Marquis de Puységur
Armand Marie Jacques de Chastenet de Puységur, Marquis de Puységur (* 1751; † 1825) was a French aristocrat. As a student of Franz Anton Mesmer, he was a co-founder of mesmerism and a pioneer of modern hypnosis.
Puységur, who initially lived in Soisson and ran a “magnetic” practice there, fell out with his teacher and founded a branch of mesmerism, which subsequently dominated France for several decades. The decisive difference to Mesmer’s view is that Puységur neglected the aspect of the fluidum and emphasized the psychological aspect of hypnotizing as essential for the rapport between the mesmerizer and the mesmerized.
While Mesmer had a reputation as a charlatan and his sessions often had a theatrical character, de Puységur was the first to describe a somnambulant state of a patient in which he was able to communicate. He also observed post-hypnotic amnesia and recognized the effects of post-hypnotic suggestions.