1-156-140 - Oxford Science Archive/Heritage Images

Mesmer's tub, 1779 (1875). In 1779, soon after the publication of his treatise Memoire sur la decouverte de magnetism animal, Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815), the founder of Mesmerism, opened a consulting room in Paris. The tub was a vat of dilute sulphuric acid and patients at therapy sessions sat around it either holding hands, or holding one of the iron bars projecting from it. After a print. (Paris, 1779).