Franz Anton Mesmer (1734–1815), a physician who graduated from the University of Vienna, invented a therapy based on the concept of a universal fluid, similar to electricity, that flowed through all living things. By restoring the circulation of this fluid in the nerves of human bodies, he believed he could cure illness without resorting to medication. Few medical theories have enjoyed as great success as Mesmer's, first among French high society and then in Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, Russia, Britain, and the US. Mesmerism was the circulatory phenomenon par excellence. Its success was founded not only on the hypothesis of the circulation of a fluid common to human physiology and the entire universe, but also on the scientific practices of the time—correspondence, translations, and periodicals—and some ardent and highly active supporters who ensured its spread. However, far from functioning along the lines of direct exportation–importation from one country to another, or a centre to the periphery, mesmerism's dissemination was the work of diffuse institutions and individual mobilities influenced by the modalities of communication. In seeking to reconstitute the wellsprings of these circulations, the first sources that come to mind are printed matter: the many pamphlets and especially the articles and reviews that appeared in periodicals, as well as the Romantic literature that flourished after 1810. Such documents are foundational for authoritative studies of mesmerism in Germany, which proceed from the thesis of successive “waves” of reception. Such sources, however, are somewhat misleading. Rather than taking them as our starting point, it would be better to reconstitute the channels of information by using many sources, both printed and handwritten. The complexity of the circulation of knowledge generated by mesmerism is implicitly testament to the difficulties arising from the institutionalization of this current.

中文翻译：

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德国催眠术的传播（1784-1815）：知识流通的一些模式

毕业于维也纳大学的医生弗朗茨·安东·梅斯梅尔 (Franz Anton Mesmer，1734-1815) 发明了一种基于通用流体概念的疗法，这种流体类似于电流，流经所有生物。通过恢复这种液体在人体神经中的循环，他相信他可以在不求助于药物的情况下治愈疾病。很少有医学理论像 Mesmer 的那样取得如此巨大的成功，首先在法国上流社会中，然后在德国、瑞士、荷兰、意大利、瑞典、俄罗斯、英国和美国。催眠术是一种卓越的循环现象。它的成功不仅基于人类生理学和整个宇宙共有的流体循环假设，而且基于当时的科学实践——通信、翻译、和期刊——以及确保其传播的一些热心和高度活跃的支持者。然而，与从一个国家到另一个国家或从一个中心到外围的直接出口-进口的路线相去甚远，催眠术的传播是受传播方式影响的分散机构和个人流动性的工作。在寻求重建这些流通的源泉时，首先想到的来源是印刷品：许多小册子，尤其是期刊中出现的文章和评论，以及 1810 年之后蓬勃发展的浪漫主义文学。这些文件是基础用于德国催眠术的权威研究，该研究从接受连续“波”的论点出发。然而，这样的来源有些误导。与其将它们作为我们的出发点，不如通过使用多种来源（包括印刷的和手写的）来重构信息渠道。催眠术产生的知识流通的复杂性隐含地证明了这种潮流的制度化所带来的困难。