The Ravencliff Bride by Dawn Thompson

Author:Dawn Thompson [Thompson, Dawn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance, General, Historical, Paranormal
ISBN: 9781428517622
Google: Dyr0AR2PuBoC
Amazon: B009NXM238
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Published: 2011-09-05T16:00:00+00:00

Seventeen

“The technique I wish to try is not my own, my lord,” said Breeden. “I learned it under the tutelage of Anton Mesmer over forty years ago. I was not yet twenty, as green as grass, and awestruck by the great theosophist, unable to believe my good fortune in being able to study at his home and hospital on the Landstrasse in Vienna. Early on, he practiced healing with the use of magnetized objects with much success, but shortly after I joined him, his methods changed. You see, he began employing what he called ‘animal magnetism’ in his practice, and that was the beginning of his downfall, I’m afraid.”

“Animal magnetism, sir? Wasn’t there some sort of brouhaha about Mesmer, and his practices?”

The doctor nodded, taking a sip of sherry from his glass. They were seated in the sitting room of Nicholas’s suite, where the doctor had assembled an eclectic assortment of objects on the drum table.

“Yes, there was,” said Breeden, “and still is. According to Mesmer, ‘animal magnetism’ is a substance, an invisible liquid, if you will, which can neither be seen, felt, smelled, touched, or tasted, that every man does possess, in different degrees of strength. This substance can be employed to heal . . . and to adjust the consciousness, so that suggestions might be given the recipient of the therapy that will evoke behavioral change.”

“But we have already dismissed the theory that my condition exists only in my mind.”

“Yes, we have,” said Breeden. “However, the mind can be trained to overcome all sorts of physical behavior.”

“And you are hoping—”

“I am hoping that some of Anton Mesmer’s theories might benefit you, my lord. To what degree, I cannot say. You are quite correct about the brouhaha. It’s only fair to warn you that he was denounced as a charlatan in Austria for his animal-magnetism therapy. He went to Paris, where he wrote a report hoping to redeem himself, in which he stated that animal magnetism was not some sort of mysterious secret cure-all as the Austrians feared, but rather a scientific phenomenon that wanted study in order to reap its benefits for mankind.

“His cures were phenomenal. The clergy, of course, attributed all that to the Devil, but the French aristocracy revered him as a saint. He had much success, and the favor of the Queen of France, but the King ordered an investigation. While the appointed committee could not fault Mesmer’s results, they would not sanction something too illusive to be perceived by the five senses, and he was denounced again. Then came the Revolution. With neither fame nor fortune, and having lost what friends those attributes attract, he left Paris and settled somewhere near Zurich. Then two years ago, he went to Meersburg, where he died this past March, working amongst the poor. I tell you all this because I shan’t use methods of which you do not approve. My personal belief is that the man was ahead of his time, and that one day his methods will be appreciated—even revered.

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