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Historical Bibliography Updated: November 28, 2019

Rapport des commissaires chargés par le roi, de l’examen du magnétisme animal. Edited by Antoine Laurent Lavoisier.

Publication Details

Paris: L’Imprimerie Royale, 1784 CE.

Responding to Mesmer’s growing notoriety, the Medical Faculty of Paris became alarmed, and urged the King to appoint a blue-ribbon committee of inquiry. The committee included Benjamin Franklin, Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, Michael Joseph Majault, Jean Sylvain Bailly, Jean d'Arcet. Finding no evidence of a magnetic fluid, these scientists attributed the power of mesmerism to the “imagination” and so drove Mesmer from Paris. Lavoisier may have been the author of the report. English translation, London, 1785. Digital facsimile of the 1784 edition from BnFgallica at this link.

Catalog MetadataReference Information
Entry Number#4992.2
Permanent Linkhttps://hom-sveltekit.fly.dev/entry/6502
Author Bio LinkWikipedia ↗
External URLrapport-des-commissaires-chargs-par-le-roi-de-lexamen-du-magntisme-animal

Geographic Context

Publication place: Paris

Mentioned in annotation: London