1-156-295 - Oxford Science Archive/Heritage Images

Caricature of Franz Anton Mesmer, c1785. He is depicted as an ass hypnotising a female subject with a finger. In 1779, soon after the publication of his treatise Memoire sur la decouverte de magnetism animal, Mesmer (1734-1815), the founder of Mesmerism, opened a consulting room in Paris. Considered by many to be a quack and charlatan, his 'tub' and his ideas of 'animal magnetism' were ridiculed.