Article ID: CBB067953438

La condamnation du mesmérisme revisitée (2021)

unapi

L’article revient sur les enquêtes officielles qui ont conduit à la condamnation du magnétisme animal en 1784. Il s’attache principalement à étudier comment ont été constituées les deux commissions chargées d’enquêter, la commission royale et la commission de la Société royale de médecine, comment se sont déroulées les enquêtes elles-mêmes, sous forme d’observations dans la clinique du docteur Deslon, un disciple de Mesmer, puis sous forme d’expériences sur des sujets isolés (certaines en simple aveugle), et, enfin, comment les rapports ont été préparés et rédigés. L’objectif est de montrer, à partir des nombreux documents produits à cette occasion, la complexité et les contradictions des enquêtes, les divisions entre les enquêteurs et, finalement, la fragilité des conclusions auxquelles ils sont parvenus. L’article illustre ainsi, sur un cas célèbre, la difficulté d’arriver à des certitudes quand il s’agit d’évaluer des traitements médicaux. This article rereads the official inquiries that led to the condemnation of animal magnetism in 1784. It focuses on how the two investigating committees, the Royal Commission and the Commission of the Royal Society of Medicine, were constituted; how the investigations themselves were carried out, in the form of observations in the clinic of Dr Deslon, a disciple of Mesmer, and then in the form of experiments on isolated subjects (some of them for placebo effect); and finally how the reports were prepared and written. The aim is to show, on the basis of the numerous documents produced on this occasion, the complexity and contradictions of the investigations, the divisions between the investigators, and the fragility of the conclusions they reached. Using this famous case, the article thus illustrates the difficulty of arriving at certainties when it comes to evaluating medical treatments.

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Authors & Contributors
Alembert, Jean le Rond d'
Alvarado, Carlos S.
Apel, Thomas
Bauer, Eberhard
Bertomeu Sánchez, José Ramón
Crabtree, Adam
Journals
Ambix: Journal of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry
Acta Baltica historiae et philosophiae scientiarum
Annales, économies, sociétés, civilisations
Annals of Science: The History of Science and Technology
Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society
Bulletin of the History of Medicine
Publishers
Cambridge University Press
Cornell University Press
Johns Hopkins University
Meltemi
Swedenborg Foundation
Concepts
Medicine
Mesmerism
Expertise
Controversies and disputes
Evidence
Philosophy of medicine
People
Mesmer, Franz Anton
Alembert, Jean le Rond d'
Chirac, Pierre
Duverney, Joseph-Guichard
Gallot, Jean Gabriel
Gilibert, Jean-Emmanuel
Time Periods
18th century
19th century
21st century
20th century
20th century, early
Places
France
India
Europe
Italy
United States
Institutions
Société Royale de Médecine
Académie des Sciences, Paris
Académie Royale de Chirurgie de Paris
Jardin du roi (France)
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