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- For the album, see Animal Magnetism (album)
Animal magnetism (also known as mesmerism) is the 18th century term for the supposed ethereal medium postulated by Franz Mesmer as a therapeutic agent.
The use of the (conventional) English term animal magnetism to translate Mesmer's magnétism animal is extremely misleading for three reasons:
- Mesmer chose his term to clearly distinguish his variant of magnetic force from those which were referred to, at that time, as mineral magnetism, cosmic magnetism and planetary magnetism.
- Mesmer felt that this particular force/power only resided in the bodies of humans and animals.
- Mesmer chose the word "animal", for its root meaning (from latin animus = "breath") specifically to identify his force/power as a quality that belonged to all creatures with breath; viz., the animate beings: humans and animals.
Its existence was examined by a French royal commission in 1784, and the commission concluded there was no evidence of its existence or efficacy of the animal magnetic fluid, and that its effects derived from either the imaginations of its subjects or charlatanry. The term is also occasionally employed in the context of Christian Science to describe unheeded mental influences, malicious or ignorant, resting on its subjects' belief in them.
The term's most common usage today is to refer (sometimes facetiously) to a person's sexual attractiveness or raw charisma.
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"Animal magnetism"