Somnolism and psycheism; or, the science of the soul and the phenomena of nervation, as revealed by vital magnetism or mesmerism.
In other words he has a previous knowledge of mesmerism acquired independently from the servant girl.
The construction of a house marked the end of her six-year confinement to the sickbed and her miraculous cure by mesmerism.
By the 1880s, ' mesmerism ' started to be applied scientifically.
Other doctors supporting the use of mesmerism in surgery also ran into stiff opposition.
At the time, ether and chloroform were being tried as anaesthetics, so the proponents of mesmerism may have faced some jealous rivals.
The second chapter, on "music, mesmerism, and mental science," may be the most fascinating and seems to me to make the most original contribution.
It was known for its fierce attacks on homeopathy, hydropathy, mesmerism, and other approaches considered "sectarian" and unreliable by the "regular" (allopathic) medical establishment.