1778 | Medicine
Medicine
France charters the Société Royale de Medicine and charges it with the study of epidemics.
Mesmerism attracts the elite of Paris with claims that it cures various diseases. Having been accused by Viennese physicians of fraud, Swabian-born physician Franz Anton Mesmer, 44, announces that he has occult powers to effect cures with what he calls "animal magnetism," an invisible, occult force or fluid that derives from the stars and emanates from his body. Gaining support from Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, he founds a Magnetic Institute and induces trances in his patients, using astrology, magic wands, and similar methods, but his methods antagonize the medical profession (see 1784).