La condamnation du mesmérisme revisitée

This article rereads the official inquiries that led to the condemnation of animal magnetism in 1784. It focuses on how the two investigating committees, the Royal Commission and the Commission of the Royal Society of Medicine, were constituted; how the investigations themselves were carried out, in...

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Main Author: Bruno Belhoste
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Éditions de la Sorbonne 2021-11-01
Series:Revue d’Histoire des Sciences Humaines
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journals.openedition.org/rhsh/6602
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author Bruno Belhoste
author_facet Bruno Belhoste
author_sort Bruno Belhoste
collection DOAJ
description This article rereads the official inquiries that led to the condemnation of animal magnetism in 1784. It focuses on how the two investigating committees, the Royal Commission and the Commission of the Royal Society of Medicine, were constituted; how the investigations themselves were carried out, in the form of observations in the clinic of Dr Deslon, a disciple of Mesmer, and then in the form of experiments on isolated subjects (some of them for placebo effect); and finally how the reports were prepared and written. The aim is to show, on the basis of the numerous documents produced on this occasion, the complexity and contradictions of the investigations, the divisions between the investigators, and the fragility of the conclusions they reached. Using this famous case, the article thus illustrates the difficulty of arriving at certainties when it comes to evaluating medical treatments.
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series Revue d’Histoire des Sciences Humaines
spelling doaj-art-7c5e00df121d481bbcb1b795268ed82b2025-08-20T01:57:48ZengÉditions de la SorbonneRevue d’Histoire des Sciences Humaines1963-10222021-11-013918721410.4000/rhsh.6602La condamnation du mesmérisme revisitéeBruno BelhosteThis article rereads the official inquiries that led to the condemnation of animal magnetism in 1784. It focuses on how the two investigating committees, the Royal Commission and the Commission of the Royal Society of Medicine, were constituted; how the investigations themselves were carried out, in the form of observations in the clinic of Dr Deslon, a disciple of Mesmer, and then in the form of experiments on isolated subjects (some of them for placebo effect); and finally how the reports were prepared and written. The aim is to show, on the basis of the numerous documents produced on this occasion, the complexity and contradictions of the investigations, the divisions between the investigators, and the fragility of the conclusions they reached. Using this famous case, the article thus illustrates the difficulty of arriving at certainties when it comes to evaluating medical treatments.http://journals.openedition.org/rhsh/6602animal magnetismcontroversyexperimentationLavoisierimagination
spellingShingle Bruno Belhoste
La condamnation du mesmérisme revisitée
Revue d’Histoire des Sciences Humaines
animal magnetism
controversy
experimentation
Lavoisier
imagination
title La condamnation du mesmérisme revisitée
title_full La condamnation du mesmérisme revisitée
title_fullStr La condamnation du mesmérisme revisitée
title_full_unstemmed La condamnation du mesmérisme revisitée
title_short La condamnation du mesmérisme revisitée
title_sort la condamnation du mesmerisme revisitee
topic animal magnetism
controversy
experimentation
Lavoisier
imagination
url http://journals.openedition.org/rhsh/6602
work_keys_str_mv AT brunobelhoste lacondamnationdumesmerismerevisitee