Mesmerism and the American Cure of Souls

Robert C. Fuller

Published by University of Pennsylvania Press 1982

Mesmerism and the American Cure of Souls

Robert C. Fuller

In the series Anniversary Collection

https://doi.org/10.9783/9781512802245

Overview
Contents

About this book

The story of mesmerism in nineteenth-century America is the story of how, for the first time, a psychological theory arose to meet the everyday religious and intellectual needs of Americans. Robert Fuller gives us the first complete history of American mesmerist philosophy. He traces its development from an obscure scientific hypothesis to a powerful spiritual philosophy that deeply influenced many of the period's emerging Protestant religious sects. He investigates in depth the role of mesmerism in the Mind-Cure movement and New Thought and paints for us the cultural landscape existing at a time when thousands of antebellum Americans turned from their churches to the realm of psychology in search of self-understanding.

In the early part of the century, mesmerism was for the most part the territory of carnival showmen. Itinerant mesmerists during the 1830s placed subjects in trancelike states from which they could divulge the contents of sealed envelopes and describe in detail locales to which they had never traveled. Literary figures such as Poe and Hawthorne seized upon mesmerism, depicting its workings at their most sinister and diabolical extreme. But by midcentury, mesmerism was beginning to enter the American consciousness in ways that involved anything but parlor trickery. Straddling a fine line between religious myth and scientific philosophy, mesmerism's spiritual tenets resonated almost perfectly with important currents in contemporary religious life. Universalists, Swedenborgians, and early spiritualists adopted the doctrine of mesmerism as evidence of man's unity with the Almighty. The self-made mind-cure practitioner Phineas Quimby used mesmeric theory to develop his "power of positive thinking," a concept that led eventually to the emergence of the Christian Science movement. But, Fuller shows, mind-cure cultists such as Quimby also helped transform mesmerism into a kind of self-help spirituality. Later writers condensed the principles of mesmeric healing into handy maxims that could be assimilated by a popular reading audience. Thus Mesmerism and the American Cure of Souls presents a paradigmatic instance of the role played by psychology in the American sensibility. In addition, Fuller's study constitutes a rich and hitherto unexplored chapter in American intellectual history.

Author / Editor information

Robert C. Fuller was Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Bradley University.

Reviews

"Tells a fascinating story, and one that has not been told before. . . . A contribution to American intellectual history."—Stephen Nissenbaum, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	VI
Foreword Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	IX
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	XV
1. Discovery Across the Atlantic Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2. The Inoculation Works Wonders Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	16
3. The Emergence of an American Psychology Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	48
4. Psychology out of Its Mind Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	69
5. Culture Dis-ease and Mental Cure Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	105
6. Psychology as Popular Philosophy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	137
7. Mesmerism and the American Cure of Souls Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	163
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	185
Selected Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	221

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Edition: Reprint 2016
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 248
Keywords: American History; Religion; Cultural Studies; American Studies; Religious Studies

eBook

Published: December 15, 2016
ISBN: 9781512802245