Restoring Literary Wholeness to the Fragmented Account of Antoine Despine's Magnetic Cure of Estelle L'Hardy's Dissociative Disorder

Abstract

Dr. Charles-Humbert Antoine Despine's (1777–1852) De L'Emploi du magnétisme animal et des eaux minerales dans le traitement des maladies nerveuses, suivi d'une observation très curieuse de guérison de névropathie [A Study of the uses of animal magnetism in the treatment of disorders of the nervous system followed by a case of a highly unusual cure of neuropathy] (Paris: Germer, Baillière, 1840) is one of the earliest published, complete accounts of a successful cure with animal magnetism of a dissociative disorder. Despine's methodical and gentle treatment of more than 20 patients with multiple personalities repeatedly brought fusion to separation. His writing style displays a lack of order and unity that resembles the dissociative symptoms of his patients, but the monograph's sloppiness belies Despine's methodical approach to his work and his thoughtful handling of his patients. This paper explores these inconsistencies and how translators of the monograph act as literary therapists for his confused and fragmented account.

Zusammenfassung

Dr. Charles-Humbert Antoine Despines (1777–1852) Arbeit mit dem Titel De L'Emploi du magnétisme animal et des eaux minerales dans le traitement des maladies nerveuses, suivi d'une observation très curieuse de guérison de névropathie [Eine Untersuchung des Einsatzes von animalischem Magnetismus bei der Behandlung von Störungen des Nervensystems, nebst einem Fall einer sehr ungewöhnlichen Heilung von Neuropathie] (Paris: Germer, Baillière, 1840) ist eine der ersten veröffentlichten, kompletten Fallbeschreibungen einer Behandlung von dissoziativer Störung mit Hilfe des animalischen Magnetismus. Despines methodische und behutsame Behandlung von über 20 Personen mit multipler Persönlichkeit brachte vielfach Vereinigung wo zuvor Spaltung vorherrschte. Sein Schreibstil zeugt von einem Fehlen an Ordnung und Einheit, das die dissoziative Symptomatik seiner Patienten widerspiegelt, aber die Schludrigkeit der Monographie entspricht nicht Despines methodischer Herangehensweise an seine Arbeit und seinen bedachten Umgang mit seinen Patienten. Dieser Bericht zeigt solche Inkonsistenzen auf und bespricht, wie Übersetzer des Werks als literarische Therapeuten seiner konfusen und fragmentierten Beschreibungen wirken.

Ralf Schmaelzle University of KonstanzKonstanz Germany

Résumé

La monographie du D^r Charles-Humbert Antoine Despine (1777–1852) intitulée De L'Emploi du magnétisme animal et des eaux minérales dans le traitement des maladies nerveuses, suivi d'une observation très curieuse de guérison de névropathie (Paris, Germer, Baillière, 1840) constitue l'un des plus anciens comptes rendus complets publiés d'une guérison d'un trouble dissociatif à l'aide du magnétisme animal. Les traitements méthodiques et tout en douceur que le D^r Despine a appliqués aux cas de plus de 20 patients souffrant de troubles de personnalité multiple ont, à plusieurs reprises, rétabli la fusion là où il y avait dissociation. Son style démontre un manque d'ordre et d'harmonie évocateur des symptômes dissociatifs de ses patients, mais le style peu soigné de cette monographie ne diminue en rien l'approche méthodique du D^r Despine et l'attitude bienveillante qu'il avait à l'égard de ses patients.

L'article examine ces contradictions et la façon dont les traducteurs de la monographie du D^r Despine agissent à titre de « thérapeutes littéraires » de son compte rendu confus et fragmentaire.

Johanne Reynault C. Tr. (STIBC)

Resumen

De L'Emploi du magnétisme animal et des eaux minerales dans le traitement des maladies nerveuses, suivi d'une observation très curieuse de guérison de névropathi (Un estudio del uso del magnetismo animal en el tratamiento de desórdenes del sistema nervioso seguido por un caso de una cura altamente inusitada de neuropatía) (París: Germer, Baillière, 1840) del Dr. Charles-Humbert Antoine Despine (1777–1852) es uno de los relatos completos publicados más tempranos de una cura exitosa con el magnetismo animal de un desorden disociativo. El tratamiento cortés y metódico por Despine de más de 20 pacientes con personalidades múltiples repetidamente produjo fusión en lugar de separación. Su estilo de escritura muestra una carencia de orden y unidad que asemeja los síntomas de sus pacientes, pero el desorden de la monografía traiciona el enfoque metódico de Despine en su trabajo y su interacción cuidadosa con sus pacientes. Este artículo explora estas inconsistencias y cómo los traductores de la monografía actuaron como terapeutas literarios de su fragmentado y confuso relato.

Etzel Cardeña University of LundLund Sweden

Notes

²The completed annotated translation of De L'Emploi du Magnétisme Animal et des Eaux Minérales dans le Traitement des Maladies Nerveuses, Suivi d'une Observation très Curieuse de Guérison de Névropathie [A Study of the Uses of Animal Magnetism in the Treatment of Disorders of the Nervous System Followed by a Case of a Highly Unusual Cure of Neuropathy] by the physician Charles-Humbert Antoine Despine (1777–1852) is currently under review for publication.

³Antoine took over as medical director of the Baths in Aix-les-Bains (or Aix-en-Savoie), the largest bathing establishment in the Savoy, upon the death of his 95-year-old father, Joseph, who had held that position from 1787 to 1830.

⁴Despine identifies the case as one of hysteria in his endnote IV.

⁵Ellenberger provides the following description of Despine and of this case: “The truly objective study of multiple personality was inaugurated in France by the publication of the story of ‘Estelle’ by Despine Sr. in the form of a detailed account amounting to a monograph” (p. 129).

⁶Mesmer believed that invisible gravitational forces connected living things to the planets and functioned as the basis for physical health. When the “magnetic fluid” accounting for this harmonious interconnectedness present in all living beings flowed as it should, a person was healthy. The badly distributed fluid in the sick could be redistributed when they experienced a mesmeric “crise salutaire,” or salutary crisis, the onset of which Mesmer facilitated with his own healthy magnetic fluid and his “baquet,” or tub filled with magnetized water. Mesmerism, called animal magnetism by Despine and his contemporaries, would later be called hypnosis.

⁷In 1997, Philippe Despine, Docteur en Philosophie, gave permission to our team to translate his great-great-great grandfather's monograph. He also granted us the freedom to edit the work as needed.

⁸Since Estelle had recovered the ability to move her legs while in the waking state magnetic treatments ended. Nevertheless, she continued to have cataleptic episodes.

⁹Alan Gauld specifies five hypotheses to explain why mesmeric treatments may have benefited patients. The third of these is that the “orthodox medical practices of the time were so barbaric that their termination at the start of magnetic treatments could not but benefit the patient” (1992, p. 254).

¹⁰In Leisure Settings: Bourgeois Culture, Medicine, and the Spa in Modern France, Douglas P. Mackaman shows that spa doctors publicized the benefits of their thermal establishments in “promotional writings,” in the hopes of attracting more clients to the waters and of convincing the public of the medicinal attributes of hydrotherapy (1998, pp. 22–25).

¹¹History would prove Despine and Madame L'Hardy indisputably right on this decision. Gauld notes that although two magnetizers brought forward patients for testing—J. P. Pigeaire and Dr. A. Texte—the investigations collapsed at the outset (1992, p. 138). E. M. Thornton calls the situation a “fiasco.” He writes that, “At the crucial test … M. Pigeaire had refused to adopt the eye bandages required by the committee or, in fact, any of the other conditions imposed by it” (1976, p. 91).

¹²Madame de la Chapelle, letter to Antoine Despine, September 16, 1823, Fonds Aussedat-Despine 45J117, Archives Départementales de la Haute-Savoie, Annecy.

¹³Marie Froment and Josephine Ludert, letters to Antoine Despine, Fonds Aussedat-Despine 45J117 (1808–1852), Archives Départementales de la Haute-Savoie, Annecy.

¹⁴Jenny Schmitz-Baud, letter to Suzanne-Péronne Révillod, April 1852, Fonds Garbillon-Despine sous-série 11J395, Archives Départementales de la Haute-Savoie, Annecy.

¹⁵The translation team hopes that its publisher will agree to adopt these typescript preferences.

¹⁶In his article on “Multiple Personality in Children,” Richard P. Kluft refers to Despine's manuscript as the “single case” constituting the “literature of childhood multiple personality.” He writes that Despine's observations “remain valuable, instructive, and strikingly modern” (1984, p. 122).

¹⁷In a letter he wrote in support of the translation project and related research Kluft wrote, “Despine was practicing effective psychotherapy almost three generations before Freud” (1984, p. 2).

Chapelle, Mme de. (1823, September 16). Letter to Antoine Despine. (Available from the Archives Départementales de la Haute-Savoie, Annecy, Fonds Aussedat-Despine 45J117.)

Froment, M., & Ludert, J. (1808–1852). Letters to Antoine Despine. (Available from the Archives Départementales de la Haute-Savoie, Annecy, Fonds Aussedat-Despine 45J117)

Kluft, R. P. (2003, January 28). Letter to Whom it May Concern, about Despine-Dickens Project. (Available from private, personal collection, Moravian College).

Schmitz-Baud, J. (1852, April). Letter to Suzanne-Péronne Révillod. (Available from the Archives Départementales de la Haute-Savoie, Annecy, Fonds Garbillon-Despine sous-série 11J395)