The Story of Magnetotherapy
There are qualities in a magnet and one of these qualities is that the magnet also attracts all martial humours that are in the human system.
The magnet, therefore, is very useful in all inflammations, influxes and ulcerations in diseases of the bowels and uterus, in internal as well as external diseases.PARACELSUS (16th Century)
MAGNETOTHERAPY is a clinical system in which human ailments are treated and cured through the application of magnets to the body of the patients. In this therapy medicine itself is considered irrelevant; no medicine is orally fed or externally applied to the body of the patient or injected in his system.
One may call it a nature-cure, but a cure free from the intricate cumbersomeness of naturopathy. Magnetotherapy is the simplest, cheapest and entirely painless system of treatment with almost no side or after effects.
Magnet, the only tool of magnetotherapy, has not been new to mankind but the knowledge of its healing properties has been very sparse and rare, right upto the modern era. A therapeutic system around the healing properties of magnet started evolving only in the 19th century.
Magnet in Retrospect
The oldest mention of magnet as a healing agent is found in the Atharvaveda, wherein, Mantras 3 and 4 of Sukta 17 of Kand I of Part I speak of the stoppage of bleeding with the help of magnet, and Mantras 2 and 3 of Sukta 35 of Kand 7 of Part III talk of the treatment of certain feminine ailments through the application of magnets.
It is now established that builders of Egyptian pyramids were well acquainted with magnetic forces and utilised them in preservation of mummies from natural decay.
It is said that queen Cleopatra (69-30 B.C.), the legendary beauty of ancient Egypt, used to wear a small magnet on her forehead with an aim to preserve her splendid looks.
Ancient civilisations the world over were acquainted with the magnet as an object having mysterious powers and regarded it with religious awe.
A philosopher-scientist once even went so far as to declare that magnet had a soul because it moved iron. Magnets were commonly used as amulets for relieving aches and maintaining physical health and vigour. Plato tells us of Somothracian rings worn by Dactyles, a tribe of roving iron workers.
Some time in second century A.D. Chinese sailors. discovered the directive capability of the magnet and used it as a prototype compass for laying down directions on the seas. Later, compass with a magnetic needle was developed in Europe and used by sailors as
an unavoidable aid.
But in spite of casual discoveries of the properties of magnet and its unwitting exploitation for therapeutic and other purposes, magnet was never made an object of scientific investigation until the beginning of sixteenth century.
It was Paracelsus (1493-1541), a Swiss alchemist and physician, who pioneered work on the magnet and brought to light its healing powers. He made the revolutionary observation that the magnet could cure all inflammations, influxes, ulcerations and many diseases of bowels and uterus, that it could be useful both in internal as well as external ailments.
He opined that any diseased part of the body, when exposed to the magnetic force, will be cured better and more speedily than by any medicines. Perhaps Father Hall, an Austrian Professor of Astronomy in the 18th century, took the cue from Paracelsus and treated nervous men and women by applying magnets, as remedial tools, to their bodies.
Magnetic treatment given by Hall was closely watched by Dr Mesmer (1734-1815) of the Mesmerism fame. He was deeply influenced and he himself started applying magnets to his patients and succeeded in curing a number of serious and complex ailments.
One of the cases cured by Mesmer is mentionable. A lady named Franze Oesterline, aged 29, suffered from periodic spells of severe headache, followed by delirium and vomiting associated with paroxysms of rage. All medicines had failed to cure her. Mesmer applied three magnets to her body-two to each leg and the third to her stomach.
Everyone was amazed to find that the lady was completely cured after only a few sessions of treatment. The work of Hall and Mesmer was witness- ed by their contemporary Dr Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843), the father of Homoeopathy.
Dr Hahne- mann was fully convinced of the powers of magnet and recommended its use as a healer in these words: “A magnetic rod can quickly and permanently cure the most severe disease, for which it is suitable medicine, when it is brought near the body for but a short time.”
The Father of Homoeopathy prepared three separate medicines from (1) the whole magnet, (2) the north pole and (3) the south pole. These are often used by Homoeopaths..
Although through the discoveries and efforts of Paracelsus, Mesmer and Hahnemann magnet as a thera- peutic tool was undoubtedly recognised but it continued to be only occasionally employed by rare physicians. convinced of its healing powers, However, the old element of mystery and doubt remained pinned to it and magnetotherapy could not forge ahead in face of prevailing medicines.
It was only after extensive exploi- tation of magnet in the fast developing electrical paraphernalia and the complex industrial mechanics, that different aspects and wide-ranging prospects of magnetism were gradually revealed to the scientists and its positive effect on life (plant, animal and human) was discovered and recognised.
It was Dr. William Gilbert (1540-1600 A.D.) of England, the court physician to Queen Elezabeth I, who pioneered in the scientific study of electricity and magnetism and was the first to declare that the earth itself was a huge magnet.
Michael Faraday (1791-1867) laid the foundations of Biomagnetics and Magneto-chemistry and established that all matter is magnetic in one way or the other and is either attracted or repelled by a magnetic field. Louis Pasteur in 1862 discovered that earth’s magnetic field exercised a positive effect on the growth of plants.
Experimentation on Magnetism
With this background the biomagnetists in America, Russia, Japan, England, France carried out extensive research during the last 50 years on the nature and scope of the magnetic field and its effect on living. organisms.
Thousands of experiments on bacteria, flies, mice, birds, fish, pigeons and rabbits as well as on plants tissue cultures have been conducted and astonishing facts revealed.
To start with plants, it has been discovered that plants kept within the magnetic field grow faster and give far better results in the form of greenery and fruits.
In Russia, certain plants irrigated with magnetised water were found to have grown 20 to 40 percent faster than the others. Even almost dead plants could be revived when exposed to magnetic field or supplied with magnetised water.
Thus by the use of magnets plant growth and fertility could be increased, their tissues rejuvenated and they could be protected from frost and other dangers.
American scientists have found that a change in the position of bacteria could be effected under influence of a magnetic field. Dr I.N. Komorov of Russia doubled the life of houseflies by feeding them on magnetised sugar.
Life of a mouse was extended by nearly half of its normal span and a mouse under experi- mentation astonishingly gave birth at the advanced age of four, the maximum span being three years. Magnet lessened the labour pains of female mice in a com- paratively easy delivery.
Dr Shiro Saito of Japan was successful in treating cancer tumours of mice. Dr Bhattacharya of Naihati, West Bengal, implanted cancer tissues in mice and rabbits and exposed them to magnetic field. The growth of cancer was controlled and stopped.
The cancer tissues were repeatedly implanted in the same mice and rabbits and every time they were cured by magnetotherapy. Fresh eggs when kept within the magnetic field hatched out one or two days earlier. A dog with a tumour in its brain which incapacitated its hind legs was completely cured by the north pole of a small magnet.
Dr E.K. Maclean of New York has successfully treated advanced cases of cancer with an Electromagnetic Activator. He has claimed that cancer cannot exist in a strong magnetic field. This is an important line of possible magnetic cure which should be vigourously pursued.
Magnet has restored the pigmentation in the hair and in a number of cases the colour of the hair has changed from silvery white to the original colour. Dr Maclean has succeeded in relieving pains of every kind by the use of magnets.
In a clinic in Leningrad, patients having stones in kidney and gall bladder are regularly given magnetised water for washing out salts and stones.
Magnetised water has been found to have very positive effect on digestive, nervous and urinary systems. Dr Maclean with his own experience, has shown that regular application of magnets proves a great help in preserving the general health, vigour and youthfulness of a person.
Conclusions
Conclusions reached by scientists after innumer- able experiments in the field of Biomagnetism may be summed up as under:
- Living systems are very sensitive to magnetic Helds and magnetic effect reaches every cell in the body on account of the highly pervasive character of magnetism.
- As the entire body is infused with electrical energy and magnetic fields exist in every part of it, magnets if properly applied exercise a positive effect on the electri- cal response behaviour pattern.
- Effects on the blood picture and on Erythrocyte (red blood cell) Sedimentation Rate (E.S.R.) result from exposure of the organism to a constant magnetic field which initiate biochemical changes.
- Qualitative and quantitative effects of a magnetic field are visible on tissue and on cellular metabolism.
- It has been confirmed that fibroblast (a type of cell present in tissue) proliferation and fibrosis (replace- ment of tissues) are reduced in magnetic fields.
- An interaction exists between the function of the central nervous system and external magnetic fields.
- A magnetic field can exert direct influence on the diencephalon (middle brain controlling the endo- crine system) and the forebrain.
- Magnetic treatment has a stabilising effect on the genetic code.
- A magnetic field produces predominantly an inhibitory effect.
These stray conclusions reached by various experi- menters living in different far flung countries go a long way in establishing the therapeutic utility of magnetism and explain to some extent how and why a magnetic field is able to cure a number of common and serious human ailments without any medicinal aids.
The experimenting biomagnetists and practising magneto- therapists have demonstrated that magnetic treatment drives out all types of bodily pains, helps in speedy healing of wounds and fractured bones, dissolves any blood clottings in the blood vessels, washes out, stones in kidney and gall bladder and cures such diseases. as eczema, tumours, stiffness in limbs, arthritis, spondylitis, swellings and inflammations, paralytic and polio effects and to some extent even the dreaded
cancer.
Present Position of Magnet-Treatment
The system of treatment with magnets has taken long strides during the present century and the days of Paracelsus, Hall and Mesmer have been left far behind. Now, almost in all important countries of the world magnet has appeared in the hands of numerous physi- cians practising individually and in the clinics. Japan has gone so far as to develop a number of curative magnetic devices such as magnetic necklaces, bands, belts, etc.,.and is manufacturing these therapeutic-cum- ornamental items on a commercial scale. In India also certain agencies have started manufacturing these items.
In India only a few physicians were practising magnetotherapy a decade ago. During the seventies, to some extent due to the efforts of the present writer the healing-magnet has been much talked about in maga- zines and dailies of the country and now, hundreds of magnetotherapists scattered in almost every nook and corner of India have taken to magnets. Magnet has now become widely recognised and popularised in this country.
