2023-05-29 11:12:30
Valentine Greatrakes (1628-1683) made headlines in Great Britain with his numerous cures by touch, in particular of scrofule, a set of lesions of the skin and mucous membranes. He attributed his don ” to a divine revelation while he was a soldier. His fame earned him evaluation by the most eminent intellectuals and scholars of his time, including the physicist and chemist Robert Boyle, for whom Greatrakes might perhaps induce in the body of his patients and “ sanitizing fluid “.
Other forgotten pioneers
Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815) enjoyed a certain notoriety on the European continent almost a century later, from Vienna to Paris. After studying theology, physics and medicine, he developed his concept of a subtle “fluid” filling the universe (comparable, in the idea, to Chinese qi), which will serve as a basis for its “animal magnetism” theory. But this was never validated by his scholarly peers at the time, who attributed his “success” to his ability to manipulate the imagination of his patients. Historians will recognize him, at the very least, for having laid, somewhat in spite of himself, the foundations of mind-body interaction and future psychological therapies, such as hypnosis, psychoanalysis and even, for some authors, modern psychiatry.
When Louis XVI appointed a commission of inquiry
Including in particular Antoine Lavoisier and Benjamin Franklintwo eminent materialists, among the founding fathers of modern science, this commission, appointed to study the practice of animal magnetism – or mesmerism – concluded in August 1784 that “touch, imagination and imitation are the true causes of the effects attributed to magnetism “. A sentence that will permanently oust the immaterial from the scientific field.
Read also Nathalie Lefèvre tested magnetism with Lila Rhiyouri, healer
Intriguing experiences
Oscar Estebany, a colonel in the Hungarian army in the 1930s, noticed that the horses he cared for recovered faster than those cared for by others. After immigrating to Canada, it was not until around 1971 that he came into contact with Bernard Grad, a cancer researcher, whom he informed of his ability to heal. Grad was aware of alternative approaches, and was particularly interested in orgone. He implemented experiments at McGill University (Montreal). For example, Estebany was asked to influence the irrigation water of barley plants, which greatly improved their growth rate1. Another study2, still conducted by Grad, showed that the healing of wounds of surgical origin in mice was improved if Estebany placed his hands close to the cage. These results were statistically significant and were successfully replicated, suggesting that the placebo effect, so often opposed to the effects of magnetism on humans, did not intervene.
Later, with Justa Smith, a biochemist from Rosary Hill College in Buffalo (USA), Estebany succeeded in reactivating samples of trypsin (a stomach enzyme) altered by ultraviolet rays, in the same way as would have been done a magnetic field, although no magnetic field might be detected – with the instruments of the time – near his body. These experiments, carried out with rigor and method, are among the most interesting ever produced in this field, and have given rise to publications that are almost undisputed.
Read also Reconnect body and mind
Magnets and magnetism: just a difference in power?
The German physician Mesmer (1734-1815) used magnets on his patients, arguing that they only amplified his own magnetism, for greater effect. Numerous modern works attest to the usefulness of magnetotherapy on headaches, certain neuropathies or joint and back pain. But for human magnetism, the weakness of its induction levels – of the order of milliGauss, once morest 300 to 500 Gauss for the magnets used in the studies – continues to incite doubt.
The American School
After a course in physics, American Barbara Ann Brennan devoted herself to the human energy field, which she equated with the “aura”. Priding herself with a high sense of perception, she trained in psychology, massage and hypnosis, and began to practice as a healer. His success enabled him to open a school in Florida, from which many “Brennan therapists “. Some nevertheless denounce his “model “catch-all (light guides, chakras, past lives, etc.) like a pure business plan, denying her any gift of healing.
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