The notion of an evil force permeating nature that was put forward by Mary Baker Eddy founder of Christian Science. She had borrowed the idea from 18th-century Austrian physician Franz Anton Mesmer, who believed that he had identified a sort of magnetism associated with animals and plants, an idea he soon realized to be without foundation. In Eddy’s revived form, it was supposed to be a scientific version of casting evil spells: One person could do harm to another by transmitting something damaging to his or her well-being through animal magnetism, thus “malicious” animal magnetism. Although there is no evidence for this, it remains a part of the doctrine of Christian Science.