1979 anniversaries.

Abstract

In 1979 Mesmer's Mémoire sur la découverte du magnestisme animal appeared in Paris. Although Mesmer believed in physical rather than psychological causes, his work in healing through suggestion marks the beginning of modern psychotherapy. In 1879 several state mental hospitals opened in the United States, amid controversies between the medical profession and the public over the treatment of mental illness. Ernest Jones, a pioneer in the establishment of psychonanalysis and author of the most comprehensive and authoritative biography of Freud, was born that same year.