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Abstract

This article deals with theory and practice of animal magnetism in Prussia in the first half of the nineteenth century from a socio-historical point of view. A discussion of the disputes over mesmeric therapy elucidates the complex process of social change in medicine. Theoretical conflicts demonstrate that many scholars and physicians where not able to differentiate between "science" and "superstition". It was the proximity of animal magnetism to religious and magical cures that led to the disputes, stimulated by the fact that the reasons for the positive effects of this therapy could not be traced. The practice of animal magnetism supplies evidence for the reciprocation between the so-called two cultures of academic and popular medicine.