Quotes:Liébault, Ambroise-Auguste

Zirkoff, Boris

Liébault, Ambroise-Auguste (1823-1904). French physician, b. at Farrières (Meurthe), Sept. 16, 1823, twelfth child of parents who were cultivators, and desired him to become a priest; instead, he took up the study of medicine, receiving his Doctorate at Strassburg in 1851. His great interest in mesmerism, and later in Braidism (Hypnotism), and his practical experiments along these lines, resulted in his discovery of Therapeutic Suggestion—the healing of disease by suggestion. He met with obstinate opposition and persecution from the profession, and removed to Nancy, 1864, to find freer scope for his work. He was disappointed in this and subjected to more antagonism; he would have been persecuted as a charlatan if he had not confined his treatments to the poorer classes, and cured their diseases without remuneration. For 464 eighteen years Liébault was considered crazy by the highest representatives of medical science. At last the tide turned, and Dr. Hippolyte Bernheim (q.v.), a man of great moral courage, altered his views about Liébault's work, stepped forth as his disciple, and became his defender and collaborator. Thus, in due course of time the Nancy School of therapeutic suggestion became a fact, opposed by the Charcot School at La Salpêtrière. Dr. Liébault lived to witness the complete vindication of his work. He died at Nancy in 1904.

Vide Col. H. S. Olcott's account of his memorable visit to the home of Dr. Liébault, in Old Diary Leaves, Vol. IV, pp. 374–77.

Source: Boris de Zirkoff, «H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings», vol. 8, pp. 463-464