Timeline

1766 - Mesmer received his medical degree from the Faculty of Vienna

1778 - Mesmer moved to Paris

1779 - Mesmer published his theory in the form of 27 propositions

1781 - around this time Mesmer begins to use the Baquet

1781 - Mesmer fails to obtain royal approval

1784 - confidential report delivered to the King of France regarding the moral aspects of magnetism

12/3/1784 - King of France charges two commissions to inquire into animal magnetism. Main enquiry, chaired by Benjamin Franklin (American Ambassador to France). Other members were Lavoisier, Bailly, Leroy,, de Bony, Majault, Sallin, D'Arcet, Guillotin. The second commision, chosen from the Societe Royale de Medecine carried out a parallel investigation. Both submitted findings five months later.

11/08/1784 - Commissions report.

1784 - Marquis de Puysegur taught magnetism by Mesmer

1785 - de Puysegur demonstrates Victor Race's abilities in 'artificial somnambulism' in Paris

1813 - Abbe di Faria gives public demonstrations of mesmerism, which he termed 'lucid sleep'

1819 - Abbe di Faria publishes De La Cause du Sommeil Lucide

1819 - Experiments with magnetism begin to be conducted in two Paris hospitals - the Hotel Dieu, and the Salpetriere

1819 - Bertrand gives a popular series of lectures in magnetism

1826 - a commission of enquiry set up by the Academe de Medecine to investigate the experiments at the paris hospitals. Commission consisted of nine doctors.

1831 - commission reports. Concluded that the mmajority of the cases could be explained in terms of weariness, monotony & imagination. However, concluded that some cases could not be explained by imagination, and concluded that animal magnetism, as the only other alternative, must be the cause

1837 - subsequent commission set up by the Academe

1841 - James Braid witnesses demonstration by Lafontaine

1846 - Braid publishes The Power of the Mind over the Body

1855 - Braid publishes The Physiology of Fascination and the Critics Criticised

1860-1880 - stage hypnosis flourished

1862 - Jean-Martin Charcot becomes medical director of section of the Salpetriere hospital

1870 - Charcot given responsibility for a ward of female convulsive patients

1882 - Charcot presents some findings to the Acadmie des Sciences to some acclaim

1933 - Clark Hull publishes Hypnosis and Suggestion - emphasises the role of suggestion. Places hypnosis on an experimental basis