From the 1830s to the Civil War, Americans could be found putting each other into trances for fun and profit in parlors, on stage, and in medical consulting rooms. They were performing mesmerism. Surprisingly central to literature and culture of the period, mesmerism embraced a variety of phenomena, including mind control, spirit travel, and clairvoyance. Although it had been debunked by Benjamin Franklin in late eighteenth-century France, the practice nonetheless enjoyed a decades-long resurgence in the United States. Emily Ogden here offers the first comprehensive account of those boom years. Credulity tells the fascinating story of mesmerism’s spread from the plantations of the French Antilles to the textile factory cities of 1830s New England. As it proliferated along the Eastern seaboard, this occult movement attracted attention from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s circle and ignited the nineteenth-century equivalent of flame wars in the major newspapers. But mesmerism was not simply the last gasp of magic in modern times. Far from being magicians themselves, mesmerists claimed to provide the first rational means of manipulating the credulous human tendencies that had underwritten past superstitions. Now, rather than propping up the powers of oracles and false gods, these tendencies served modern ends such as labor supervision, education, and mediated communication. Neither an atavistic throwback nor a radical alternative, mesmerism was part and parcel of the modern. Credulity offers us a new way of understanding the place of enchantment in secularizing America.

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

This unique Book is the new enlarged and complete version of the earlier "Easy Guide to Mesmerism and Hypnotism", with added text and notes. Dr. Paret personally reviewed this new Edition as he applies with incredible success this ancient methodology into which he was personally initiated. Mesmerism is completely different from modern hypnosis. Mesmerism is the Western school corresponding to the use of Prana or Ki (Chi) in Orient. Parts of the teachings of this school were never completely disclosed in print. Dr. Paret, who is a genuine practitioner, wrote a serie of notes which allow a better understanding of practical applications of these techniques and their actualness. Many of the powerful results of Mesmerism are scarcely reachable if only pursued through verbal hypnosis. Dr. Paret therefore accompanies you through your reading. You will not only find here the original text of Dr. Coates, but also a better understanding of the original school of magnetism. If you really want to immerse in this powerful world, this is your occasion!