Yogis Without Borders 65
differentiated manifestations of a universal force that lay at the root of all phe-
nomena. Moreover, if Mesmer himself did not make this metaphysical associa-
tion explicit, it was almost certainly understood as such by his audience.
In keeping with this line of reasoning, Mesmer eventually concluded
that the physical instrument of the magnet was secondary— and eventually
superfluous— to the real instrument through which magnetic healing was
effected: the person of the magnetist himself. External props were not alto-
gether abandoned. Mesmer introduced the somewhat more imposing device
of the baquet, which constituted a sort of large wooden tub filled with jars of
“magnetized” water set upon metal filings. Patients would be connected to and
thereby able to access the concentrated magnetic fluid stored in the device by
virtue of metal rods extending out of the periphery of the container’s lid. Not to
be outdone by his device, Mesmer contributed to the theatrical atmosphere by
donning a lilac taffeta robe and, thus raimented, would generate further “sana-
tive” vibrations by playing on a glass harmonica or sashaying from one patient
to the next brandishing a wand.^21
Despite his best efforts, Mesmer’s technique failed to win the approval of the
medical community. In 1784 a special Royal Commission charged with investigat-
ing his work (and decorated with such notable members as Benjamin Franklin)
failed to find any merit in his endeavors. After this Mesmer’s personal popularity
declined, and he spent the remainder of his days in relative obscurity. However,
the larger tradition of Mesmerism was far from dead. After Mesmer’s retreat from
the public arena, the term “Mesmerism” took on a somewhat different connota-
tion, chiefly propagated by his most notable disciple, the Marquis de Puységur,
Amand Marie Jacques de Chastenet (1751– 1825). In Puységur’s work, Mesmerism
was dissociated from all use of external props and became tied primarily to a
somnambulistic altered state, often accompanied by clairvoyance. In this form,
Mesmerism would persist in three essential forms: the medical, the psychological,
and the parapsychological.^22
It is the latter parapsychological stream than most concerns our subject mat-
ter here, but a note should be made about an interesting and often ignored asso-
ciation between it and its more traditionally psychological cousin. Puységur’s
work was monumentally influential in the development of hypnotism, which
accounts for much of Mesmerism’s presence in the sphere of psycholog y. The
term “hypnotism,” originally “neuro- hypnotism,” was coined by Scottish physi-
cian James Braid (1795– 1860) in 1842 as an alternative to the terminolog y of
animal magnetism. Unlike Puységur, Braid completely divorced the mechan-
ics of Mesmerism from any association with a universal magnetic fluid and
described it as an exclusively psychological phenomenon, hence the change in
nomenclature.