The phony health craze that inspired hypnotism
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- čas přidán 26. 01. 2021
- In the 1780s, a charismatic healer caused a stir in Paris.
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Scientific progress in the 18th century in Europe, a period known as the “Age of Enlightenment,” was demystifying the universe with breakthroughs in chemistry, physics, and philosophy. But medical practices were still relying on centuries-old treatments, like leeching and bloodletting, which were painful and often ineffective. So when Franz Anton Mesmer, a charismatic physician from Vienna, began “healing” people in Paris using an alternative therapeutic practice he called “animal magnetism,” it got a lot of attention.
Mesmer claimed that an invisible magnetic fluid was the life force that connected all things and that he had the power to regulate it to restore health in his patients. He was a celebrity figure until the King of France, Louis XVI, commissioned a group of leading scientists to investigate his methods in 1784.
Benjamin Franklin headed the commission, and they debunked the existence of the magnetic fluid in the first-known blind experiment. Mesmer was ruined, but “mesmerism” didn’t end there. The report also acknowledged that Mesmer’s methods were making his patients feel better, which they attributed to the power of the human imagination. This experiment ultimately laid the groundwork for our understanding of the placebo effect and inspired an evolution of Mesmer’s practice into something more recognizable today: hypnotism.
Further reading:
Mesmerising Science: The Franklin Commission and the Modern Clinical Trial, by Urte Laukaityte
publicdomainreview.org/essay/...
Franz Anton Mesmer and the Rise and Fall of Animal Magnetism, by Doug Lanska
academia.dk/MedHist/Bibliotek...
Note: The headline on this piece has been updated. Previous headline: Hypnotism evolved from a phony health craze
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When Benjamin Franklin entered the story it was like a crossover episode lol
Franklin's whole life was one big crossover special
@@LimeyLassen Scientist, founding father and an absolute player
Haha yeah
yeah I mean Franklin was an important person well beyond the independence of the US. same with most of the other ideological leaders of that movement like Thomas Paine, etc.
hahaha you right..
XD
This is also the origin of the word “mesmerize “ ! Very cool
Duh
@@dirkdiggler. bruh
Bruh
@@DisasterxUs bruh bruh
@@alanhughes8152 bruh bruh bruh bruh
The editing on this video which integrates old paintings and drawings with little animations is fantastic.
It’s really beautiful
True
>:(
@@user-hg2qi8bl2f (:
@@vlxne.4879 DID YOU STEAL MI COOKIS
@@user-hg2qi8bl2f yes, and you have to fight me to give them bacc
I love that Vox is returning to explaining something interesting from showing all depressed news...
Part II: Mesmer is Q!
i agree
@@digojez uP
@@BizzeeB No! Don't give them any more ideas!
We're sick of Us politics, even if you popped and spent 10 hour explaining me why you popped I wouldn't mind
The glass harmonica sounds so nice.
riiiiiiiighhhhtttttttt???? i just heard about it for the first time. Sounds so nice!
There’s nice videos of people playing hedwig’s theme on it.
Really reminds me of Morrowind for some reason...
@@williamjeffries3557 Yes, you are correct.
and you know who invented it? yes, it was Benjamin Franklin
"Alternative medicine" hasn't changed at all. Still using the same old tricks. He even invented New Age music!
And yet the same experiments to confirm the placebo effect would come to the same conclusion
The music part got me too!
Lo-Fi Harmonies for the Expulsion of Foul Humours
@@ChristophBackhaus please explain
@@ChristophBackhaus I think hypnosis can be effective in as much as it can help a person relive certain aspects of their life they they may have forgotten about. But any alternative medicine's healing properties is largely due to the placebo effect. This includes things like crystals, juice cleanses, accupuncture and faith healing to name a few
It's nice to see a Lithuanian scientists on such big platforms as Vox
Yeah, I was surprised
such aura too...
So well-spoken. I'm proud to see a Lithuanian on Vox. Thank you, Urte Laukaityte.
She is such a babe
@@andrewj3177 my man 😂
is he where the origin of the word "mesmerize" came from?
Yes!
Smashing!
Correct!
I came here to express this
Same thought
This felt like part 1 out of a series about hypnotism, we need more!
Next episode should be about the founder of modern medical hypnosis - Emile Coue
Do you need more? OR ARE YOU HYPNOTIZED TO BELIEVE THAT?!!
Take a look at Milton Erickson and his work, you'll be extremely excited at what it's done and is possible
Auto suggestion and Emile Coue is a little old school compared to Ericksonian (Permissive) and Neo-Ericksonian Hypnosis
@@DaveKatague Milton Erickson took hypnosis to a whole new therapeutic level. Hypnotherapy probably wouldnt exist today if it werent for him.
*sees last name is Mesmer*
Everyone: I think we know where this is going
The word mesmerized is derived from his name
@@nukebarbarbarian3735 I think we figured that out
@@nukebarbarbarian3735 That was, legit, the joke.
So basically Placebo Hypnosis?
@@v.7726 the point of this video is that hypnosis IS in fact a placebo
Anton Mesmer had found the greatest weapon ever and that is manipulating a human's mind into believing anything he wants it to be
Uh.. religion and superstition?
Correction: any scientifically illiterate and ignorant human's mind :-)
@@Bettie_Rage
So like you?
@@IkeOkerekeNews Awww, little baby Karen got offended 😀
@@Bettie_Rage Manipulation and blind faith isn't just exclusive to the scientifically illiterate.
Sometimes we just need someone to listen and care. That can be healing in its own right.
That's why humans have dogs as pets, in my humble opinion.
The editing in your videos is just..impeccable. Wish i could edit my videos like you guys
Absolutely
Absolutely
Absolutely
Absolutely
Absolutely
That PhD student is mesmerising.
Anyone got her IG?
@@davidmok108 i didnt find her lol
You're a thirsty little boy aren't you?
Seriously guys, be a man and leave her in peace. I agree she’s totally attractive etc but not for you.
@@davidmok108 She's a PhD student at UC Berkeley. Even if you find her IG, she probably wouldn't like a creep to be on her list.
1784: “The scientific report was published and his reputation was destroyed”
2021: “The scientific report was published and his reputation continued to grow”
Ways that supp 2 mean
Literally no idea what your point is supposed to be...
What?
@@jmckendry84 People are still talking about him in 2021, is what his point was. His reputation (infamy) lives on.
Anyways, practically every doctor practiced horseshxt of one form or another back then. Only a handful can say they had some good things to their name as well, Mesmer seems to be one of them: a lot of psychological and placebo things to be learned from him. I dare you to look into the beliefs or theories of any of the great scientists and philosophers of antiquity, middle ages or early modern period; they all held goofy theories.
Mesmer didn't impart his entire knowledge to his students. He was discredited by the commission seeing him as a treath to the medical profession.
Some of his methods is still practiced by mesmerists. Extremely effective in alliviating physical and mental disorders. The 'lost knowledge' isn't entirely lost, to the curious and patient seeker the reward is priceless.
for my taste, this is one of the best and most important video essays I've ever seen. 10/10 Vox, great work
So basically you and Vox dont understand how concentration is linked to magnetism? Basically they told dude to pick up a piece of wood (someone not concentrating) with a magnet (someone concentrating) , and when he transferred his energy (magnet to magnet ) they called it cheating. We really do live in the dark ages still.
The first manned balloon flight was with hot air not hydrogen.
Ya the hydrogen flight was 10 days later
Then the Zeppelin came into picture and came to be proof that filling up 'yuge' balloons with hydrogen was a very, very bad idea indeed.
It was flown in the Palace of Versailles, Versailles, France.
it was with hot hydrogen
Another history chapter 🔥
Love❤️ VOx
......--......-- .......
@@shrekwithawillsmithface465 no shrek, no love
@@deepstariaenigmatica2601
......,,((??////((88888111--____[[[[{{{%%%%
The placebo effect is a helluva drug.
can i guess your age? are you about 60 years old give or take?
no offence intended - its a mere curiosity
@@mogur00 pls😭
@@dian2898 he never replied :'(
@@mogur00 maybe he died💀
@@dian2898 of old age perhaps!
4:46 So this is what Professor Snape was doing during his Death Eater days
That and hypnotizing. Check out his role as Rasputin
This 'fluid'sounds a lot like chi from avatar
Chi is actually a thing in some Asian philosophies. I wouldn’t be surprised if Mesmer had either visited China or was visited by someone from there before “coming up” with this idea.
Yeah, what a great movie
@@Tustin2121 good insight, that's a very likely scenario
Ah yes, chi, the thing that was invented in 2005 for a children's television show.
@@harrylane4 nope, that's not how that happened
Tbh i watch these videos not to learn anything new but to watch the beautiful animations and stuff. The way yall make videos is so unique and captivating.
wallah, i love those too.
I have never clicked on a vox video as fast as when this came up in my recommended... 🤣😅
Ikr
I seriously love this video in particular. The infographics are so on point
I realized far too late in the video where the word mesmerization came from.
I was definitely caught up in the story.
Always a channel that I look upto when I need something to be explained in a very clear, crisp and intresting medium. Vox certainly rocks!
So basically you and Vox dont understand how concentration is linked to magnetism? Basically they told dude to pick up a piece of wood (someone not concentrating) with a magnet (someone concentrating) , and when he transferred his energy (magnet to magnet ) they called it cheating. We really do live in the dark ages still.
I'm literally *mesmerized* on this video, so informative!
So basically you and Vox dont understand how concentration is linked to magnetism? Basically they told dude to pick up a piece of wood (someone not concentrating) with a magnet (someone concentrating) , and when he transferred his energy (magnet to magnet ) they called it cheating. We really do live in the dark ages still.
The French nobility did start to attract large bits of metal at the end of the 18th century, so who knows.
Please, Vox, pin this comment!!
Underrated comment trouvé
Laissez-faire has magnetic properties.
@@Weissenschenkel France wasn't capitalist before the Revolution; it was mercantile-feudalist.
I was mesmerized by this video and Mesmer's work.
Just wow, once again you did a great job Vox!
Explained videos are the best by you guys..!
This hypnotic topic was utterly mesmerising!
Beautiful video, thanks for sharing. Wishing you a wonderful week!
Vox makes such great videos on such interesting topics ♥🥺
Thank you folks at Vox
Great video, i missed this kind of vox production...
awesome video & editing/animation
sounds like maybe he heard about qi and skipped all the detailed anatomical research and medicinal herbs the Chinese were using...
Qi doesn’t work
so he used pseudoscience without other parts of the pseudoscience?
I’m Chinese :]
@@andredepadua8799 a lot of them have been proven to not have a therapeutic effect and are in fact just placebos like so many other things.
Concepts akin to Qi aren't unique to China. The idea has been around for a long time and across many cultures/regions.
Wow, these Mesmer's seances and how people behaved during them kind of reminds me of my religious days where people in a protestant church would go bananas and act all sorts of weird during worship events.
This is where today's prosperity Gospel gets its bread in butter...i.e Christain churches
I was gonna say the same thing. I went to a church once and they work themselves up into an ecstacy then collapse on the ground having seizures. its all imagination.
i love her name 'urte'. i will never be able to say this
It's actually lithuanian. I know because of her last name lol.
One translation of it is herb
that's a very attractive philosopher
Do you know her IG ?
@@nohome170 SIMP... but I wanna her Twitter and ig too..
It is real I have the ability and many do it requires a whole new level of understanding.
And when ppl respond ignorantly I always ask this question before showing them….
“How does one come to know what one does not yet know? And how does one know what one does not know what one does not know?”
There’s a huge difference between thinking believing and experience and knowing
So he granted himself a free pass to touch womens thighs. Smooth
yet a bit creepy
@@ghostofury9755 in a long list of things to happen in the 18th cent., that is very low on the list
@@ghostofury9755 Some say creepy some say genius
Hacc
in recent times, a certain *American "alleged" BILLIONAIRE'* hosted a mesmerizing event called World BEAUTY PAGEANT ... *_to do the SAME thing_*
I heard about this dude from the Sawbones podcast! Glad to see another source about him!
Truly a mesmerizing video! Also cool to know where that word comes from!
''There's no such word as entrepreneur in France '' :)
really incredible videos thank you very much!
he’s got to be the guy mesmerizing is named after. that’s super cool
I think he is
yeap he is
Gotta say, this story is MESMERising!
The human mind is a powerful thing and hypnosis is a great example of this 😎
One comment by a verifed user with no replies. Why?
He had the help of Demons. Or let's just say extraterrestrials. 👽
@@anthonymarcelino8460 he hypnotised his subscriber to not comment and like
Wow, truely *mesmerizing*
The intro is wrong where you said "in 1783 human beings left the ground for the first time". There was a guy named Abbas Ibn Firnas Born 810 who lived in Cordoba (Spain). In 875 he built a wearable flying machine out of wood and silk. He launched himself from hills near Cordoba, his flight lasted 2-10 mins. He was the first person in human history to fly.
as impressive as that is hes still falling really slowly not flying. or was he actually able to create lift somehow and landed by choice?
@@wesleywyndam-pryce5305 you can make a narrow definition of ‘flying’ where only you flew. But that won’t be fair. He might not be capitalist enough like the Wright Brothers where they sold their invention but Abbas Ibn Firnas was the first human to attempt to fly (and did). Also the intro didn’t talk about flying per se, I’ve quoted their exact sentence in the original comment^. They said ‘human beings left ground for the first time’ which is factually wrong.
Look whoever flew in 1783 or later on when Wright Brothers flew, they both contributed greatly in human advancements/achievements but the first human to ever fly to attempt to fly was Abbas ibn Firnas. Give credit where it’s due
The first flying machine was a HOT AIR balloon not a HYDROGEN balloon
I thought that sounded off. It wasn't *as* wrong as I assumed when I looked into it, though. The first launches of manned hot air balloons happened in October and November of 1783 and the first manned hydrogen balloon launch happened on December 1st of that same year. So the advancement in ballooning tech from hot air to hydrogen was basically immediate. Kind of surprised me. Not sure how they were even managing to isolate the hydrogen.
the air was too hot
reckon him "touching" women's thighs was the reason they were having a "crisis"?
I have the same thought.
I think I am mesmerized by that beautiful lady's SMILE> 😇
Thank you. Regards South Africa
Very interesting. Curiously i never had heard about this before!
Love ur guys videos
This is mesmerizing!
Great work 👏🏻
This was mesmerizing
Really mesmerising I must say
This video was quite mesmerizing.
Force was strong with that one
Dare I say, his methods were mesmerising 😂
Anyway, still much safer practices than the "actual medicine" of the time. I'd choose a placebo over a mercury enema any day.
Mesmerizing indeed.....
1:34 I'm mesmerized by her beauty
;)
He sounds just like Instagram influencers today
Mesmerized!
Even weirder - Benjamin Franklin invented the Glass Armonica - the very musical instrument that Mesmer used in his seances!
I love history like this
they were mesmerized
Half of the time I was waiting for that gorgeous lady to come back on screen. Good God, she's MESMERising.
Yes, this is where we get the words "mesmerized" and "mesmeric"
More videos on hypnotism plz.
babe wake up new vox video
Oooooo a Lithuanian name! That's awesome!! great video
Nice research
Cool! I find the Age of Enlightenment really interesting
you mean...enlightening? bud dum tss
Oh my gosh.....mesmerise!
Props to your top notch Art Department.
I actually went to high school with some of Mesmer’s descendants and when we learned about him and hypnosis in psychology we just started going 👀👀👀
Mesmerizing video!
I'm "mesmerized"!🔥
Mesmerized😊
1:36 she is describing THE FORCE!
Mesmerizing!
"How powerful such a psychological suggestion can be"
Is it relevant to religions?
i dont know if it happens in other countries, but here in Brazil a few christian churches do the exact same thing! The priest points at people, does the "healing" and they have a crisis like the one described. Then the priest says he took the devil or the illness out of the person. I guess Mesmer still has some followers today.
Totally. So much like 'faith healing'.
@@carrie.m haha that was in Borat
Was thinking the exact same thing. Maybe vox should make a video on different religions and how faith healings work.
So interesting! Thank you. Any credits for the music of the glass harmonica? @vox
Well...you could say, that it was mesmerising.
Shout out to all Lithuanias happy to see one of ours make it. 🇱🇹 🥰
would love a follow up episode about how eastern practices like chi and reiki tie into this!
I'm mesmerized
Wish he was here today for curing Corona virus 🙏
Mesmerizing video.
Mesmerizing...
great 👍🏼 job.
Great video
I'm mesmerised.
An energy field created by all living things, it surrounds us and penetrates us, it binds the galaxy together... I've heard that somewhere else before.
Ad after the first 30 seconds? Better be an awesome video fr
It kinda reminds me of Pentecostal worship I witnessed as a kid, the healing, soft music, crying and convulsions
Mesmerized