Translation

I sent to M. d’Eslon the proposals that I begged him to present to the Assembly. Here they are:

M. Mesmer’s proposals to the Faculté de Médecine de Paris

The discovery of Animal Magnetism resulted in the printing of a Memoir1 in which it is set out that Nature offers a universal method of curing and of preserving [the health of] Men: that, with this knowledge the doctor can judge with certainty of the origin, nature and progression of all maladies, even the most complicated; that with it he will be able to prevent their increase and bring about their cure without ever exposing the patients to dangerous effects or unfortunate outcomes, whatever their age, temperament and sex.

Translation

This system, which is different to all received ideas, has been regarded as being an illusion; the Author of the discovery expected this but he was not slow in justifying his reasoning by deeds.

He undertook, before the eyes of all Paris, a considerable number of treatments and the improvements produced and the cures brought about by Animal Magnetism have incontrovertibly proved the truth of his assertions.

Nevertheless, it must be said that the experiments carried out until the present have been undertaken for so many different reasons that most of them could not be carried to the point of perfection of which they were capable, and that, while some patients followed

their treatment with the required constancy and application, many abandoned it to vicarious circumstances.

Had the Author sought only celebrity he would have continued on the same course, but his desire to be more generally useful moved him to behave otherwise.

He aims to convince the government, but the government cannot reasonably come to a decision on such a subject without the aid of the learned.

If there is a body in Europe which, without presumption, may flatter itself as having the most unprejudiced authority about the subject in question it is undoubtedly the Faculté de Médecine de Paris. Addressing the government by its intermediary is thus the most formal proof of the Author’s sincerity and the honesty of his opinions.

Thus he asks the Faculté to take, in accord with and under the formal auspices of the government, the most decisive means of demonstrating the usefulness of his discovery
.