In November 1807, he attended the Paris lectures of the phrenologists Gall and Spurzheim; and, in 1828, published a review on Gall, Spurzheim, and Phrenology. Spurzheim was so impressed with Chenevixs review that he sought (and was granted) permission to immediately re-print the article as a pamphlet, with 12-page appendix of his (Spurzheims) own notes.
In Paris, in 1816, he met Abbé Faria, who reawakened an interest in animal magnetism that had been dormant since Chenevixs visit to Rotterdam in 1797. In 1828, on a visit to Ireland, he began to practise mesmerism. He wrote extensively of his experiences in a series of papers published in the London Medical and Physical Journal' in 1829.
Also in 1829, he gave a series of lectures and demonstrations of mesmerism in London that were attended by such eminent medical men as Sir Benjamin Brodie, William Prout, Henry Holland, Henry Earle, and John Elliotson.