Mesmerism in Antebellum and Post-Antebellum America

Abstract
Experimental psychology evolved into a vast array of psychology studies from European to American Psychology. The evolution of America and American psychology brought about world consciousness that did not exclude experimental thoughts and zeitgiests. Among those thoughts and practices were animal magnetism and mesmerism, which themselves evolved into the study of hypnosis. It is important to give credit to mesmerism and its foundational scientists and educators such as Mesmer. This writing will explore the effects on American history during the mid-19th century and its connectivity to the mesmerism and animal magnetism movement.
Introduction

Experimental psychology along with the mind/body problem Descartes and other foundational psychologists and philosophers brought to world-consciousness evolved in the mid-19^th century in the United States (Wozniak, 1995). Relative to these experimental thoughts were a variety of belief systems; some of which were not necessarily considered mainstream such as mesmerism, animal magnetism, and phrenology. Scholars and scientific professionals would agree that Descartes and others introduced new avenues of what psychology and philosophy evolved into (Ashmore, Brown, & MacMillan, 2005; Schmit, 2005). The inference here is that the mind-body issue along with more experimental psychological thinking such as those areas mentioned becoming popular formed somewhat of a marriage between experimental and mind/body psychological thought (Ashmore, et.al, 2005; Barrucand, 1969). The results demonstrated exploration and examination of the connections between medicine, philosophy, and broader perspectives in the field of psychology that have brought all these areas of scientific practices to the greatness that is evidenced in psychology as well as spirituality today (1969; Payla, 2005) .