sense,
which is extraordinarily receptive to what’s celled the “extra sensory
perceptions”
- Others experienced these but never fully understood them as Mesmer
kept his greatest doctrinal secrets o himself
CORRESPONDED TO THE INTERESTS OF LITERATE FRENMEN IN THE 1780S
- Science captivated them by revealing that they were surrounded by
invisible wonderful forces
- Mesmer showed great interest in an occult doctor called Bory, who might
have been an early incarnation of Mesmer
- Berkeley, one of Newton’s first opponents, had his own concept of a
vitalistic fluid, which when distilled by evergreen tree produced a tar
water that would cure all diseases
- Scientists usually expected to explain all life processes by a few
principles, and once they believed they had found the key to the code of
nature, they often lapsed into fiction
- The progressive divorce of science from theology in the 18th c did not free
science from fiction: scientists had to call upon the imagination to make
sense of/ see the data from microscopes, telescope, jars, dissections etc.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Mesmerism and the end of the enlightenment in france. Mesmerism as an example of politics enmeshed with fads. It is necessary to examine mesmer"s theory related to other interests or the time, trace the course of the movement and consider the character of mesmerist societies. Mesmer and followers put on fascinating performances. People found interesting the crisis room, designed from violent convulsions and the famous tubs filled with iron filings and mesmerized water. Mesmerists identified harmony with health, so used music in the treatment: soft music, which sends reinforced waves of fluid deep into the soul. There was a rub for the poor every other day. Mesmeric chain formed communal treatments recommended since each individual reinforced the fluid. Mesmer avoided knots in the rope, which would create obstacles to the harmony of the fluid. Others experienced these but never fully understood them as mesmer kept his greatest doctrinal secrets o himself.
