Franz Friedrich Anton Mesmer (1734-1815) & Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

An Early Example of Energetic Healing and its Scientific Examination

By Ted Nissen M.A. M.T.

Copyright © August 2006 Ted Nissen

Ted Nissen M.A. M.T.-holds a master’s degree in education/counseling and has had a successful medical (clinical/orthopedic) massage practice for over 20 years in Long Beach California and can be reached at

questions@anatomyfacts.com

"I dare to flatter myself, that the discoveries I have made will push back the boundaries of our knowledge of physics as did the invention of microscopes and telescopes for the age preceding our own." -Franz Friedrich Anton Mesmer “Mémoire sur la découverte du magnétisme animal” (Memoir on the Discovery of Animal Magnetism) (1779) [1]

“Perhaps the history of the errors of mankind, all things considered, is more valuable and interesting than that of their discoveries. Truth is uniform and narrow; it constantly exists, and does not seem to require so much an active energy, as a passive aptitude of soul in order to encounter it. But error is endlessly diversified; it has no reality, but is the pure and simple creation of the mind that invents it. In this field the soul has room enough to expand herself, to display all her boundless faculties, and all her beautiful and interesting extravagancies and absurdities.” -Benjamin Franklin, Report of Dr. Benjamin Franklin, and other commissioners, charged by the King of France, with the examination of the animal magnetism, as now practiced in Paris (1784)

Summary=884

The King of France (early 1780’s) had a problem. When you are a king most problems go away before the telling of it. Trusted aides are eager to please. This problem was different, aides could not be trusted to solve. This problem would take his full attention. His wife the Queen was involved along with many others in his intimate elite circle. Personally and emotionally involved that is. That’s not all; most of his subjects in the environs of Paris were also involved personally and emotionally. Mesmeromania is how the Paris press reported it. Parisians including his wife were in love with a man by the name of Franz Friedrich Anton Mesmer (1734-1815). People were throwing themselves before trees this Mesmer fellow had blessed. This was happening all over Paris. People would flail, convulse, scream and claim healing. Mesmer said he had a healing power in his hands, which he called “Animal Magnetism”.

The problem for the King was not that Mesmer was well liked or that he claimed to heal the sick. Many people seemed to have been healed and the kings own wife adored Mesmer. It was the persistent rumors that bothered the King. Mesmer, it was alleged was having wild sexual orgies at his Paris studios. It was further claimed that both Mesmer and his assistant, Antoine, were seducing young women. These women it was said were seduced to an exceedingly vulnerable state of relaxation and then sexually molested. Mesmer was a sexual predator. These rumors came to the King from a variety of trusted sources. Although his wife was not directly implicated the King must have wondered. Guilt by association would be likely if the public found out. This could involve a big scandal with a great deal of mistrust for the court especially if the Queen herself was implicated. There was already a good deal of public unrest in France and in Paris in particular. The French Revolution (1789–1799) was just around the corner and the King himself would be executed guillotine style. The King of course didn’t know this at the time he was puzzling this problem. But he did know that abject poverty; disease and oppressive living conditions already angered his subjects against him. Who knows what manner of public outrage would be released with revelations of sexual scandals involving the Queen.

If he was going to avoid exacerbating public unrest what strategy could he use to discredit such a high profile and beloved a figure as Mesmer? This had to involve public humiliation and must be believed by all. Mesmer himself had perhaps provided the answer by alleging in writing that he had discovered a new force of physics. Mesmer believed he channeled this force thru his hands into his patients unblocking energy channels which when free flowing would eradicate disease. That was it the King must have realized. Prove that this force did not exist and by disassociation discredit Mesmer. If it could be proven that there was no new force of nature then it was not Mesmer that was healing the sick but something else within the person. Mesmer would instantly loose credibility. No one would care to pay attention to Mesmer any longer and the political/personal problem for the King would be solved. Who could prove this though? It would have to be someone of high public trust to counter the public rapture that Mesmer commanded. It would have to also be someone who was inclined to experiment.

Of course, the King should have known immediately who could help him. This was a person who was both a personal and political ally. Someone who owed the King for a great favor to both him personally and his mother country, the newly formed United States of America. The Treaty of Paris, in 1783 was just signed and ended the colonial rule of the British over the Americans. It was because the King of France ordered his best French general La Fayette to help George Washington that America may have defeated the British. In any case Benjamin Franklin was the Ambassador to France and the Kings pick to discredit Mesmer. Franklin also knew how to prove or disprove propositions about nature. This was after all the age historians would later describe as the Enlightenment. It was a period where skepticism was accepted and experiment and proof the rule. Benjamin Franklin was beloved by the world not just in Paris or France. He had saved thousands from an untimely death. Death by electrocution. Benjamin Franklin’s name was famous around the world for discovery of the lightning rod among other prodigious scientific discoveries. His achievements were many both in science and as one of the American founding fathers. Only one figure commanded more respect than Mesmer. Benjamin Franklin was both a personal friend of the Queen of France and beloved by the French people. The King established a Royal commission headed by Benjamin Franklin as well as other respected members of French Academia to investigate Mesmer’s claim to have discovered a new force in physics. In a brilliant stroke of political maneuvering the King had Mesmer in his cross hairs. What the King probably didn’t know was Benjamin Franklin actually wanted Mesmer to be right. Franklin had personal reasons. The story continues read on.