Le surgissement de médecines « révolutionnaires » en France (fin xviiie-début xixe siècle) : magnétisme, phrénologie, acupuncture et homéopathie

Abstract

Before and after the great Revolution, mesmerism, acupuncture, phrenology, homeopathy, most of them being born in Germanic area, were introduced in France where they attracted great attention in the public sphere. In the 1830’s, the advocates created a movement, a nebulous one in which doctors or lay people involved themselves a lot in two or three medical systems at the same time. Most of them were also supporters of the new socialist doctrines such as saint-simonism or fourierism. At the beginning, the medical authorities together with prominent doctors paid attention to these theories but the majority of the medical profession rejected them. The main objection was not their inefficiency but their inability to explain in scientific terms how their therapies worked.

Keywords

• magnetism
• mesmerism
• acupuncture
• phrenology
• homeopathy
• saint-simonism