Jules Denis, Baron du Potet or Dupotet de Sennevoy (12 April 1796 – 1 July 1881) was a French esotericist. He became a renowned practitioner of mesmerism—the theories first developed by

Franz Mesmer Franz Anton Mesmer ( ; ; 23 May 1734 – 5 March 1815) was a German physician with an interest in astronomy. He theorized the existence of a process of natural Energy (esotericism), energy transference occurring between all animate and inanimat ...

involving

animal magnetism Animal magnetism, also known as mesmerism, is a theory invented by German doctor Franz Mesmer in the 18th century. It posits the existence of an invisible natural force (''Lebensmagnetismus'') possessed by all living things, including humans ...

Life

He was born at Sennevoy-le-Haut, the son of Charles Jean-Baptiste Dupotet, seigneur de La Chapelle et de Sennevoy, and Pierrette Babeau Simone. He was married twice, to Aglaé Saunier in Paris in 1833, and the second time to Marie Isaure Hérault. He died in Paris and is buried in the

Montmartre Cemetery The Cemetery of Montmartre () is a cemetery in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, France, that dates to the early 19th century. Officially known as the Cimetière du Nord, it is the third largest necropolis in Paris, after the Père Lachaise Cemet ...

Career

Du Potet was a highly successful mesmerist. Some attributed this to the fact he was missing the thumb on his right hand. His reputation was such, apparently, that a man was convicted of murder and executed based on evidence given by "one of Du Potet's clairvoyantes". He operated a free school of magnetism in Paris from 1826 on, and from 1837 to 1845 practised magnetic healing in London, where he successfully treated

epileptic Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by a tendency for recurrent, unprovoked seizures. A seizure is a sudden burst of abnormal electrical activity in the brain that can cause a variety of symptoms, rang ...

girls at the North London Hospital and according to a letter to the editor of ''

The Lancet ''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal, founded in England in 1823. It is one of the world's highest-impact academic journals and also one of the oldest medical journals still in publication. The journal publishes ...

'' his experiments became the talk of the town. For du Potet, who was in correspondence with mesmerists worldwide, mesmerism was, not unlike

Utopian socialism Utopian socialism is the term often used to describe the first current of modern socialism and socialist thought as exemplified by the work of Henri de Saint-Simon, Charles Fourier, Étienne Cabet, and Robert Owen. Utopian socialism is often de ...

, an aid in bringing about social transformation, even a revolution. An 1890 article in the English occult magazine ''

Lucifer The most common meaning for Lucifer in English is as a name for the Devil in Christian theology. He appeared in the King James Version of the Bible in Isaiah and before that in the Vulgate (the late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bib ...

'' praises him as an ardent supporter of mesmerism whose "powerful voice" might have stopped the "travesty" of hypnotism. Du Potet also pursued occult applications of mesmerism.

Eliphas Levi Eliphaz is one of Esau's sons in the Bible. Eliphaz or Eliphas may also refer to: * Eliphaz (Job), another person in the Bible * Eliphaz Dow (1705–1755), first male executed in New Hampshire * Eliphaz Fay (1797–1854), fourth president of Wate ...

praised him highly in his ''History of Magic'', and said that magnetism had unlocked for him the secrets of magic. Unlike Levi, he believed that trance enabled contact with the dead and with never incarnated spirits, and his circle believed in remote influence by means of magnetic currents. He was a member of the

Theosophical Society The Theosophical Society is the organizational body of Theosophy, an esoteric new religious movement. It was founded in New York City, U.S.A. in 1875. Among its founders were Helena Blavatsky, a Russian mystic and the principal thinker of the ...

; his writings were quoted extensively by

Helena Blavatsky Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (; – 8 May 1891), often known as Madame Blavatsky, was a Russian-born Mysticism, mystic and writer who emigrated to the United States where she co-founded the Theosophical Society in 1875. She gained an internat ...

, who regarded him as an adept. In ''

The Discovery of the Unconscious ''The Discovery of the Unconscious: The History and Evolution of Dynamic Psychiatry'' is a 1970 book about the history of dynamic psychiatry by the Swiss medical historian Henri F. Ellenberger, in which the author discusses such figures as Fran ...

'',

Henri Ellenberger Henri Frédéric Ellenberger (6 November 1905 – 1 May 1993) was a Canadian psychiatrist, medical historian, and criminologist, sometimes considered the founding historiographer of psychiatry. Ellenberger is chiefly remembered for '' The Discov ...

considers him to have "developed ... delusions of grandeur". Du Potet published and edited the ''Journal du magnetisme'' from 1845 to 1861. Books he wrote include ''Introduction to the Study of Animal Magnetism'' (1838) and ''La magie dévoilée et la science occulte'' (1852), a copy of which was owned by

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician. His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...

Footnotes

References

* Gauld, A., ''A History of Hypnotism'', Cambridge University Press, 1992.
Harte, R., ''Hypnotism and the Doctors, Volume I: Animal Magnetism: Mesmer/De Puysegur'', L.N. Fowler & Co., (London), 1902

Harte, R., ''Hypnotism and the Doctors, Volume II: The Second Commission; Dupotet And Lafontaine; The English School; Braid's Hypnotism; Statuvolism; Pathetism; Electro-Biology'', L.N. Fowler & Co., (London), 1903

External links

''La magie dévoilée et la science occulte'', 1852 edition
at

Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Potet, Baron du 1796 births 1881 deaths Animal magnetism French homeopaths People from Yonne