Transnational Encounters in the History of Animal Magnetism in Belgium, 1830-1848 + Heen en terug

Transnational Encounters in the History of Animal Magnetism in Belgium, 1830 – 1848

Lecture

Early Belgian practices and beliefs on the therapeutic use of animal magnetism were part of a network of traveling people and ideas within a Franco-Dutch-German space. In the 1830s, practitioners of magnetism often learned their skills from either Dutch or French magnetizers. Transregional exchanges among magnetizers continued well into the 1840s. The Belgian medical world, which in the 1830s was only starting to organize its own professional and scientific infrastructure, was mainly informed about magnetism through French medical journals. An awareness of the skeptical position of the French medical establishment, however, did not keep Belgian doctors away from experimenting with magnetism as a therapeutic tool. As in other European countries, this process took place partly in interaction, but also partly in competition with lay magnetizers. French publications were also the main point of reference for Catholic authors, who in Belgium seemed relatively open to the scientific and therapeutic potential of animal magnetism, as long as no supranatural claims were made. This openness was partly facilitated through German romantic, holistic approaches to magnetism, which offered a non-materialist reading of the unity between body and soul.

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Tim Oelbrandt & De Studio

Magical theatre