Maximilianus Hell (1720-1792) - Munin

authority on medicine. The first was relating to ‘magnetic healing’, or Mesmerism. The
second attempt had to do with scurvy.
Magnetic healing in the Enlightenment is primarily associated with Franz Anton Mesmer
(1734-1815), who after initial experimentation in Vienna moved to Paris, where he became
something of a ‘star’. 332 Hell’s 1762 treatise on the application of magnets of steel contains no
mention of medical use. In a letter to Weiss in Tyrnavia, dated Vienna 7 May 1765, Hell is
expressly skeptical about the possible healing power of his steel magnets: 333
I am happy that my Father Colleague [i.e., Weiss] has become a colleague of
mine even in medical subjects. For even I have here turned magnetic doctor and
experienced the effect [of magnets] on various persons. However, the effect of
this artificial magnet in easing the pain of toothache, I ascribe not to magnetism
(which can have no influence on the teeth unless these were made of iron or
steel), but to the coldness of the steel. Next time I will test this with a piece of
steel which is not magnetised, and I think the effect will be the same; my
Honourable Father Colleague can make the same experiment, pretending that
the metal that is applied is magnetic, so that the pain of the patient is not
disturbed by persuasion.
This was one year before Mesmer published his first in a series of works on magnetic healing,
inspired by amongst others Father Hell, who for his part was to claim publicly after his return
from Vardø that he – not Mesmer – was the one who had discovered the potentials of artificial
magnets as healing devices. His polemics against Mesmer were published in German. 334
A side-effect of this publicity was that Hell received heaps of mail and had numerous visitors
at his door, begging for his help with all kinds of ailments. 335 Popular science could make you
too popular.
A second medical issue in which Hell tried to be credited with having made an important
discovery, was use of sugar as prophylactic medicine against scurvy. While in Vardø, Hell
had experienced that several local inhabitants suffered from this disease. He himself, his
332
The classic study is by Darnton 1968. See now also Schaffer 2010 or Krefting 2010 (in Norwegian), with
their references.
333
Hell to Weiss in Tyrnavia, dated Vienna 7 May 1765 (quoted from Pinzger 1927, p. 198): “Gaudeo Patrem
Collegam, et in materia medica mihi collegam factum, nam et ego hic medicus magneticus evasi, effectumque in
pluribus expertus sum; effectum hunc magnetis artificialis sistendi dolores dentium, ego non magnetismo (qui
nullam cum dentibus connexionem nisi hi e ferro vel calybe essent habet) sed frigori calybis adscribo. Proxime
tentabo cum lamella calybea non magnetica, puto eundem me effectum obtenturum; idem R. P. Collega
pertentare poterit, simulando applicatam lamellam esse magneticam ne persvasio dolores patientis perturbetur.”
334
See Hadobás 2008.
335
Hell to Weiss in Tyrnavia, dated Vienna 27 January 1775 (Vargha priv.).
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