Theatre and Laboratory: Medical Attitudes to Animal Magnetism in Late-Nineteenth-Century Italy

Abstract

The theatre was crowded. On stage stood a large man dressed entirely in black. His face was round, not particularly attractive; but his glance was glowing, penetrating, worthy of the title with which he introduced himself: ‘il fascinatore’ — ‘the bewitcher’. With him, in front of an audience held in rapt attention, stood a group of five or six young men. Donato — this was his stage name — announced that they would feel hot and then cold. The young men started panting, they fanned their faces with handkerchiefs, wiped their foreheads and unbuttoned their clothes. Some undid their ties and their laces; some took off their waistcoats. And then, suddenly, as if shivering from cold, they scrambled for the clothes they had thrown on the floor fighting over each others’ jackets to take them back. The audience applauded. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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