Research source

Mesmer.--Again, the latent possibilities of "suggestion,"--though not yet under that name, and mingled with who…

Date of account: Published 1903
Source: Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily Death
Reference: Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily Death · selected passage 13
Rights: public_domain
Language: English
Record updated: 2026-08-24

Record summary

Mesmer.--Again, the latent possibilities of "suggestion,"--though not yet under that name, and mingled with who knows what else?--broke forth into a blaze in the movement headed by Mesmer;--at once discoverer and charlatan

Published source text

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Source passage

Source text · mention only

_Mesmer._--Again, the latent possibilities of "suggestion,"--though not yet under that name, and mingled with who knows what else?--broke forth into a blaze in the movement headed by Mesmer;--at once discoverer and charlatan. Again the age was unripe, and scientific opposition, although not so formidable as the religious opposition which had sent witches to the stake, was yet strong enough to check for the second time the struggling science. Hardly till our own generation--hardly even now--has a third effort found better acceptance, and hypnotism and psycho-therapeutics, in which every well-attested fact of witchcraft or of mesmerism finds, if not its explanation, at least its parallel, are establishing themselves as a recognised and advancing method of relieving human ills.

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

This comes from historical psychical research. Methods, witness handling and standards of evidence differ from present-day research and should be assessed from the cited passage and edition.

Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

The passage can support a history of claims and recurring descriptions. It does not establish a paranormal mechanism, and competing psychological, social and physical explanations remain relevant.

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