If you're not mesmerized by what you're about to read, well, maybe you just don't have enough animal magnetism. At least that's what Friedrich Anton Mesmer might have told you.

Mesmer was an Austrian doctor who developed a theory he called "animal magnetism" in 1778. Dr. Mesmer believed that all the Earth's creatures were constantly bathed in magnetic fluid from the sun and stars. Consequently, magnetism flowed throughout each person's body. If the flow was cut off or improperly distributed, disease resulted.

Dr. Mesmer believed that by passing a magnet over a body, disease could be pulled out of a sick person. He demonstrated his technique in sessions called "seances," sometimes using his own hands instead of a magnetic wand.

Mesmerism, as his treatment came to be called, sometimes seemed to work. But many scientists weren't convinced. They believed Dr. Mesmer was a fake. In 1784, the French Academy of Sciences appointed a commission to investigate Dr. Mesmer. The commission, which included Benjamin Franklin, declared that Mesmer was a fraud. In the following year, he was banished from Paris where mesmerism had found its greatest following.

Modern historians believe that Dr. Mesmer was not a faker so much as a misguided scientist. His magnet, of course, had no effect on sick people. But by making people believe that it could cure them, Mesmer was actually practicing a form of hypnosis. In their hypnotic states, Mesmer's patients may have accepted suggestions that their brains would have rejected in their normal states.

Although no reputable doctor today accepts mesmerism, hypnotism is often used to treat physical and mental disorders. Ironically, one of the most powerful tools for monitoring the effects of hypnotism is Magnetic Resonance Imaging...a powerful magnet that helps to produce pictures of brain activity.

Keep watching for Neurolab updates to find out more about brain activity!