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sandytfrench's review against another edition
3.0
The Mesmerist: The Society Doctor Who Held Victorian London Spellbound by Wendy Moore
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3 stars
~~~~~
Medicine, in the early 1800s, was a brutal business. Operations were performed without anaesthesia while conventional treatment relied on leeches, bleedings and toxic potions. On the summer of 1837, a French visitor - the self-styled Baron Jules Denis Dupotet - arrived in London to promote an exotic new idea: mesmerism. It was a trend that would take the nation by storm and would throw into sharp focus fundamental questions about the line between medicine and quackery, between science and superstition.
~~~~~
This is an extremely well-researched book about John Elliotson, a charismatic and progressive doctor and teacher who was open to using new medicines and medical practices (for example, the use of iodine to treat goitre and quinine for malaria.) His enthusiasm - or should I say, obsession - about mesmerism (what we know now as hypnotism) put him at serious odds with his friend, Thomas Wakley, founder of the new Lancet magazine, who made it his mission to rid medicine from mesmerism, which he saw as nothing more than theatrics and fraud.
I like history and biographies and I found this book interesting, but my overall opinion of it was very much undermined by the author's xenophobic stereotypes about French people ("not a whiff of garlic lingered to suggest that Dupotet had ever been there") which - call me Frenchly biased and sensitive - were insulting and absolutely unnecessary in the context of a non-fiction book.
~~~~~
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3 stars
~~~~~
Medicine, in the early 1800s, was a brutal business. Operations were performed without anaesthesia while conventional treatment relied on leeches, bleedings and toxic potions. On the summer of 1837, a French visitor - the self-styled Baron Jules Denis Dupotet - arrived in London to promote an exotic new idea: mesmerism. It was a trend that would take the nation by storm and would throw into sharp focus fundamental questions about the line between medicine and quackery, between science and superstition.
~~~~~
This is an extremely well-researched book about John Elliotson, a charismatic and progressive doctor and teacher who was open to using new medicines and medical practices (for example, the use of iodine to treat goitre and quinine for malaria.) His enthusiasm - or should I say, obsession - about mesmerism (what we know now as hypnotism) put him at serious odds with his friend, Thomas Wakley, founder of the new Lancet magazine, who made it his mission to rid medicine from mesmerism, which he saw as nothing more than theatrics and fraud.
I like history and biographies and I found this book interesting, but my overall opinion of it was very much undermined by the author's xenophobic stereotypes about French people ("not a whiff of garlic lingered to suggest that Dupotet had ever been there") which - call me Frenchly biased and sensitive - were insulting and absolutely unnecessary in the context of a non-fiction book.
~~~~~
purplemuskogee's review
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
4.0
This was very good. I enjoyed its detailed telling of Elliotson's history and how he became so interested in mesmerism, and the focus on two patients - Elizabeth and Jane Okey - he introduced to every medical circles possible. It was very detailed and included a lot of direct sources - letters to and from friends, magazine articles, colleagues' notes and diaries, etc - but it was not boring. I wish Wendy Moore explored the patients a bit more - how come so many of them are girls, and very young girls? I feel that there is something else to explore, something magazines and newspapers hinted at, and while it doesn't look like Elliotson was ever inappropriate with any patient, I would have liked more insight about the fact we are talking about many, many young women being hypnotised in front of crowds of men.
rlaurene's review
4.0
Note: I received a free copy of this book as part of a Goodreads giveaway.
The Mesmerist is an engaging piece of historical biography charting the career of Dr Thomas Elliotson, from its rise under his promotion of innovative practices (such as the use of the stethoscope) to his fall in the dogged defence of 'animal magnetism' (also known as mesmerism or hypnotism).
Moore's writing is enjoyable and accessible, producing an engrossing biography. Of course the subject itself, particularly the ever more outlandish antics of the Okey sisters, doesn't present much of an obstacle in this respect. Perhaps most surprising was Moore's dialogue around scientific best practice and how consummate professional Elliotson failed to uphold the standards of experimentation that were being explored at this time (much of this discussion particularly pertinent in the reproducibility crisis that struck scientific literature last year). Moore doesn't delve too deeply into this topic, nor would I expect her to in a popular historical biography.
I had only two issues with the book as a whole - the first was the superficial approach to gender within the novel. Moore posits the fascinating arguments of the power imbalance between the Okeys' and their doctors which either inspired their increasing fraudulent acts or resulted in their subconscious desire to meet expectations. Either way, this is never fully explored, nor are Elliotson's own views towards gender.
The other is a problematic sentence. When Frenchman Dupotet is exiled from the hospital, Moore writes, 'not a whiff of garlic lingered to suggest that [he] had ever been there.' This seems an outdated Francophobic stereotype, and was quite jarring to read.
The Mesmerist is an engaging piece of historical biography charting the career of Dr Thomas Elliotson, from its rise under his promotion of innovative practices (such as the use of the stethoscope) to his fall in the dogged defence of 'animal magnetism' (also known as mesmerism or hypnotism).
Moore's writing is enjoyable and accessible, producing an engrossing biography. Of course the subject itself, particularly the ever more outlandish antics of the Okey sisters, doesn't present much of an obstacle in this respect. Perhaps most surprising was Moore's dialogue around scientific best practice and how consummate professional Elliotson failed to uphold the standards of experimentation that were being explored at this time (much of this discussion particularly pertinent in the reproducibility crisis that struck scientific literature last year). Moore doesn't delve too deeply into this topic, nor would I expect her to in a popular historical biography.
I had only two issues with the book as a whole - the first was the superficial approach to gender within the novel. Moore posits the fascinating arguments of the power imbalance between the Okeys' and their doctors which either inspired their increasing fraudulent acts or resulted in their subconscious desire to meet expectations. Either way, this is never fully explored, nor are Elliotson's own views towards gender.
The other is a problematic sentence. When Frenchman Dupotet is exiled from the hospital, Moore writes, 'not a whiff of garlic lingered to suggest that [he] had ever been there.' This seems an outdated Francophobic stereotype, and was quite jarring to read.
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