2522: mesmerism Nov 8, 2021

The word 'mesmerize' now just generally refers to something that's dazzling and captivating, but 'mesmerism' was once a description of a medical procedure and (erroneous) scientific theory. Franz Anton Mesmer believed in something called 'animal magnetism'—an invisible force with physical effects—using magnets along with psychological tricks to supposedly cure people of ailments. This did actually work, but rather than being from magnetism, it was hypnosis. The salvageable procedures influenced many fields including modern talk-therapy, but the colloquial term 'mesmerize' is named from someone who may not have really known what he was doing.