SOUSSELIER DE LA TOUR, — .
L’Ami de la Nature, ou maniere de traiter les maladies par le prétendu magnétisme animal.
A Dijon: Chez J.B. Capel,... .1784
8vo, pp. xiii, (i), 175, (1). Half-title. Original marbled wrappers (spine defective), uncut.
FIRST EDITION. In this work on hypnotism and animal magnetism, Sousselier de la Tour states that he developed his own form of animal magnetism, which bore no resemblance to Mesmer’s. He claimed that animal magnetism was nothing more than a form of electricity. The first chapter is on artificial electricity, and Chapter VII is on treatment with the “electrical machine”, but the remainder of the subject matter of this book is quite varied: thunder and winds, tides, earthquakes and volcanoes, and various medical subjects. In the last chapter, on diverse subjects but principally on electricity, the author mentions the recently invented hot-air balloons. Crabtree, Animal magnetism, 113. Not in the Wheeler Gift or Ekelöf; Overmeier & Senior in the Bakken catalogue list the Lausanne edition of the same year. Norman catalogue M146.
£320.00
In stock
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