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Placebo controls, exorcisms, and the devil

2009; Elsevier BV; Volume: 374; Issue: 9697 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/s0140-6736(09)61775-x

1474-547X

Ted J. Kaptchuk, Catherine E. Kerr, Abby E. Zanger,

Neurology and Historical Studies

In 1784, Benjamin Franklin and Antoine Lavoisier undertook medicine's first publicly performed placebo-controlled experiments; they were seeking to debunk the healing practices of mesmerism. Franz Anton Mesmer had developed his curative methods after investigating a notorious exorcist-priest and showing that he could obtain similar results without appeals to Jesus. Mesmer claimed to have uncovered "animal magnetism", a new "fluid", analogous to gravitation. Invisible forces directed towards the mesmerist patients (usually women) would initiate a "crisis" that led to unusual bodily sensations, crying, fainting, uncontrolled gestures, fits, or violent convulsions.