Lafontaine e gli Indiani d'America/en
Lafontaine and the Native Americans documents the encounter of Charles Lafontaine with a group of Native American "Peaux-Rouges" from the Rocky Mountains in Paris, as recounted in his Mémoires d'un magnétiseur (vol. II). The episode unites three themes dear to the ISI-CNV tradition: magnetic healing, "other" therapeutic knowledge, and the dignity of the non-Western subject in the face of European power.
The Context
Lafontaine reports being put in contact with a group of Native Americans from the Rocky Mountains who were then in Paris, exhibited at the salle Bonne-Nouvelle in a series of performances to which they were forced by their impresario, an American named Cutelin, whom Lafontaine bluntly calls "a miserable scoundrel": he had lured them to Europe under false pretenses, exploited them in every way, and then abandoned them in London in the deepest misery.
The group numbered thirteen people, plus a two-month-old infant born in Europe and two children of four or five years. The two chiefs were Manguados and Dicon; only Manguados and his son spoke a little English, learned through the tribe's commercial dealings with Americans.
The Attempt to Cure Cancer
The occasion of the meeting was therapeutic. A patient of Lafontaine's, in a somnambulistic state, had indicated that the Native Americans possessed the means to cure a cancer. Lafontaine went to see them; the two chiefs confirmed this and agreed to prepare the indicated herbal tea and ointment (or poultices), on condition of finding the necessary herbs. Lafontaine took them to the Jardin des Plantes, after ensuring — from the Count of Mirbel and M. Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire — that all the required plants would be placed at his disposal.
"The savages searched, found, and did not boast," writes Lafontaine, referring to L'Art de Magnétiser for the details. But the plants cultivated in the greenhouses did not have the virtues they acquire "under the sun of the other world": the cure was not achieved. Lafontaine reports the failure without emphasis.
The Magnetization of the Native Americans
Lafontaine recounts having magnetized several Native Americans, inducing sleep and insensitivity in them, and producing remarkable effects of somnambulism and ecstasy on the eldest son of Chief Manguados. This episode is cited in the ISI-CNV tradition as further proof of the universality of the magnetic phenomenon, independent of the language and cultural context of the subject — consistent with the interpretation of trans-species and trans-cultural fascination.
The Dignity of Manguados
Lafontaine devotes notable pages to the noble bearing of Chief Manguados. The most cited episode: during a royal audience with Louis Philippe, it was the "poor Indian chief" who dismissed the King of the French, with a gesture so majestic that the king, queen, and courtiers, tacitly acknowledging his ascendancy, obeyed that sign of command. Lafontaine also took the Native Americans into society — to Adolphe Adam and the Opéra — recording episodes of strong impact: the weeping of some of them upon hearing pieces by Schubert, and an Indian air sung by Manguados that Adam had repeated and later introduced, with variations but preserving its original rhythm, into an opera or ballet.
Significance in the ISI-CNV Tradition
- Universality of magnetism: the phenomenon occurs in subjects of radically different culture, without linguistic mediation — a recurring argument in the ISI-CNV reading of the Method Paret.
- Ethics of the magnetizer: Lafontaine denounces the exploitation of the Native Americans and defends their dignity; magnetism is presented as a respectful encounter, not as domination.
- "Other" therapeutic knowledge: the attempted herbal cure, though failed, is recorded honestly and without prejudice regarding the competence of the indigenous healers.
Primary Sources
Verification dossier: the full passage is reported in the primary source extracts dossier on Drive (anti-hallucination system).
Digitized sources available in the ISI-CNV Drive folder "Lafontaine":
- Charles Lafontaine, Mémoires d'un magnétiseur, vol. II (Geneva, 1866) — chapter "Les Indiens Peaux-Rouges" (chiefs Manguados and Dicon) — PDF Drive
- Charles Lafontaine, Mémoires d'un magnétiseur, vol. I (Geneva, 1866) — PDF Drive
- Charles Lafontaine, L'Art de Magnétiser ou le Magnétisme Animal — details of the herbal preparation indicated by the Native Americans — PDF Drive
See Also
- Charles Lafontaine — Il Magnetizzatore Franco-Svizzero
- Metodo Lafontaine nei Materiali ISI-CNV
- Lafontaine e il Leone — La Dimostrazione del Magnetismo sugli Animali
- Persone Curate da Lafontaine — Casi Clinici dai Mémoires
- Lafontaine in Inghilterra e Braid — La Tournée del 1841 e l'Origine dell'Ipnotismo
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