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The science of mesmerism emerged roughly at the end of the Age of Enlightenment and the very early beginnings of Romanticism. Originally introduced by Franz Anton Mesmer, the emergence of mesmerism during this time significantly influenced British social, political, and cultural thought. This influence is reflected in literature and lectures produced by writers, philosophers, and politicians during this time. The excitement created by this early influence of mesmerism eventually led to a deeper Victorian era fascination with the ideas of mesmerism. Mesmerism also fueled practices such as magnetism and hypnosis.

Mesmerism was introduced and practiced in France before it made its way over the English Channel. The negative reception by the French elite and discrediting of Mesmer by a committee created by the King in France led to a shaky, uncertain reception in Britain. However, its continued practice and development by others such as Marques of Puysegur into hypnotism and somnambulistic states of being caused mesmerism to receive as much criticism as well as popularity in Britain. This mixed reception in Britain can be attributed by the changes and concerns of the time period including the conflict between factual science and mesmerism as a study of pseudo-science and well as the rise of consumerism.

Socially and culturally, mesmerism was first received, popularized and debated among elite, intellectual circles. Ironically, the practice of mesmerism was also often deemed a theatrical falsity or “quackery” by elitists and the upper class. Why mesmerism was given so much attention can probably be attributed to the questions and concerns that it raised. Intellectuals wondered about the implications of mesmerism and how it could impact philosophical, political and social thought. Mesmerism and hypnosis were practices that involved unseen powers but were a popularized by the belief that they worked and were seen to have worked. What made mesmerism such a widely spread topic was because although it was a direct challenge to science and tangible objects, it was also fueled by its relation to the growing science of electricity and magnetism .

Politically, mesmerism was used as an explanation for a confusing time frame involving not only a resistance to enlightened thought but also a period fraught with war and conflict, including the French Revolution. The French revolution created a lot of internal political friction in Britain among those who supported the revolution and those who opposed it. James Tilly Matthews was among one of many Britons who strongly believed that mesmerism would be the cause of the government’s eventual downfall. Jailed by the Jacobins in 1793, he was released in 1796 and returned to Britain where he believed Britain had been invaded by “magnetic spies.” These spies included Prime Minister Pitt, who Matthews believed were responsible for mesmerizing the people into passive citizens into puppets . Likewise, political individuals and those in government positions who faced the daunting task of maintaining a stable country in the midst of warfare and political strife, also used mesmerism as an explanation for the behavior of political dissenters and radicals like Matthews. From their point of view, radicals and political dissenters were attempting to mesmerize those around them to become politically disruptive in a state that was trying to respond to all the occurring changes. Mesmerism thus became a politically threatening tool because it was believed that it could be used to bend the will of individuals.

Mesmerism also produced enthusiasm as well as inspired horror in the spiritual and religious context. Though discredited as a credible medical practice, mesmerism nonetheless created a venue for spiritual healing. Some animal magnetists and hypnotists advertised their practices by stressing the “spiritual rather than the physical benefits to be gained from animal magnetism” and were able to gather a good clientele from among the spiritually inspired population. The Marques of Pursegur’s miraculous act of hypnotism in 1784 brought about questions and wonders involving the human soul. The Marques of Pursegur was able to hypnotize a sick young man named Victor and while hypnotized, Victor was said to have been able to speak articulately, and diagnose his own sickness. This “magnetic sleep revealed the potential dwelling in everyone but realized only by a few.”

Mesmerism as a medical practice was popularized among the lower classes precisely because they had access to a form of healing that was not controlled by authorities. Potential sexual exploitation of women by men who performed mesmeric healing also contributed to the criticism. Part of this criticism stem from the fact that mesmerism became so theatre-like. It was also hard to distinguish between doctors who had attended medical school and were fully knowledgeable and those who just bought their degrees.

Within the literary world, mesmerism, animal magnetism, hypnosis and the somnambulistic state were all aspects of the straddle between the reasoned enlightenment age and the romantic era. Mesmerism became a huge impact on many romantic writers, one of the most notable being Samuel Tayler Coleridge. His poems often dealt with topics relating to mesmerism and dreams. A few of these poems include Kubla Khan and Rime of the Ancient Mariner. In the note that comes before the poem Kubla Khan, Coleridge writes about an experience in which he compose hundreds of lines by memory but loses all memory of those lines upon interruption by a visitor. Although there are many disputed explanations including drug use by Coleridge to explain this strange experience; mesmerism, as it was a fascination and a devoted area of study by Coleridge, is arguably a likely explanation of his experience. In the poem the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, mesmerism can arguably be applied to the fate of both the mariner and the wedding guest. The mariner and his fellow sailors become mesmerized after he shoots the albatross. Once saved, the mariner must tell his story to whoever will listen and he is able to get the wedding guest to listen to his story by mesmerizing him. Mesmerism also brought about questions about the horrors of scientific advancement. Mesmer’s animal magnetism and the studies of electric current through which life can be controlled may be contributors to the writing so of Mary Shelley (Frankenstein) and John Keats.

References

• Fulford, Tim. Conducting the Vital Fluid: The Politics and Poetics in the 1790s. Studies in Romanticism 43.1 (2004): 57-78. Humanities Hwwhilson. Web. 1 Feb 2010.
• Wilson, Eric G. Matter and Spirit in the Age of Animal Magnetism. Philosophy and Literature 30.2 (2006): 329-345. Project Muse Standard Collection. Web. 1 Feb 2010.
• Porter, Roy. Under the Influence' Mesmerism in England. History Today 35.9 (1985): 22-29. EBSCO Host Humanities International. Web. 3 Feb 2010.
• Gigante, Denise. The Monster in the Rainbow: Keats and the Science of Life. PMLA 117.3 (2002): 433-448. JSTOR. Web. 8 Feb 2010.
• Ford, Jennifer. Samuel Taylor Coleridge and the Pains of Sleep. History Workshop Journal no.48 (1999): 169-186. JSTOR. 7 Feb 2010.
• Mancini, Silvia. Animal Magnetism and Psychic Sciences, 1784-1935: The Rediscovery of a Lost Continent. Diogems 48.2 (2000): 94. EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier. Web.
• Fara, Patricia. An Attractive Therapy: Animal Magnetism in Eighteenth-Century England. History of Sciene 33 (1995): 127-177. Astrophysics Data System. Web. 3 Feb 2010.