Author Description

Almost 250 years ago, Dr. Franz Anton Mesmer announced a discovery for treating disease that rocked the scientific world. He called this discovery "animal magnetism." (The word "animal" means "pertaining to the soul.") Mesmer's successful work with this treatment brought him nothing but malice and envy from his fellow scientists, who claimed his discovery was nothing but quackery. False charges were brought against Mesmer, who was forced to leave his beloved Vienna for the more enlightened climate of France. Hundreds flocked to Mesmer's treatment rooms in Paris. The court of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette sizzled with stories of unbelievable healings with animal magnetism. The Marquis de Lafayette, a practitioner of the technique, wrote glowingly of Mesmer's powers to U.S. President George Washington. Despite the fact that French physicians were officially forbidden to use animal magnetism, hundreds of them secretly paid huge sums of money to learn the principles and practices discovered by Mesmer. In this exciting book, Dr. Mesmer's methods are presented in their original form, along with incontrovertible proof that animal magnetism had nothing whatsoever to do with "hypnotism," but rather is based upon the physical and biological effects that one person may have upon another. Author Jerome Eden has herein restored the name of Dr. Franz Anton Mesmer to its rightful place as one of the great names of science. Because of his commendable work, Eden was knighted by the Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem (the Knights of Malta), the oldest continuous order of knighthood in the world.