Richard Collins: More animal magnetism studies needed

Many animals are sensitive to magnetic fields, which have a wide variety of uses, from navigation to a role in helping to catch prey, say researchers

"Many animals are sensitive to magnetic fields", which have a "wide variety of uses, from navigation to a role in helping to catch prey"

In 1774 Franz Anton Mesmer, a medical practitioner friend of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, attached magnets to the body of a patient suffering from ‘hysteria’ and fed her particles of iron. She reported feeling a strange current flowing through her body and her symptoms declined temporarily. 

Mesmer argued that a ‘magnetic fluid’ was responsible. He became famous, the term ’mesmerise’ remaining in the lexicon ever since. But his claim that magnetism can cure illness was disputed by the medical establishment, leading Louis XVI to commission an inquiry.