Animal Magnetism

A fourth type of fanaticism met by Ellen White was “animal magnetism,” or mesmerism. In the United States during the mid-nineteenth century animal magnetism was a popular philosophy of healing. Originated by Viennese physician Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815), it taught that an invisible magnetic fluid permeates the universe. Mesmer theorized that disease produced an imbalance of this fluid within the human body, which could be cured through the use of magnets and electrical current. He eventually abandoned the use of magnets and proposed that the “healer's body,” “permeated with animal magnetism, could redirect the patient's magnetic fluid without the use of magnets.” The goal was to induce a “crisis” by altering the subject's mental state through fever, delirium, convulsions, uncontrolled weeping, and nervous twitches. Mesmer saw these manifestations as healthy symptoms of healing. Suggestibility and dominance were used to produce a trance and thus realign the body.⁴⁵

Irving Kirsch et al., “Introduction to Clinical Hypnosis,” in Handbook of Clinical Hypnosis, p. 5; John C. Burnham, “Franz Anton Mesmer,” International Encyclopedia of Psychiatry, Psychology, Psychoanalysis, and Neurology, vol. 7, p. 213.

James Braid (1795-1860) later redefined the term mesmerism as hypnotism, and Mesmer became known as the father of modern hypnosis.46

Henry Alan Skinner, The Origin of Medical Terms, p. 186.

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During 1845 Joseph Turner, a leading Adventist minister and editor in Maine, adopted this theory and began to hypnotize people, particularly young girls and women. At a meeting in Poland, Maine, Turner tried to mesmerize, or hypnotize, Ellen White. She recalled: “He had his eyes looking right out of his fingers, and his eyes looked like snake's eyes, evil.”⁴⁷

Ellen G. White, Ms 131, 1906 (Aug. 13).

Her experiences in confronting this man, together with her visionary guidance, placed her in opposition to all hypnotic mind-controlling modalities that removed a person's God-given mental independence and freedom. In later life Ellen White wrote directly and specifically on this topic.: “It is not God's purpose that any human being should yield his mind and will to the control of another, becoming a passive instrument in his hands. … He is not to look to any human being as the source of healing. His dependence must be in God.”48

Ellen G. White, The Ministry of Healing, p. 242.

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In 1845 Ellen White was prompted through visions to confront Turner on repeated occasions. He in turn became her determined adversary, following her from place to place seeking to undermine her influence. Turner later denied being involved in this fanaticism, but in 1848 Joseph Bates confirmed it.⁴⁹

Joseph Bates, A Vindication of the Seventh-day Sabbath, pp. 15-17.

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