Franz Mesmer or Friedrich Anton

Mesmer, Franz, or Friedrich Anton (1734–1815), Austrian physician who theorized (1775) that a person may transmit universal forces to others through “animal magnetism.” Controversy over his unusual techniques and theories, involving the beneficial effects of a magnet upon an occult force within the subject, forced Mesmer to flee Austria (1778) for Paris. Interest in mesmerism led the British surgeon James Braid, the French neurologist Jean Charcot, and the Viennese psychologist Sigmund Freud to develop the ancient practice of hypnotism for the study of psychology.

See also: Hypnosis.