No I'm not talking about the pull of cute puppies
Here's a perfectly good example of popular pseudo-science: Animal Magnetism (aka Mesmerism, named after its theorist, Franz Mesmer). It had a sesqui-centennial run, from the 18th century and into the 20th century (1770s-1920s) - in the first half of which it was considered an important specialty in medicine. What was it about? - that there was an invisible natural force exerted by animals that allowed healing and correction of ailments.
A lotta such pseudo-science comes from the past. Even our popular disease, malaria, is a compound of the latin words 'mal', and 'aria', with the literal meaning "bad air" (now we know its not air, but the female Anopheles mosquito that does it). Makes for somebody's bread.
Mesmerism is now believed to share the concept of life force with the presently-popular oriental sciences (pseudo-sciences?) of Reiki and Qigong. The lifecycles of such pseudos is interesting to track/predict.
Watch the animus magnetismus scene from Herzog's Stroszek to get a laugh outta mesmerism.
Here's a perfectly good example of popular pseudo-science: Animal Magnetism (aka Mesmerism, named after its theorist, Franz Mesmer). It had a sesqui-centennial run, from the 18th century and into the 20th century (1770s-1920s) - in the first half of which it was considered an important specialty in medicine. What was it about? - that there was an invisible natural force exerted by animals that allowed healing and correction of ailments.
A lotta such pseudo-science comes from the past. Even our popular disease, malaria, is a compound of the latin words 'mal', and 'aria', with the literal meaning "bad air" (now we know its not air, but the female Anopheles mosquito that does it). Makes for somebody's bread.
Mesmerism is now believed to share the concept of life force with the presently-popular oriental sciences (pseudo-sciences?) of Reiki and Qigong. The lifecycles of such pseudos is interesting to track/predict.
Watch the animus magnetismus scene from Herzog's Stroszek to get a laugh outta mesmerism.
Widget by Css Reflex | TutZone
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment