by Vincent Buranelli ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1975
Mesmer has always been one of those marginal, quackish figures--the regalia for his seances included a wand and a purple silk cloak--claimed by both the scientists and the occultists. Buranelli is among those who see him as a figure of unique importance in the history of science: ""the Columbus of modern psychiatry,"" who like Freud stumbled onto the unconscious and became one of the first to treat hysteria, depression, paralysis and psychosomatic blindness. He was a very characteristic Enlightenment figure--argumentative, worldly, humane. Indeed, the parallels with Freud, that other Viennese doctor, are many and amply exploited by Buranelli. Mesmer, like Freud, had his ""Anna O.""; like Freud Mesmer quickly acquired a claque of wayward disciples. No sooner had Mesmerism been born than there were ideological schisms. Freud had his Jung; Mesmer had his Deslon. A fashionable medical practitioner, a patron of Mozart, Mesmer was ostracized by the respectable scientific opinion of the day for his idee fixe--""animal magnetism,"" a convoluted theory which rested on the ""ebb and flow"" of a universal fluid. Buranelli argues that Mesmer's real mistake was to insist that his psychological discoveries were firmly anchored in Newtonian physics. Also he believed he was a magnet. Mesmer's cures (every one merely made him more notorious) proceeded via a ""crisis""--an induced intensification of the patient's symptoms--through a ""trance"" to the healing which, Mesmer insisted, was radically different from faith healing. Though Mesmer himself became progressively wackier as his discovery was denied recognition, Buranelli has gone a long distance in rescuing him from the bell-book-and-candle crowd. A better book all around than Wyckoff's Franz Anton Mesmer (p. 771) which tried to have it both ways.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1975
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan
Review Posted Online: N/A
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1975
Categories: NONFICTION
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.