Mesmerism

Mesmerism, also called animal magnetism, was a theory and treatment practice developed by the German physician Franz Mesmer in the late 18th century, based on the claim that an invisible natural force he called Lebensmagnetismus flowed through all living things and could be manipulated to produce healing. Practitioners known as magnetizers used techniques such as passing their hands over a patient's body to direct this supposed magnetic fluid, and the practice spread widely across Europe and America, remaining influential for roughly 75 years after its 1779 origin. A French royal commission investigated the theory in 1784 and found no evidence for the magnetic fluid, though a later 1826 inquiry by the French Royal Academy of Medicine acknowledged that some patients did experience real effects such as trances and pain relief even though the underlying theory remained scientifically unsupported; mesmerism is no longer part of mainstream medicine and survives only in alternative healing practice.