Franz Anton Mesmer

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Franz Anton Mesmer

Franz Anton Mesmer - in publications sometimes also Friedrich Anton Mesmer - (* May 23, 1734 in Iznang , today part of Moos on Lake Constance ; † March 5, 1815 in Meersburg ) was initially a doctor in Vienna, then carried out "magnetic" cures and founded animal magnetism , also known as mesmerism.

biography

family

Moos (on Lake Constance), district Moos-Iznang, Höristraße 10: birthplace of Franz Anton Mesmer (now private house)

Franz Anton Mesmer was the third of nine children of Anton Mesmer, a forester with the Prince-Bishop of Constance . The bishop resided in Meersburg. Franz Anton Mesmer grew up in Iznang, now an incorporated district of Moos (on Lake Constance) on the Höri on Lake Constance, where he lived at 10 Höristraße. The house where he was born, a half-timbered farmhouse, is still preserved. Most of his great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, siblings and nephews and nieces lived in the Lake Constance area. The small village of Iznang, like the place where he died, Meersburg, belonged to the bishopric / duchy of Constance until 1803 . In 1768 he married Maria Anna von Posch, b. Eulenschenk, a rich widow and at that time also the owner of Rothmühle Castle in Schwechat- Rannersdorf near Vienna.

School time and first studies

From 1742 to 1746 he received music and Latin lessons in the Grünenberg monastery (formerly between Moos (on Lake Constance) , hamlet of Weiler, and Gaienhofen ). He received a scholarship from Bishop Franz Konrad von Rodt and from 1746 to 1750 attended the Jesuit College in Konstanz, where the Konstanz City Theater is now located . This was followed by studying logic, metaphysics and theology at the Jesuit University in Dillingen from 1750 to 1754 . From 1753 he studied theology for a short time at the Jesuit College of the University of Ingolstadt . In Ingolstadt he also studied mathematics, philosophy, physics, ancient languages ​​and French.

Viennese time

Manuscript page: De planetarum influxu…

In 1759 Mesmer moved to Vienna , where he first studied law and then medicine . He was accepted as a student of the court physician of Empress Maria Theresa , Gerard van Swieten . The Boerhaave student Anton de Haen was also one of his medical teachers. Influenced by the Catholic priest Johann Joseph Gaßner , he dealt with the effects of the planets on humans. In 1766 he received the medical doctoral degree at the public disputation before the High Medical Faculty of the University of Vienna , chaired by Gerard van Swieten and Anton von Störk . In his dissertation De planetarum influxu in corpus humanum (The influence of the planets on the human body), inspired by the teachings of Paracelsus , he broached the idea that the mutual forces of attraction of the planets are exerted by a subtle physical fluid . For him, the magnetic fluid postulated by Mesmer was related to the theories of gravity, ferromagnetism, electricity and heat as well as to the interpersonal communication known as rapport .

On January 10, 1768, he married Maria Anna von Posch, née von Eulenschenk, who was widowed in April 1767. They moved to Landstrasse 261 in Vienna, into a house with a laboratory, practice, large garden and theater, and because of Mesmer's love of music they had contact with Christoph Willibald Gluck , Joseph Haydn , Leopold Mozart and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who was already celebrated as a child prodigy . In 1768 the operetta Bastien und Bastienne, commissioned by Mesmer, was performed in the garden theater on Landstrasse . Mesmer played in 1773 already on the glass harmonica of Marianne Davies (in Leopold Mozart's letter: Miss Devis). Mozart composed two pieces for the glass harmonica (KV 647 and KV 356).

Memorial plaque at the location of the Palais Mesmer at Rasumofskygasse 29 in Vienna-Landstrasse

In 1774 Mesmer heard of the healing successes of the Jesuit priest and astronomer Maximilian Hell , which he had achieved with magnets , whose natural radiation he attributed a healing effect on animal and human organisms. After a few experiments of his own, he came to the conclusion that the magnetic cures that he also began to use were not caused by his magnets, but by his own physical influence. He put these theses down in a letter to a doctor from abroad about the magnet therapy (Vienna 1775) for the professional world and called them "animal magnetism".

The Vienna Medical Faculty was very critical of Mesmer's theses, and when he founded a hospital for his method of healing in Vienna and was very successful with it, the opponents formed. They used his unsuccessful therapy from the famous pianist and composer Maria Theresia Paradis (1759-1824), who had been blind since she was three, to present his healing method as ineffective. This became a stumbling block for him. In 1777 it was determined by a commission of experts convened by the Empress that Mesmer's healing method was only a fraud.

Time in paris

Mesmer therefore moved to Paris on January 20, 1778 . In February 1778 he took up residence in a house on Place Vendôme . The Vienna embassy helped him set up a practice that was very popular and successful within a short period of time. Here, too, he was hostile to the medical faculty. The commission appointed by the university came to a just as damning judgment as the commission in Vienna.

In 1779 he formulated 27 guiding principles in the treatise on the discovery of animal magnetism . From Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette was offered a considerable sum for his method. It was allegedly not about money, but about the recognition of his method, and he temporarily moved to Spa .

Mesmer returned to Paris in 1781, encouraged by Nicolas Bergasse . Bergasse, an advocate of Mesmer's theories, managed to open a subscription that brought in 340,000 livres, although the exact treatment methodology was never disclosed. Thereupon Mesmer switched to having his "healing practice" carried out in twenty closed associations called the Society of Harmony throughout the Kingdom of France by teachers appointed by him. He succeeded in doing this for ten years. He wrote his therapeutic treatment measures in French, which he only learned in France. A famous student was General Lafayette .

Due to its great fame, the government finally saw itself prompted in March 1784 to investigate the matter in detail by a royal commission, which was occupied by the scientists Jean Sylvain Bailly , Joseph-Ignace Guillotin , Benjamin Franklin and Antoine Laurent de Lavoisier . Together with the Royal Medical Society, they came to a very unfavorable verdict, as they could not establish a clear chain of evidence between treatment and healing success.

Because of the looming revolution , he fled to his fatherland. Travel through England and Germany followed.

Trip to Baden

Johann Caspar Lavater had campaigned for magnetism with the Baden Margrave Karl Friedrich in 1785 . Magnetism was examined, criticized, recognized by the Margrave (Secret Cabinet Protocol of March 17, 1788) and practiced by supporters of magnetic movement. Mesmer came to Karlsruhe in June 1788.

Trip to Vienna

After the death of his wife, who was separated from him, in 1790, he arrived in Vienna on September 14th, 1793, was denounced for Jacobin sentiments, arrested on November 17th, 1793 and on December 9th because of the exonerating police reports despite cheeky speeches that were dangerous to the state referred to the area of ​​his birthplace.

Return to Switzerland

Mesmer had already acquired Thurgau citizenship in 1794. He had chosen Switzerland as his adopted home. After his deportation from Vienna in 1798 he had a letter address in Wagenhausen in the canton of Thurgau, southwest of Stein am Rhein . Even before Mesmer, other doctors used magnets. This therapy was mostly ineffective. Swiss doctors didn't think much of Mesmer's methods.

Stay in Paris and Versailles

From 1798 to 1801 he was in Paris and Versailles . In France he had become a millionaire. His investments in French government bonds (rentes viagères) had been devalued after the revolution. In 1798, as a créancier d'état , he succeeded in receiving a pension of CHF 3,000  annually as compensation (also to Germany). In 1799 he published the Mémoire sur ses découvertes and in 1800 his letters on the origin of the leaves . In February 1801 he moved to Versailles.

Return to Thurgau

From 1809 to 1812 Mesmer lived withdrawn in Frauenfeld in Switzerland and had his practice there in the house with the arcades in Zürcherstrasse 153, formerly house number 47. Even in his old age, he treated poor sick people from the area mostly free of charge. After discussions with Mesmer, Wolfart wrote the book Mesmerism, which was not published until 1814 due to the war.

Stay in Constance

Konstanz, Hussenstraße 17: Franz Anton Mesmer's apartment from 1812 to 1814

From 1812 to 1814 he lived in Konstanz in the Zum Hardthaus building at Hussenstrasse 17, formerly No. 560. From 1797 to 1829, the Hardthaus was run as a post office.

Last stay in Meersburg

The house where Franz Anton Mesmer died in Meersburg, Vorburggasse 11, now Museum Vineum Bodensee

In the summer of 1814 he lived in Riedetsweiler near Meersburg in the outbuilding of the Futterer farm. This house at Baitenhauser Strasse 5 was replaced by a successor building in 1912. In memory of Mesmer, a coat of arms with an isosceles triangle with a halo and the year 1814 was attached to the bay window in the northwest corner of this house, invisible from the street. In autumn 1814 he moved to his last place of residence in Meersburg in the building of the Heilig-Geist-Spital (today Vineum Bodensee ), in the "Pfründnerstube" on the 1st floor. Mesmer was sick from February 26, 1815 and died in Meersburg on March 5, 1815 of a stroke.

“On March 5th, when he felt the end of it was approaching, he asked in a broken voice to bring seminarist Feßler over to play the glass harmonica for him while he was leaving, but Mesmer passed away before Feßler came, without complaint, smiling; as if under the premonition of a never-ending, all-flooding, divine harmony. "

- Justinus Kerner: Franz Anton Mesmer, p. 207

Important encounters

Franz Xaver Messerschmidt and Mesmer

Franz Xaver Messerschmidt (1736–1783) was an artist who was best known for his portrait sculptures. Mesmer made his friend Messerschmidt familiar with his theories, which later flowed into his sculptures.

Maria Theresia Paradis and Mesmer

Maria Theresia Paradis (1759-1824) was blind from the age of three. She was a well-known pianist and composer in Vienna. She was good friends with Mesmer and frequented his palace on Landstrasse in Vienna. She hoped that his treatment would cure her. Mesmer describes the treatment of the “Virgin Paradis”, the improvement of the complaints through Mesmer's approach and the termination of the healing process through his father Paradis in his “Treatise on the Discovery of Animal Magnetism”.

Alissa Walser's psychologically sensitive novel In the Beginning was the Night Music deals with the historical incident of the medical treatment of Theresa von Paradis in the clinic of the Viennese doctor and magnetizer Mesmer, his fragmentary success and the subsequent international stir. Based on Walser's novel, the film Licht (also Mademoiselle Paradis ) by director Barbara Albert was made in 2017 with Maria Dragus in the role of Maria Theresia Paradis and Devid Striesow as Franz Anton Mesmer.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Mesmer

The singspiel Bastien und Bastienne by the 12-year-old Mozart, commissioned by Franz Anton Mesmer in 1768, based on the text by Friedrich Wilhelm Weiskern ( inter alia), contains the role of the village fortune-teller and magician Colas , in which the magnetizer Mesmer is characterized on various occasions.

In Mozart's opera “ Così fan tutte ” (1790) based on a libretto by Lorenzo da Pontes , mesmerism is depicted in a satirical way: Guglielmo and Ferrando simulate a suicide by poison and are parodyed by the hastily summoned doctor (in reality the disguised housemaid Despina) Mesmer's magnetization method "cured". In many productions, Despina handles the oversized mock-up of a horseshoe magnet.

Wolfart's book on mesmerism

Mesmer kept in correspondence with Karl Christian Wolfart , who in 1814 published the essays, written and approved by Mesmer, of his discoveries and teachings in the text Mesmerism or System of Interactions . Karl Christian Wolfart received from Mesmer most of the writings in French about the discoveries and experiences of forty years and was commissioned to print them in Constance on February 27, 1813. The book of Mesmer's manuscripts published by Wolfart is divided into Part I “Physics” and Part II “Morals”. The first part deals with Mesmer's practical healing treatment and his explanation of the healing phenomenon. In the second part, Mesmer deals with the state, the constitution, upbringing, the penal code, levies, and measures and weights.

Original sources and pieces on Mesmer in museums / archives

Some of these sources and pieces were shown from April 24 to September 27, 2015 in the exhibition in Meersburg, Heilig-Geist Spital Magic of Healing. The miraculous explorations of FA Mesmer exhibited.

  • Kernerhaus in Weinsberg from the Kerners zu Mesmer collection: oil painting with the portrait of Mesmer from 1810 at the age of 76, Mesmer's medical doctoral degree from the University of Vienna from 1766, Mesmer's seal ring with Plato's head .
  • University library of the University of Vienna : Mesmer's doctoral thesis from 1766 with 48 pages, drawn up in Constance on April 4, 1814 De planetarium influxu. Dissertatio physico-medica.
  • Schiller National Museum in Marbach: letters, copies of letters from and to Mesmer, plans for the Mesmer tomb in Meersburg within the Kerner files.
  • State Archive of the Interior and the Justice in Vienna: Inquiries and secret reports about Mesmer in the archive of the Polizeyhofstelle.
  • Freiburg University Library : Mesmer's letters in the manuscript department.
  • Musée d'histoire de la medecine et de la pharmacie Université Claude Bernard Lyon: Rapport des commissionaires chargés par le roi de l'examen du magnétisme animal, Paris 1784 with the result that the fluid was not detectable. Then the Baquet treatment device by Franz Anton Mesmer, around 1784.
  • City archive of Meersburg: Mesmer's testament, drawn up in Konstanz on April 4, 1814. Renovation of the Mesmer tomb in 1902, books by and about Mesmer.
  • Landesmuseum Württemberg Stuttgart: Glass harmonica from the 18th century. Franz Anton Mesmer played a glass harmonica. Singing bowls made of glass, lined up one behind the other on a horizontally aligned rod, were made to rotate with a foot mechanism. The player's finger was held against individual singing bowls. A spherical tone or a tone sequence was created.
  • Neues Schloss (Meersburg) : Small documentation in a room on the second floor. Books by Meiners and Kluge.
  • Bibliothèque nationale de France , Paris: bequest.

Forerunners, students and comparable healing methods

The idea of ​​bio-energy and magnetism has always inspired people. Various esoteric teachings and cults use concepts that are similar to Mesmer's teachings. The romance at the beginning of the 19th century in Germany promoted the re-distribution of Mesmerschen theses. The teachings of Franz Anton Mesmer had a great impact on various areas of psychology. Somnambulism ( Armand Marie Jacques de Chastenet de Puységur ), psychoanalysis ( Sigmund Freud ), suggestion therapy ( Émile Coué ) and hypnosis , but also parapsychological therapies or the theory of life magnetism Qì (Chi) adopted from Chinese contain elements of his works. The huge practice of the controversial miracle healer Arthur Lutze in Köthen also applied Mesmer's magnetization methods to thousands of patients in the middle of the 19th century.

Memories of the Mesmer Man

Mesmer's will and estate

In his will he ordered a simple burial and an autopsy of his body so that "especially in the area of ​​the bladder, what was the cause of the many years of suffering" could be seen. Justinus Kerner acquired his dissertation certificate and his signet ring.

"... as far as my funeral is concerned, I request that my body be cut open and opened beforehand, and that I see especially in the region of the bladder what was the cause of the long-term suffering."

- Excerpt from the will of Franz Anton Mesmer from April 4, 1814 in the Meersburg City Archives

Mesmer's grave

  • Franz Anton Mesmer's tombstone in Meersburg

  • Eye of God on Mesmer's tombstone

  • Solar system on Mesmer's tombstone

  • Torch and palm branch on Mesmer's tombstone

  • Meersburg cemetery: grave of Franz Anton Mesmer. View from above

Franz Anton Mesmer's grave is at the Meersburg cemetery in Meersburg at Hochkreuz , 10 meters from the western cemetery wall. A triangular, rounded white marble block is located on three steps made of white sandstone , which taper towards the top and are also in a rounded, three-sided plan. The tomb was donated by the Society of Natural Scientists in Berlin, designed by the sculptor Sporer in Constance, erected in 1830 and renovated in 1902. Karl Christian Wolfart mainly provided the idea for the monument and mainly bore the costs. On the side towards sunrise is the radiant symbol for the eye of God above the name Franz Anton Mesmer. To the northwest is the solar system with the sun, moon, planets and earth in concentric circles and under the globe it says: Born on May 23, 1734. To the southwest, the symbol of a burning torch that forms a cross with the image of a stylized palm branch and below: died March 5, 1815. On the upper surface of the stone, life and movement are symbolized by a Bussole (magnetic compass) and a sundial (missing). The representation of the planetary system was already listed in the appendix (Fig. 8) of the book Mesmerism by Karl Christian Wolfart. Justinus Kerner wrote the poem Auf Anton Mesmer's Grave , contained in his collection of poems Winterblüthen from 1859.

Appreciations

Honors

Biographies

Karl Bittel names the following important biographies about Mesmer: “Kluge (1811), Hall (London 1845), Ennemoser (1852), Bersot (Paris 1853), Kerner (1856), Wurm (1857), Wurzbach (1867), Kiesewetter (1893 ), Podmore (London 1909), Tischner (1928), Schürer-Waldheim (1930), Zweig (1931) ”. He also names Margaret Goldsmith (London 1934) and Jean Vinchon (Paris 1936).

Pictures, busts, museum pieces

Mesmer. Sculpture by Peter Lenk on the pier in Meersburg
Bust of Franz Anton Mesmer made in 2013 by the sculptor Friedhelm Zilly in the shoreline near the harbor in Moos (on Lake Constance) in the Iznang district. Profile.

Mesmer in literature and film

The common English verb to mesmerize , in the figurative sense of attracting banned attention, hypnotizing , is still reminiscent of its name.

literature

  • Animal magnetism plays an important role in ETA Hoffmann's stories , including Der Magnetiseur and Das öde Haus .
  • Edgar Allan Poe wrote in one of his short stories about strange experiments with magnetism, Der Fall Valdemar (The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar) .
  • Jean Paul experimented with magnetistic healing methods, of whose effectiveness he was convinced.
  • Alexandre Dumas the Elder mentions Mesmer in his novel The Queen's Necklace . In it, he describes how Marie Antoinette , or her doppelganger, allegedly takes a bath in the magnetic tubs of what was then his Paris institute.
  • Horst Wolfram Geißler lets Mesmer appear as a supporting character in the novel Der liebe Augustin (1921).
  • Stefan Zweig wrote a biographical essay Healing through the Spirit: Mesmer, Mary Baker-Eddy, Freud. (1931).
  • Toni Rothmund describes Mesmer's life in her novel Mesmer: Genie oder Scharlatan (1939); Doctor or charlatan. A Mesmer Novel (1951).
  • For the main character Friedrich Meisner of his novel The Fifth Winter of the Magnetizer, Per Olov Enquist borrowed Franz Anton Mesmer's traits.
  • Jaan Kross deals with the era of Sovietization in Estonia in his novel Mesmeri ring (The Mesmer Circle) . The title refers to the attempts of a family to contact an imprisoned and missing person with the help of a mesmer circle.
  • In her novel In the Beginning, Night Music, Alissa Walser made the encounter between Mesmer and Maria Theresa Paradis the central subject. She describes the incident from the point of view of the doctor Mesmer, from the point of view of the patient Paradis and from the point of view of her parents. In the novel, the parents fear that their daughter could lose her virtuosity as a result of Mesmer's treatment.

Movie

Exhibitions about mesmer

  • April 24 to September 27, 2015: Heilig-Geist-Spital Meersburg: Magic of healing. The miraculous explorations of FA Mesmer. Vienna - Paris - Meersburg.

Fonts (selection)

  • Antonii Mesmer Dissertatio physico-medica de planetarum influxu , dissertation, Vienna 1766
  • Letter about the magnetic therapy to a doctor outside Austria, Vienna January 5, 1775 (letter to Johann Christoph Unzer in Altona)
  • Second letter to the public , Vienna 1775
  • Third letter to the Frankfurters , 1775
  • Writing about the Magnetkur , without location, 1776
  • Mémoire sur la découverte du magnetisme animal , Didot, Geneva and Paris 1779 ( digital copy of the first edition , e-text of the Paris 1826 edition )
  • Lettre à Monsieur Mesmer et other pièces concernant la maladie de la Dlle. Berlancourt de Beauvais, Beauvais 1781
  • Précis historique des faits relatifs au magnétisme-animal / Jusques en avril 1781. Par M. Mesmer, Docteur en médecine de la Faculté de Vienne. , London 1781 ( digitized in French; 'translation from German'.)
  • Treatise on the discovery of animal magnetism , Carlsruhe 1781 ( digitized and full text in the German Text Archive ) (reprint: Tübingen 1985, ISBN 3-88769-507-0 ); Wayback [1] - translation of the "Mémoire sur la découverte".
  • Lettre de M. Mesmer à M. le comte de C… dd Paris, 31. août 1784 , 1784
  • Lettre d'un médecin de Paris à un médecin de province , no place 1784
  • Lettres de M. Mesmer à M. Vicq.-d'Azyr et à Messieurs les auteurs du Journal de Paris , Brussels 1784
  • Lettres de M. Mesmer à Messieurs les auteurs du Journal de Paris et à M. Franklin , no place 1784
  • Théorie du monde et des êtres organisés suivant les principes de M…. , Paris 1784 ( digitized version )
  • Aphorismes , ed. v. Louis Caullet de Veaumorel, Paris 1785 ( digitized version )
  • Correspondence de M. M [esmer] sur les nouvelles découvertes du baquet octrogone, de l'homme-baquet et du baquet moral, pouvant servir de suite aux aphorismes , ed. v. Alphonse Toussaint Joseph André Marie Marseille de Fortia de Piles, François Jourgniac de Saint-Méard and Pierre Marie Louis de Boisgelin de Kerdu, Libourne, Paris 1785 ( digitized version ) - all the names of the author and editor appear in the book in abbreviated form
  • Lettre de l'auteur de la découverte du magnétisme animal à l'auteur des Réflexions préliminaires , without location 1785 ( digitized version )
  • Doctrines of Lord Mesmer's. Just as he communicated it in the secret meetings of Harmonia, and in which one finds his principles, his theory, and the means of magnetizing oneself . Edited by Louis Caullet de Veaumorel. Academic bookshop publishing house, Strasbourg 1785
  • Supplement aux Observations de M. Bergasse, ou Règlemens des sociétés de l'harmonie universelle , without location 1785 ( digitized version )
  • New contributions to the practical application of animal magnetism. In various treatises…; An addendum to the tenets of Mr. Mesmer…; Translated with the greatest possible fidelity from Mr. Caullet de Veaumorel, third edition , Strasbourg 1786
  • Introduction au magnétisme animal par MP Laurent, suivie des prinxcipaux aphorismes du docteur Mesmer , Lange-Lévy, around 1788 ( digital copy )
  • Lettres de FA Mesmer sur l'origine de la petite vérole et le moyen de la faire cesser , Paris 1799
  • Mémoire de FA Mesmer… sur ses découvertes , Paris 1799 ( digitized version )
  • About my discoveries: Translated from the French (taken out in Paris in the eighth year of the Republic) , Stahl, Jena 1800
  • General explanations about magnetism and somnambulism. As a preliminary introduction to the natural system , bookstore of the Halle orphanage, Halle et al. 1812
  • About the origin and the true nature of the Pokken, as well as about the possibility of complete extermination through the only correct natural procedure at birth , bookstore of the orphanage, Halle and Berlin 1812
  • Karl Christian Wolfart (Ed.): Mesmerism. Or system of interactions, theory and application of animal magnetism as general medicine for the preservation of man. With the portrait of the author and 6 copper plates . Nikolai, Berlin 1814 digitized
  • (fr) "Memoires de Mesmer" (healing method and letters by the author Mesmer on the Internet)

literature

(in chronological order)

In the exhibition in Meersburg, Heilig-Geist Spital Magic of Healing. The miraculous explorations of the FA Mesmer from April 24th to September 27th 2015 were exhibited in a book tree exemplarily 500 books about Mesmer and Mesmerism. Books have appeared in France, England, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Hungary, Greece, the USA, Canada, Uruguay and Thailand.

Non-fiction

  • Justinus Kerner : Franz Anton Mesmer from Swabia, discoverer of animal magnetism. Memories of the same, along with news from the last years of his life in Meersburg on Lake Constance. Frankfurt am Main, Literarisches Anstalt 1856. Digitized by Google
  • Constantin von Wurzbach : Mesmer, Franz Anton . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 17th part. Kaiserlich-Königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1867, pp. 427–433 ( digitized version ).
  • Bernhard Milt : Franz Anton Mesmer and his relations with Switzerland. Leemann, Zurich 1952.
  • Margarethe Hansmann: The psychology of Franz Anton Mesmer. Gestalt analysis of the teaching FA Mesmers u. their stages of development. [With summary]. Graz 1957. II, 387, 9 sheets (dissertation at the Austrian National Library).
  • Ernst Benz : Franz Anton Mesmer and his charisma in Europe and America . Fink, Munich 1976. (= treatises of the Marburg learned society; 1973/2)
  • Ernst Benz : Franz Anton Mesmer and the philosophical foundations of "animal magnetism". In: Treatises of the humanities and social sciences class. 1977/4. Academy of Sciences and Literature, Mainz et al. 1977.
  • Gereon Wolters (Ed.): Franz Anton Mesmer and Mesmerism. Science, charlatanism, poetry. In: Konstanzer Bibliothek , Volume 12. UVK Universitäts-Verlag Konstanz, Konstanz 1988, ISBN 3-87940-335-X .
  • Hans Peter Treichler : The magnetic time. Everyday life and attitude towards life in the early 19th century. Swiss publishing house, Zurich 1988, ISBN 3-7263-6522-2 .
  • Quirin Engasser (ed.): Great men of world history. 1000 biographies in words and pictures . Neuer Kaiser Verlag, Klagenfurt 1987, ISBN 3-7043-3065-5 , p. 308.
  • Jean Thuillier: The discovery of the fire of life. Franz Anton Mesmer. A biography. Zsolnay, Vienna / Darmstadt 1990, ISBN 3-552-04207-5 .
  • Armin Prinz:  Mesmer, Franz Anton. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 17, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-428-00198-2 , pp. 209-211 ( digitized version ).
  • Ernst Florey : Ars magnetica. Franz Anton Mesmer (1734–1815), magician from Lake Constance. UVK Universitäts-Verlag Konstanz, Konstanz 1995, ISBN 3-87940-483-6 .
  • Ingrid Kollak: Literature and Hypnosis. Mesmerism and its influence on 19th century literature. Campus, Frankfurt am Main / New York, 1997, ISBN 3-593-35745-3 . (At the same time dissertation , University of Essen 1995.)
  • Heinz Schott : Dr. Franz Anton Mesmer (1734–1815) - doctor and natural philosopher, discoverer of animal magnetism. Gaienhofen village workshop, episode 08-1999. In cooperation with the Hermann Hesse / Höri Museum Gaienhofen on Lake Constance.
  • Peter Sloterdijk : People in a Magic Circle. To the history of ideas of closeness fascination. In: Ders .: Spheres I. Bubbles . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1998, ISBN 3-518-41022-9 .
  • Helen Thompson: Gender, or the king's secret. Franz Anton Mesmer's magnetic public sphere. In: Mary Ann O'Farrell (Ed.): Virtual Gender. Fantasies of subjectivity and embodiment. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor 1999, ISBN 0-472-09708-3 , pp. 65-90.
  • Jörn Steigerwald: “The normalization of humans.” An anthropological-historical problem sketch using the example of the mesmerism discussion in 1784. In: Jörn Steigerwald, Daniela Watzke (Ed.): Stimulus - Imagination - Attention . Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2003, pp. 13–40.
  • Alfred J. Gabay: The cover enlightenment. Eighteenth-century counterculture and its aftermath. In: Swedenborg Studies. Volume 17. Swedenborg Foundation Publishing, West Chester PA 2004, ISBN 0-87785-314-2 .
  • Ethel Matala de Mazza: "Alternating riding". Organic community and poetics of stimulation in Novalis and Franz Anton Mesmer. In: Gabriele Brandstetter , Gerhard Neumann (ed.): "Romantic knowledge poetics". The arts and sciences around 1800. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2004, ISBN 3-8260-2632-2 , pp. 243-258.
  • Werner E. Gerabek : Mesmer, Franz Anton. In: Werner E. Gerabek, Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 973.
  • Bruce Mills: Poe, Fuller, and the Mesmeric Arts. Transition states in the American Renaissance. University of Missouri Press, Columbia et al. 2006, ISBN 0-8262-1610-2 .
  • Jutta Gruber: Fear and fascination. A reassessment of the animal magnetism of Franz Anton Mesmer. LIT Verlag, Berlin, 2011, ISBN 978-3-8258-5669-4 . (= Medicine in a Comparison of Cultures, Vol. 20)
  • Thomas Knubben: Mesmer or the exploration of the dark side of the moon. Klöpfer & Meyer, Tübingen 2015. ISBN 978-3-86351-094-7 .

Fiction

Web links

Commons : Franz Anton Mesmer  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files
Commons : Franz Anton Mesmer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Franz Anton Mesmer  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h Justinus Kerner: Franz Anton Mesmer from Swabia, discoverer of animal magnetism. Memories of the same, along with news from the last years of his life in Meersburg on Lake Constance. Frankfurt am Main, Literarisches Anstalt 1856. Digitized by Google
  2. ↑ a b c Thomas Warndorf: "The duty to work for the benefit of all humanity". The doctor Franz Anton Mesmer. In: Museumsverein Meersburg (ed.): Meersburg traces. Verlag Robert Gessler, Friedrichshafen, 2007. ISBN 978-3-86136-124-4 , pp. 56-65.
  3. ↑ Heinz Schott: Dr. Franz Anton Mesmer (1734–1815) - doctor and natural philosopher, discoverer of animal magnetism. Gaienhofen village workshop, episode 08-1999. In cooperation with the Hermann-Hesse-Höri-Museum Gaienhofen on Lake Constance. P. 5.
  4. ↑ Mesmer's wife, owner of Rothmühle Castle www.nestroy.at as of January 9, 2009
  5. ^ Werner E. Gerabek: Mesmer, Franz Anton. In: Encyclopedia of Medical History. 2005, p. 973.
  6. ↑ Places of residence at Lake Constance / Höri on Aldo Berti's website, as of August 2012 ( Memento from August 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive ).
  7. ↑ Karl Bittel: The famous Mr. Doct. Mesmer. 1734-1815. In his footsteps on Lake Constance in Thurgau and in the margraviate of Baden with some new contributions to Mesmer research. Aug. Feyel, printing and publishing house, Überlingen 1939. pp. 8–9.
  8. ^ Armin Prinz:  Mesmer, Franz Anton. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 17, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-428-00198-2 , pp. 209-211 ( digitized version ).
  9. ^ Werner E. Gerabek: Mesmer, Franz Anton. In: Encyclopedia of Medical History. 2005, p. 973.
  10. ↑ Stadtmuseum Meersburg (ed.): Leaflet about the museum, special exhibition Mesmer in rooms 1 and 2, approx. 2000
  11. ↑ James Webb: The Flight from Reason: Politics, Culture, and Occultism in the Nineteenth Century. Marix Verlag GmbH Wiesbaden; 1st edition 2009. pp. 69-70.
  12. ↑ Sabine Kleine: The rapport between animal magnetism and hypnotism. In: Würzburg medical history reports. Volume 13, 1995, pp. 299-330; here: p. 302 f.
  13. ↑ Karl Bittel: The famous Mr. Doct. Mesmer. 1734-1815. In his footsteps on Lake Constance in Thurgau and in the margraviate of Baden with some new contributions to Mesmer research. Aug. Feyel, printing and publishing house, Überlingen 1939. pp. 9-10.
  14. ↑ James Webb: The Flight from Reason: Politics, Culture, and Occultism in the Nineteenth Century. Marix Verlag GmbH Wiesbaden; 1st edition 2009. p. 70.
  15. ↑ Treatise on the discovery of animal magnetism , Carlsruhe 1781 ( digitized and full text in the German Text Archive ) (reprint: Tübingen 1985, ISBN 3-88769-507-0 ); Wayback - translation of the "Mémoire sur la découverte".
  16. ↑ a b Mesmerism or system of interactions, theory and application of animal magnetism as general medicine for the preservation of man. With the portrait of the author and 6 copper plates , ed. by Karl Christian Wolfart, Berlin, Nikolai 1814 (reprint: EJ Bonset, Amsterdam 1966, chapter “To the reader, the editor” with quotations from Mesmer, p. IX); Original as e-text at BSB - Bavarian State Library digital, MDZ - Munich Digitization Center Digital Library
  17. ↑ Karl Bittel: The famous Mr. Doct. Mesmer. 1734-1815. In his footsteps on Lake Constance in Thurgau and in the margraviate of Baden with some new contributions to Mesmer research. Aug. Feyel, printing and publishing house, Überlingen 1939. pp. 10–11.
  18. ↑ An English translation of the report can be found at http://www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/anton-mesmer-and-his-animal-magnetism
  19. ↑ Karl Bittel: The famous Mr. Doct. Mesmer. 1734-1815. In his footsteps on Lake Constance in Thurgau and in the margraviate of Baden with some new contributions to Mesmer research. Aug. Feyel, printing and publishing house, Überlingen 1939. pp. 12–15.
  20. ↑ Karl Bittel: The famous Mr. Doct. Mesmer. 1734-1815. In his footsteps on Lake Constance in Thurgau and in the margraviate of Baden with some new contributions to Mesmer research. Aug. Feyel, Buchdruckerei and Verlagbuchhandlung, Überlingen 1939, pp. 15–17, police reports, pp. 27–28.
  21. ↑ Karl Bittel: The famous Mr. Doct. Mesmer. 1734-1815. In his footsteps on Lake Constance in Thurgau and in the margraviate of Baden with some new contributions to Mesmer research. Aug. Feyel, printing and publishing house, Überlingen 1939. p. 17.
  22. ^ Bernhard Milt: Franz Anton Mesmer us his relations with Switzerland. Printed by Lehmann AG 1953.
  23. ↑ Heinz Schott: Dr. Franz Anton Mesmer (1734–1815) - doctor and natural philosopher, discoverer of animal magnetism. Gaienhofen village workshop, episode 08-1999. In cooperation with the Hermann-Hesse-Höri-Museum Gaienhofen on Lake Constance. P. 4.
  24. ↑ Karl Bittel: The famous Mr. Doct. Mesmer. 1734-1815. In his footsteps on Lake Constance in Thurgau and in the margraviate of Baden with some new contributions to Mesmer research. Aug. Feyel, printing and publishing house, Überlingen 1939. pp. 17 and 30.
  25. ↑ Places of residence at Lake Constance / Frauenfeld on Aldo Berti's website, as of August 2012 ( Memento from August 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive ).
  26. ↑ Mesmerism or system of interactions, theory and application of animal magnetism as general medicine for the preservation of man. With the portrait of the author and 6 copper plates , ed. by Karl Christian Wolfart, Berlin, Nikolai 1814 (reprint: EJ Bonset, Amsterdam 1966, chapter “To the reader, the editor” with quotations from Mesmer, pp. XVI - XVIII); Original as e-text at BSB - Bavarian State Library digital, MDZ - Munich Digitization Center Digital Library
  27. ↑ Karl Bittel: The famous Mr. Doct. Mesmer. 1734-1815. In his footsteps on Lake Constance in Thurgau and in the margraviate of Baden with some new contributions to Mesmer research. Aug. Feyel, printing and publishing house, Überlingen 1939. pp. 17-19.
  28. ↑ Information board of the Konstanz tourist office at Hussenstrasse 17
  29. ^ Diethard Nowak: Small monuments in Meersburger Landen. Meersburg, second expanded edition 2014. pp. 189–190, section: Sigel family coat of arms at Baitenhauser Strasse 5 in Riedetsweiler.
  30. ^ Former information board with data on the house where Franz Anton Mesmer died
  31. ↑ Karl Bittel: The famous Mr. Doct. Mesmer. 1734-1815. In his footsteps on Lake Constance in Thurgau and in the margraviate of Baden with some new contributions to Mesmer research. Aug. Feyel, Buchdruckerei and Verlagbuchhandlung, Überlingen 1939. pp. 20–21, Notes about Mesmer, legacy pp. 34–35.
  32. ↑ Alissa Walser: In the beginning there was music at night . Paperback special edition Piper Munich Zurich 2012, RISM 978-3-492-27387-9.
  33. ^ Mesmer, Franz Anton at German Biography
  34. ↑ Sylvia Floetemeyer: The magician from Lake Constance. In: Südkurier of May 21, 2015; Thomas Knubben: Mesmer, Tübingen 2015, p. 9
  35. ↑ Mesmer's grave in the cemetery in Meersburg at knerger.de
  36. ↑ Karl Bittel: The famous Mr. Doct. Mesmer. 1734-1815. In his footsteps on Lake Constance in Thurgau and in the margraviate of Baden with some new contributions to Mesmer research. Aug. Feyel, printing and publishing house, Überlingen 1939. pp. 12, 21, 39.
  37. ^ Justinus Kerner: On Anton Mesmer's grave at Google Books
  38. ^ Wilhelm Zentner: Joseph von Laßberg and Justinus Kerner. In: Badische Heimat, 1955, No. 1, pp. 11–15
  39. ↑ Quotation from Kerner on the symbols on Mesmer's tomb, quoted in Aldo Berti's website, as of August 2012 ( Memento from August 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive ).
  40. ^ Franz Anton Mesmer , members of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences
  41. ↑ Karl Bittel: The famous Mr. Doct. Mesmer. 1734-1815. In his footsteps on Lake Constance in Thurgau and in the margraviate of Baden with some new contributions to Mesmer research. Aug. Feyel, printing and publishing house, Überlingen 1939. pp. 19–20
  42. ↑ Karl Bittel: The famous Mr. Doct. Mesmer. 1734-1815. In his footsteps on Lake Constance in Thurgau and in the margraviate of Baden with some new contributions to Mesmer research. Aug. Feyel, printing and publishing house, Überlingen 1939. pp. 37–38
  43. ↑ It was pictured in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in April 1988 (at that time "recently found again"); A profile picture of Mesmer in the advanced age is shown in the book Mesmer / Wolfart: Mesmerism or System of Interactions from 1814 on the opening page.
  44. ^ Peter Lenk: Magic column in Meersburg on Lake Constance. Retrieved July 22, 2012
  45. ↑ Mesmer's bust in Iznang
  46. ↑ Roland Mischke: The suffering of a child prodigy. In: Hamburger Abendblatt of January 22, 2010, p. 7.
  47. ↑ Alissa Walser: In the beginning the night was music. Piper, Munich 2010.
  48. ↑ Dagmar Jestrzemski: Defamed as a quack. Portrait of Franz Mesmer. In: Preußische Allgemeine Zeitung of May 15, 2010, p. 22.
  49. ↑ cf. Information on this on the website of the exhibition planner
  50. ^ Exhibition in Meersburg, Heilig-Geist Spital Magic of Healing. The wondrous explorations of the FA Mesmer from April 24th to September 27th 2015. Information sheet: What has the world been interested in Franz Anton Mesmer for 250 years?
personal data
SURNAME Mesmer, Franz Anton
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mesmer, Friedrich Anton
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German doctor, founder of mesmerism
DATE OF BIRTH May 23, 1734
PLACE OF BIRTH Iznang
DATE OF DEATH March 5, 1815
Place of death Meersburg