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Anna Karenina vocabulary
2 medical vocabulary terms
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mesmerism
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synonyms: animal magnetism ???
tags: [medical] [obsolete]
► definition
Definition:a theory that animals extert a natural force that can have physical effects, such as healing. Named after its founder, Franz Mesmer."The theory attracted numerous followers in Europe and the United States and was popular into the 19th century. Practitioners were often known as magnetizers. For about 75 years from its beginnings in 1779 it was an important speciality in medicine, and continued to have some influence for about another 50 years. Hundreds of books were written on the subject between 1766 and 1925. Today it is almost entirely forgotten."text from Wikipedia, licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike
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Uses:
MESMERIC REVELATION
WHATEVER doubt may still envelop the rationale of mesmerism, its startling facts are now almost universally admitted. Of these latter, those who doubt, are your mere doubters by profession— an unprofitable and disreputable tribe. There can be no more absolute waste of time than the attempt to prove,
Edgar Allan Poe. The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 2
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Levin sat listening to the doctor's stories of a quack mesmerizer and looking at the ashes of his cigarette.
Leo Tolstoy. Anna Karenina (Translated by Constance Garnett)
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