A defence of mesmerism by the preeminent magnetizer of Lyon.
 
Mesmerism (animal magnetism) was one of the greatest movements of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, named after Franz Mesmer. Although Mesmer was convinced that his method was purely scientific, many of his contemporaries regarded him as a charlatan. In 1784 an appointed commission of the French Academy of Sciences investigated Mesmer's discovery.
 
The commission, boasting such eminent members as Benjamin Franklin and Lavoisier, finally denied the existence of animal magnetism and, subsequently, its allegd curing effect. The present pamphlet was one of several texts written in response to the Academy's conclusion. Bonnefoy strongly defends mesmerism, "using, among other things, arguments drawn from the electrical science of the day" (Crabtree).