Mead formulated the position that periodic atmospheric tides arising from planetary forces produced alterations of gravity, elasticity, and air pressure; these changes, he argued, affected the human body in health and disease. Mesmer's disseration, which originated animal magnetism, was largely a plagiarism of Mead's work. Translated into English by Thomas Stack "under the author's inspection" as A treatise concerning the influence of the sun and moon upon human bodies, and the diseases thereby produced (London, 1748).

Digital facsimile of the 1704 edition from Google Books at this link, of the English translation at this link. See Frank A. Pattie, "Mesmer's medical dissertation and its debt to Mead's De imperio solis ac lunae," Journal of the History of Medicine & Allied Sciences, (1956) 275-287.