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Book ID: CBB285174381

L’inganno di Mesmer e la commissione Franklin-Lavoisier: Come la scienza ha imparato ad affrontare le controversie pubbliche (2019)

Ossicini, Stefano (Author)

Meltemi

ISBN: 9788855190763

Publication Date: 2019
Physical Details: 314 pp.
Language: Italian

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Science and society Medicine Quackery Mesmerism Public opinion Public understanding of science 18th century France Mesmer, Franz Anton

Nel 1784 re Luigi XVI di Francia istituisce una commissione di inchiesta per indagare sulle teorie e sull’operato di Franz Mesmer, medico e scienziato tedesco, che a Parigi ha un successo eclatante: le sue sedute terapeutiche diventano un vero e proprio fenomeno di massa. Secondo Mesmer un fluido fisico, detto magnetismo animale, riempie l’universo. Le malattie nascono dalla mancanza di tale fluido nel corpo umano, ma con l’aiuto di diverse tecniche, come per esempio l’uso di sbarre, acqua e alberi “magnetizzati”, questo fluido può essere convogliato nei pazienti provocando “crisi” salutari. Fra i membri della commissione due scienziati, accademici di Francia: Antoine Lavoisier, fondatore della chimica moderna, e Benjamin Franklin, inventore del parafulmine, che metteranno in atto diversi sagaci esperimenti per studiare il fenomeno del mesmerismo. La commissione conclude che tutti gli effetti delle pratiche mesmeriche sono dovuti al potere dell’immaginazione, che il fluido magnetico semplicemente non esiste e, nel far questo, costruisce una metodologia d’indagine su questo tipo di fenomeni ancora oggi utile per non rivivere simili errori. [Abstract translated by Google Translate: This is the abstract in English… In 1784, King Louis XVI of France set up a commission of inquiry to investigate the theories and work of German physician and scientist Franz Mesmer, who in Paris has a resounding success: his therapeutic sessions become a real mass phenomenon. According to Mesmer, a physical fluid, called animal magnetism, fills the universe. Diseases arise from the lack of this fluid in the human body, but with the help of different techniques, such as the use of "magnetized" bars, water and trees, this fluid can be channeled into patients causing healthy "crises." Among the members of the commission two scientists, academics from France: Antoine Lavoisier, founder of modern chemistry, and Benjamin Franklin, inventor of the lightning rod, who will carry out several shrewd experiments to study the phenomenon of mesmerism. The commission concludes that all the effects of mesmeric practices are due to the power of the imagination, that the magnetic fluid simply does not exist and, in doing so, builds a methodology for investigating this type of phenomenon still useful today so as not to relive such errors.]

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