Child prodigies in Paris in the belle époque: Between child stars and psychological subjects.

This article considers the double role of child prodigies as child stars and psychological subjects in Paris in the Belle Époque. I argue that the celebrity status of child prodigies during this time contributed to their transformation into objects of scientific curiosity. The notions of innate talent and natural-born genius contributed heavily to stories of child prodigies within the public sphere; these stories also circulated in psychological accounts of such children.

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This article explores the appropriation of psychiatric terminology by French theologians and priests, within the context of the pathologizations of religion in the nineteenth century. This appropriation allowed the clergy to differentiate "authentic" mystical experience from feigned or "deviant" ones. Firstly, it analyzes medical and theological manuals that sought to create an opposition between hysteria and saintliness, which was useful from the ecclesiastical point of view.

"Wonder Nuns:" Sor Patrocinio, the Politics of the Supernatural, and Republican Caricature.

This paper examines the relationship between politics and the supernatural in nineteenth-century Spain through the figure of Sor Patrocinio: a stigmatized nun and advisor to Queen Isabel II of Spain. I introduce Sor Patrocinio as an example of a "wonder nun:" a type of ultra-charismatic, supposedly supernaturally gifted religious woman who influenced her country's political agenda. During Sor Patrocinio's rise to fame, she lost control of her public image.

Mysticism in the courtroom in 19th-century Europe.

This article examines how and why criminal proceedings were brought against alleged cases of Catholic mysticism in several European countries during modernity. In particular, it explores how criminal charges were derived from mystical experiences and shows how these charges were examined inside the courtroom. To bring a lawsuit against supposed mystics, justice systems had to reduce their mysticism to 'facts' or actions involving a breach of the law, usually fraud.

Hypnosis lessons by stage magnetizers: Medical and lay hypnotists in Spain.

During the late nineteenth century, Spanish physicians had few chances to observe how hypnosis worked within a clinical context. However, they had abundant opportunities to watch lay hypnotizers in action during private demonstrations or on stage. Drawing on the exemplary cases of the magnetizers Alberto Santini Sgaluppi (a.

DISCOVERING PALLADINO'S MEDIUMSHIP. OTERO ACEVEDO, LOMBROSO AND THE QUEST FOR AUTHORITY.

In 1888, the spiritist Ercole Chiaia challenged Cesare Lombroso to go to Naples and study a brilliant though still unknown medium: Eusapia Palladino. At that time Lombroso turned down the challenge. However, in 1891 he became fascinated by the medium's phenomena.

[The marvels of the incarnated man. Victor Melcior and the redefinition of mediumship (1901)].

Towards the end of the 19th century, new medico-psychological approaches were applied to mediumship through the scientific study of spiritualist phenomena. The spiritualist idea of the medium was replaced with the notion of the medium as an unstable human being capable of emanating psychic forces unconsciously. This paper analyses the redefinition of mediumship through the polemical articles of the Catalan physician Victor Melcior.

Hypnosis in Spain (1888-1905): from spectacle to medical treatment of mediumship.

Towards the end of the nineteenth century, some Spanish physicians sought to legitimize hypnotherapy within medicine. At the same time, hypnotism was being popularized among the Spanish population through stage hypnosis shows. In order to extend the use of medical hypnotherapy, some physicians made efforts to demarcate the therapeutic use of hypnotic suggestion from its application for recreational purposes, as performed by stage hypnotists.

Aims of teachers' psychometry: intelligence testing in Barcelona (1920).

After World War I, members of the teaching profession in Spain were interested in appropriating psychological measurement and bringing it within the expertise of their occupational field, with the intention of upgrading their profession. As professionals devoted to the child, educators attempted to explore the infantile psyche using intelligence tests, with the intention of making scientific contributions to the field of psychology. In the present article we take as a key event one particular application enacted by a Catalan teacher, and insert that case study into the complex local scientific and educational context.