
An 1863 illustration (Ѻ) of “animal magnetism”, from Baron Du Potet’s work on mesmerism, which he practiced in London (Ѻ), showing the mesmeric practitioners directing some type of hypothetical magnetic effluvial lines into the patient, thereby curing him of his mental issues.

An 1863 illustration (Ѻ) of “animal magnetism”, from Baron Du Potet’s work on mesmerism, which he practiced in London (Ѻ), showing the mesmeric practitioners directing some type of hypothetical magnetic effluvial lines into the patient, thereby curing him of his mental issues.

In theories, animal magnetism asserts that a type of “magnetism” exists between animals akin to that which exists between iron and lodestone.

Overview
The theory was developed in the 1770s by German physician Franz Mesmer, starting in 1774 when he had his patient, Francisca Osterlin, suffering from hysteria, swallow a preparation containing iron, then attached magnets to various parts of her body, during which she reported a mysterious fluid running through her body. [1]

References
1. Mesmer, Franz. (1779). Memoir on the Discovery of Animal magnetism (Mémoire sur la découverte du magnétisme animal). Publisher: chez P. Fr. Didot le jeune.

External links
● Animal magnetism – Wikipedia.