Race was easily "magnetized" by Puységur, but displayed a strange form of sleeping trance not before seen in the early history of Mesmerism.

In 1785, Puységur taught a course in animal magnetism to the local Masonic society, which he concluded with these words: I believe in the existence within myself of a power.

Believe and want, Sirs, and you will do as much as I.Puységur's institute for training in animal magnetism, Société Harmonique des Amis Réunis, grew rapidly until the Revolution in 1789.

[2] His contributions were gradually forgotten, until Nobel prize-winner Charles Richet rediscovered his writings in 1884, and showed that most of what other people had claimed as their discoveries in the field of "magnetism" and hypnotherapy were originally due to the Marquis de Puységur.

[3] In this work, Sloterdijk emphasized Puységur's contributions in his refutation of the common idea that intellectuals of the Enlightenment were not interested in the subconscious mind.