Viennese doctor and author of the doctrine of animal magnetism.

Became a doctor in Vienna at the age of thirty-two. Denounced by the Viennese scientific establishment, including Ingenhousz.

Left Vienna. Arrived in France in February 1778. A proficient player of the glass armonica, he used the instrument in his séances of animal magnetism.

Franklin and Madame Brillon visited him in Paris (1779). Franklin later presided over one of the commissions that condemned Mesmer’s theories (1784).

Born in Itzmang (Souabe).