Detail from a painting (possibly by C-L. Desrais, ca. 1780) depicting one of Franz Mesmer's group sessions. On the left can be seen people applying rods to their eyes, and to the bottom right possibly Maria Theresia von Paradis.
Featured on PDR in the essay Mesmerising Science: The Franklin Commission and the Modern Clinical Trial
Benjamin Franklin, magnetic trees, and erotically-charged séances — Urte Laukaityte on how a craze for sessions of “animal magnetism” in late 18th-century Paris led to the randomised placebo-controlled and double-blind clinical trials we know and love today.
Also appearing in the essay…
Mesmeric Therapy
Date
ca. 1780
Image Size
1024 x 973