A mesmeric physician taking advantage of his female patient, 1852. In his pocket can be seen a diploma reading "License to do anything medicinally".
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…
The Mesmeric M.D.
Date
1852
Image Size
1024 x 873