History Matters Friday, February 24, 2023
Mesmerism and therapeutic magnets
INFLUENCES
- Paracelsus (Swiss physician in 16th c) suggested humans are affected by planetary movements and magnetic pull. ( the belief of a “full moon” impacting a busy ED shift)
- Father Hehl (1720-1792), a German Jesuit priest and astronomer, was renowned for using magnets in treatment of disease.
- Father Gassner (1727-1779) was a famous exorcist in Germany who healed others by touch, claiming a divine electro-magnetic force without the need of magnets.
MESMER & MESMERISM
Anton Mesmer (1734-1815) was an Austrian Catholic medical student who was friends with Father Hehl and was influenced by Newton’s electromagnetic theory and laws of attraction; as well as Father Glassner’s reputation. For his medical school dissertation, Mesmer hypothesized that the gravitational influence of planets affected the “nervous fluid” within the human body. Mesmer further hypothesized that there was a universal magnetic energy (he called it “mesmerism”after himself …that is your first tip-off that this isn't going to go well…) which became “out of balance” during diseased states. Therefore, by the use of magnets (Father Hehl) and human bodies in close proximity (Father Glassner), those persons skilled in the craft of mesmerism (like himself) could heal virtually every disease known, by magnets and touch.
The Magnetic “Healing Waters”
Mesmer was disavowed by the medical establishment in Austria. He moved to Paris France and became the Dr. Oz of the 18th century. He had a bath of bottles with “magnetized water” with metal bars and copper wires extending from the bath. Mainly wealthy upper class women came to his “healing water” extravaganzas. They formed a circle touching each other around the bath with copper wires around their wrists and touching bars to affected body parts. Tranquil music was played in the background. Dr. Mesmer entered in a long lilac robe, gazed into the women’s eyes, and stroked their affected ailments with his magnetized rod and healing hands?! As their bodies were stroked, the women began convulsing and shrieking- a sign they were cured. These events were very fashionable and attended by celebrities like Mozart—as a mixture of drama, sexual energy, positive psychology, and an elite and expensive touch of healing. Others saw this as a type of “magnetic orgy”.
the first blinded placebo controlled trial
In 1784, Louis XVI of France appointed a commission of eminent scientists to investigate Mesmer’s claims of magnetic healing. Ben Franklin, the American Ambassador to France and the international authority on electricity, joined Antoine Lavoisier (pioneer of modern chemistry) and others. They brought in women patients and wired them to bottles. Some of the bottled water was “magnetized” (experimental group) and some were not (control group). Mesmer conducted his healing techniques until the women “seized”. The patients were uninformed (“blinded”) to the fact that some of the bottles were not magnetized. The commission found no difference between results with the magnetized bottles and the unmagnetized bottles. This was the first recorded scientific experiment using the blinded placebo-controlled trial. They concluded that magnetic fluid does not exist; that imagination without magnetism produces convulsions ;and magnetism without imagination produces nothing. Mesmerism was a “mock science” (“fake news”). Mesmerism was to medical science what astrology was to astronomy. (And as for this very expensive French bottled water…could we call it the first Perrier?)
“OFFSPRING” of MESMERISM
- James Esdaile - British colonial doctor in India who took mesmerism and adds yoga breathing —this is the invention of hypnosis.
- Charles Moyen (1835) brought Mesmerism to America.
- Joyce Boven Dods- A Universalist minister called the Father of “electropsychology” who discussed nervo-vital fluid. He claimed mesmerism was the way Christ and His Apostles healed others.
- DD Palmer (1845-1913) - a grocer turned mesmerist x 9 years who referred to himself as a “vital healer”. Palmer invented the art of chiropractic after attending a seance where a dead man revealed the secret of the chiropractic art to him.
- Phineas Quimby (1802-1866) -became a mesmerist who after seeing Moyen’s demonstration. He later abandoned mesmerism for “positive thinking” and was the Father of “New Thought Movement” in America.
- Mary Baker Eddy —she was always sickly and failed to be healed by mesmerism. Phineas Quimby healed her through his philosophy of positive thought. She became his disciple and then added scripture to Quimby’s methods and founded Christian Science, writing “Science & Health” in 1875.
MAGNETIC BRACELETS
Today, the primary remnants of mesmerism exist as commercials for magnetic copper clothes and jewelry. These claims have been studied and wearing a magnetic wrist strap or copper laden socks or magnetic influence placed anywhere on the body does not have any meaningful therapeutic effect (with maybe the exception of a pacemaker!)
- (Richmond, SJ et al. “Copper bracelets and magnetic wrist straps for rheumatoid arthritis—analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects: a randomized double-blind placebo controlled crossover trial” PLoS One 2013 Sep. 16;8(9):e71529.) N=70.)
- Richmond SJ etal. “Therapeutic effects of magnetic and copper bracelets in osteoarthritis: a randomized placebo-controlled crossover trial.” Compliment There Med 2009; Oct.-Dec; 17(5-6):249-56.) N=45.
*a MRI is a magnet literally millions of times more powerful than a bracelet. After decades of using MRI and studying them—we have found that putting patients in a MRI does not have any biological effect. (same could be said of the electromagnetic waves of microwaves and cellphones)
REFERENCES
- Nature Cures- the history of alternative medicine in America (2002) by James Whorton. Chapter 5 “Magnetism & Mind: from Mesmerism to Christian Science” p. 103-130.
- Quackery- a brief history of the worst ways to cure everything (2017) by Lydia King MD & Nate Pedersen. “Animal Magnetism” p. 281-291.