Benjamin Franklin
(1706 - 1790)

Benjamin Franklin was a philosopher, scientist, inventor, printer, musician, economist and statesman. He was leading author of the Franklin Commission Report that debunked Anton Mesmer's fanciful theories of so-called animal magenetism. During the first half of the 19th century, desperate patients and even their surgeons continued to use the hypnotic techniques of Mesmerism despite their manifest limitations. Only the "Yankee Dodge" of etherization eclipsed Mesmerism for good.