Magnetism

            Medical quackery dates to the beginning of time.  The changing state of medicine allows us the luxury of looking back on past medical practices and declaring them unscientific based on our current knowledge.  These mistakes, though, are clearly different than the methods of those who purposefully take advantage of the public by hiding behind technology and by exploiting society’s inadequate scientific knowledge.  One such charlatan was Professor Bragg who in the 1930s tricked hundreds of elderly people in Miami into buying his medicines and attending his lectures.  He told them things like tonsillitis is caused by the mucus from “mucus forming foods” getting caught in the spongy tonsils.  He claimed his remarkable medicine would prevent this from happening.

            I caution you not to think that we are smarter now and could not be tricked.  Watch television on any Sunday afternoon, and you will be accosted by hours of infomercials with claims of magnificent cures.  Some of these are simply reincarnations of old ideas bundled in a nice new package.  Take for example the latest craze in magnets used to heal everything from warts to cancer.

            The following is an ad from 1922: “If you are disgusted with poisonous drugs and fakes, try this treatment.  They set up vital action in all the organs, tissues and great nerve centers, giving warmth, protection, action and life; removing all aches, pains, weakness and nervous languor.  Magnetism is the most certain relief for pain known.”  Despite declarations by the FDA that magnets have no use in treating patients, especially in curing cancer, we are in the midst of a resurgence of magnetism which during the 1990s was bolstered by baseball players stating that magnets improved their ability to play.  The current marketers of magnets claim they work by attracting the iron in the blood and stimulating circulation, blocking pain signals to the brain, aligning the magnetic force of the body and by facilitating ones connection to the earth’s magnetic field.  Some scientific study has been done on magnets and there appears to be some benefit if the magnet has a gauss measurement of at least 500.  The typical magnets being sold have a gauss measurement of about 10.

            One of the most famous users of magnets was Franz Anton Mesmer of Germany.  He believed that the planets influenced an invisible fluid in the human body and could affect a person’s health.  He likened this planetary force to magnetic force and began to use magnets to improve the circulation of the invisible fluid and improve the health of his patients.  To facilitate this process he would place them into a hypnotic trance; he would “Mesmerize” them.  The general public and physicians alike became skeptical of his methods, and a French commission, whose membership included Benjamin Franklin, eventually discredited his magnetic healing.  Now he is more commonly known for his contribution to the practice of hypnotism.

            The use of magnets relies primarily on the trust generated between the “physician” and the patient.  There is no way to feel the direct effects of the magnets.  In the next two articles I will talk about the use of electricity and colored light to cure illness.  In contrast to magnets, these therapies could be experienced directly by the patient making them more believable.

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1.  Franz Anton Mesmer    2.  Magnetic bracelet    3.  Magnetic bed