Mesmerism and the American Cure of Souls

This book explores the healing science known as mesmerism. From the Foreword: "The deplorable status of nineteenth-century medical practice explains why Americans' interests were initially aroused by mesmerism's alleged healing properties. Yet mesmerism's medical promise itself offers few hints concerning why its psychological theories subsequently developed into a full-blown philosophy of human nature. The story of mesmerism is thus very much the story of why Americans first turned to psychological ideas in their individual quests for wholeness. The sixty-five-year period during which the nation's first psychological system emerged was a hinge period in American life..."