MDMD2: Magnetickal Stupor

[Dave Monroe]

"Dixon notes how his co-Adjutor-to-be seems fallen
into a sort of Magnetickal Stupor, as Mesmerites might
term it." (M&D, Ch. 3, p. 19)

>From Robert Darnton, Mesmerism and the End of the
Enlightenment in France (Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP,
1968), Ch. 1, "Mesmerism and Popular Science," pp.
2-45 ...

   "In February 1778, Franz Anton Mesmer arrived in
Paris and proclaimed his discovery of a superfine
fluid that penetrated and surrounded all bodies.... he
especially extolled its application to medicine. 
Sickness, he maintained, resulted from an 'obstacle'
to the flow of the fluid through the body, which was
analogous to a magnet.  Individuals could control an
reinforce th fluid's action by 'mesmerizing' or
massaging the body's 'poles' and thereby overcoming
the obstacle, inducing a 'crisis,' often in the form
of convulsions, and restoring health or the 'harmony'
of man with nature.
   "What lent strength to this appeal to the
eighteenth century cult of nature was Mesmer's ability
to put his fluid to work, throwing his patients into
epileptic-like fits or somnambulist trances ..." (pp.
3-4)

And hence began Mesmerism (and see also Appendix 1,
"Mesmer's Propositions," p. 177, from his Memoire sur
la decouverte du magnetisme animal [Geneva, 1779]). 
Rendering "Mesmerites" here an anachronism from
Dixon's 1761 point of view.  But not, however, from
that of our ostensible narrator, the Revd Wicks
Cherrycoke, "This Christmastide of 1786' (M&D, Ch. 1,
p. 6) ...

>From Patricia Fara, Sympathetic Attractions: Magnetic
Practices, Beliefs, and Symbolism in Eighteenth
Century England (Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1996),
Ch. 7, "A Powerful Language: Images of Nature and the
Nature of Science," pp. 171-214 ...

   "From the mid 1780s, practitioners of animal
magnetism flourished briefly in England for about a
decade....
   "Although animal magnetism originated in Europe,
its rejection in England, its rejection in England was
related to local conflicts;  the skeptical reception
of a therapy which had already been discredited
differed greatly from th initial enthusiasm of
pre-revolutionary Paris.  Examining the impact of the
English animal magnetizers provides an interesting
case study for exploring the linguistic interactions
between excluded practices and elite discourses. 
Polemicists engaged in a variety of debates enrolled
animal magnetism as an indiscriminate term of
abuse....
   "Franz Mesmer ... arrived in Paris in 1778....
   "With the backing of affluent supporters, versions
of mesmeric ideas became enormously popular throughout
France.  But in 1784, a government-sponsored committee
headed by Benjamin Franklin vehemently denounced
Mesmer's treatments, and he fled from Paris.  For the
first time, a few animal magnetizers set up practice
in London, rivaling other entrepreneurs eager to
convert this discredited therapy into a financial
source.  William Godwin, for instance, earned some
money by immediately--but anonymously--translating the
damning Parisian report into English....
   "English Enlightenment medicine was a competitive
business, and practitioners of animal magnetism
adopted different strategies for attracting patients
in this pluralist market...." (pp. 196-7)

Which is not to say that there wasn't a history of
"magnetic practices, beliefs, and symbolism in
eighteenth-century England."  Remember Dixon's letter
to Mason, "in my own Work I have recourse much more
often to the Needle, than to the Stars" (M&D, Ch. 2,
p. 12).  I'll hopefully get to "the Needle" shortly. 
In the meantime, see also ... 

Sutton, Geoffrey.  "Electric Medicine and
   Mesmerism."  Isis 72 (1981): 375-92.

Tatar, Maria.  Spellbound: Studies on Mesmerism
   and Literature.  Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP,
   1978.

Winter, Alison.  Mesmerized: Powers of Mind in
   Victorian Britain.  Chicago: U of Chicago P,
   1999.

Unfortunately, I don't know that the Sloterdijk text
kai posted an excerpt from has been translated ...





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