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October – December, 1975
| Huna Research Associates Dr. E. Otha Wingo, Editor 126 Camellia Drive Cape Girardeau, MO 63701 |
The Max Freedom Long Library Dolly Ware, Curator 1501 Thomas Place Fort Worth, TX 76107 |
Biometrics – Part I
In this issue the sources of magnetic field theory are summarized and excerpted, with some of the historical attempts to apply magnetic fields to living beings. This provides the background for Part 2 on current research in Biomagnetics.
BioMagnetics
The human body is a magnet. The earth itself is also a gigantic magnet. The relationship between the two constitutes the real meaning of the much-abused word, ecology. We live, then, in a magnetic field — to put it simply. Any study of the human body must consider the geomagnetic field and how it affects that body. It may be assumed, therefore, that magnets (both natural and electromagnets) will affect the body in some way. The magnetic effect has been of interest ever since for the first time a piece of amber was rubbed and a spark resulted. The Greeks called amber by the name elektron! The attraction of a lodestone (or magnetite) to certain metals elicited the same intense interest.
Any form of energy is of interest to Huna Research Associates, and we may wonder, for instance, if magnetic intensity is related to mana, or if a magnetic field could help us in increasing the supply of mana. Such a study, in fact, was made in the late 1950’s by Max Freedom Long.15 The classic study of magnetism was made by Baron Karl von Reichenbach (1788-1869), one of the greatest scientists of the nineteenth century, highly respected chemist, technologist, metallurgist, discoverer of creosote and kerosene. He called the force or energy that is the basis of the magnetic field by the name Od. His book, Researches on Magnetism… In Relation to the Vital Force, published in 1845-1850, was reprinted in 1974 by University Books, Seacaucus, N.J. His Letters on Od and Magnetism was reissued by the same publisher in 1968.
My interest in BIOMAGNETISM, the correlation of LIFE and MAGNETIC FIELDS, was precipitated for the most part by the researches of Albert Roy Davis of Green Cove Springs, Florida. About a year ago, HRA Dr. William A. Ellis was here for a visit and lectures (one of his perennial speaking tours on how to be and stay healthy). He was just reading a book on Biomagnetism by Davis6, and changed his itinerary to include a visit to the Albert Roy Davis Research Laboratory. I began corresponding with Mr. Davis and he has sent all three of his books as they appeared, and has been most helpful in keeping us up-to-date on the latest researches in the area. This article was at first intended as a review of his books. Although it has grown beyond that, I still consider Mr. Davis’s books as the focal point of our study. The three books are The Anatomy of Biomagnetism (1974); Magnetism and Its Effects on the Living System; co-authored by Walter C. Rawls, Jr., (1974); and The Magnetic Effect, same co-author, (1975).
The research has become much more involved than at first anticipated, leading into physics, biology, and mathematics. As one writer put it, “Biomagnetism is a borderline discipline, the successful investigation of which requires proficiency in biology and physics alike.”1 Another writer said that the study “requires a bionicist’s knowledge of both biology and physics.”12 What I will do here is condense much of the background reading that I have done — during the past year, and more intensively in the past few weeks — so that you will not have to plough through the same studies. But I will include a complete bibliography, with reference numbers in parentheses, so that you may look further into any of them, if you wish.
ENERGY FIELDS AND ELECTRO-MAGNETISM
The study of energy fields is today at the very foundation of science — Energy field patterns are an integral part of all forms of organic life.22 Since the time of Descartes (1596-1650) and more recently of James Clerk Maxwell (1831- 1879), the study of energy fields has led to modern electronic technology — and to the understanding of the beating of our heart and the activity of our brain.
“Today, books on what man can do with electricity fill seventeen hundred-foot shelves of stacks in the Library of Congress, but what electricity is and why it functions are as much a mystery as they were in Priestley’s day. Modern scientists still have no idea of the composition of electromagnetic waves. They simply use them for radio, radar, television, and toasters.”21
Although the above statement exaggerates the situation somewhat, it does illustrate the point that our ability to make use of an energy is not dependent on how much we understand. We can, after all, flip a light switch without knowing anything about electricity.
Two absolutely essential books in this study, which is interrelated with many other subjects, since we are dealing with the essence of life itself, are Harold Saxton Burr’s The Fields of Life5 and Edward W. Russell’s Design for Destiny20, both of which require more attention later. The following excerpts will illustrate the importance of studying these books, while making a pertinent point about magnetism itself:
Electro-dynamic fields are invisible and intangible, and it is hard to visualize them. But a crude analogy may help to show what the fields of life — L-fields for short — do and why they are so important:
Most people who have taken high-school science will remember that if iron-filings are scattered on a card held over a magnet they will arrange themselves in the pattern of the ’lines of force’ of the magnet’s field. And if the filings are thrown away and fresh ones scattered on the card, the new filings will assume the same pattern as the old.
Something like this — though infinitely more complicated — happens in the human body. Its molecules and cells are constantly being torn apart and rebuilt with fresh material from the food we eat. But, thanks to the controlling L-field, the new molecules and cells are rebuilt as before and arrange themselves in the same pattern as the old ones.5
Our bodies, then, must possess a remarkable “mechanism” not only to maintain their form through ceaseless changes of material but also to ensure their stability in many varied conditions and emergencies. This “mechanism” has now been discovered… In brief, this great discovery (a basic discovery of the highest significance and with many potential applications in nearly every branch of medicine and biology) is that all living forms — whether they be the human body, animals, trees, plants or lower forms of life — possess, and are controlled by, electromagnetic fields. These are the organizing “mechanisms” that keep all living forms in shape and that build, maintain and repair them through constant changes of material.
This is no longer just a theory. These electromagnetic “fields of life” have been measured and mapped with great precision by modern instruments, in many thousands of experiments.20
HUMAN BEINGS ARE ELECTROMAGNETIC ORGANISMS operating in a mesh of interrelated and interacting electrical field patterns, principally generated (directly or indirectly) by the Sun.14 The physical Universe is composed of energy… and the ultimate explanation of all physical phenomena has to be in energy terms with frequency the common denominator. The electromagnetic spectrum holds the key to all physical reality. It comprises about 80 octaves as now known, and the narrow “window” through which man looks out on the world is only one of these octaves. The entire sea level solar spectrum, which is responsible for life, extends about four octaves.14
A pleasant environment is one which produces the condition known to physiologists as homeostasis — equilibrium between demands on the body made by the environment and its ability to meet them without physiological penalty. “Environment” in this sense means all the different energy patterns, visible and invisible, which the senses detect and release into the nervous system for processing, and the energy which enters the body without mediation by the senses but is likewise processed by the nervous system.14
All these manifestations of energy create “space” by their wavelengths, and “time” by their frequencies. That is, “space” and “time” are properties of energy. Where there is no energy there can be neither space nor time. What we, in a literary sense, call empty space is only empty to our senses. All space is always full of energy. If the temporal patterns of this energy are within the range of optimum accommodation of our senses, and if the non-sense-detectable energy patterns are within the range of optimum acceptance by our inner sense — the proprioceptive sense — the body’s response is a pleasant feeling of balance with the environment.14
It is therefore easy to see how important it is to our health and well being to have the following three conditions:
- Sufficient exposure to the Sun’s energy, without the filtering effect of glass and plastic.
- Indoor lighting as much like the Sun’s energy spectrum as possible (see John Ott’s Health and Light, with information on full spectrum lighting, reviewed in H.V.#13, Winter, 1975). Light is no different from any other electromagnetic energy, except in frequency of vibration (or oscillation). It was a great sally of the imagination when the enormous variety of waves, extending from cosmic waves one-trillionth of a centimeter up to miles-long radio waves, with widely differing properties, were recognized as being all electromagnetic; their distinguishing characteristic being frequency of vibration.14 The entire electromagnetic spectrum, broadly regarded, can be described as light. Part of it is directly visible to people through their special sensors, the eyes, and outside of the visible range it is processed at the sub-conscious level by the nervous system. The “environment” therefore consists of the phenomena of “outer space,” i.e., external to the body; and “inner space,” within the body, for the whole body is involved — not just the eyes. The phenomena of “outer space” comprise energy and the modifiers of that energy introduced by man. The energy consists of the patterns of arrangement of the electromagnetic and the electrostatis energy fields generated either by nature or man. 14
- As much freedom from artificial electrical fields as possible to restore the balance between our bodies and their natural environment. Up to now man has only had to contend with the natural fields to which he is adapted, but in this century western man particularly is being exposed to increasingly distorted artificial electrical fields largely undetectable by the senses, lacking the therapeutic benefits of the natural fields and harmful in many ways.14 We assume the dosage is very, very small, but we actually do not know, and we must never forget the effect is cumulative.
Sea level solar electromagnetic fields and their related, interacting electrostatis and electrical fields have profound effects on people. Life is impossible without these fields and optimum health is not maintainable if they are distorted for long periods of time, as they usually are, for example, indoors by the insulating nature of building materials.14
Some 442 effects of solar radiation have been identified, including generation of the vital hormone Calciferol, called Vitamin D, which is essential for optimum health, and aiding homeostasis, the equilibrium between the demands of the environment on the body and the ability of the body to accommodate to them with a minimum physiological penalty.
Our atmosphere is charged outdoors from 150 to 1500 volts per meter, with negative at the earth’s surface, positive at the ionosphere (up to 300,000 volts). Viruses attach to cells only when positive ions are present.14
Notable effects of the electrostatis field:
- Reduction of the viscosity effect of blood and lymph fluid, resulting in less fatigue and the strengthening of immunological defenses.
- Electrophoresis effect: bacteria and viruses are all electronegative and in an artificially established field they travel to the positive anode of an electric field where they are killed.
- Ion-regeneration of the body cells: all biological bodies continually renew their cells through ion exchange.
THE LIVING CELL — AN ELECTRO-CHEMICAL SYSTEM
How can the effect of magnetic fields on the human body be observed? With the development of the electron-scanning microscope, cell walls have been found to be “folded, convoluted, and multi-layered — precisely the right kind of structure to serve as a semiconductor. And components of the cell are likely to include organic semiconductors, such as liquid crystals… a material that is hypersensitive to temperature changes, magnetic and electric fields, stress, radiation, and trace contamination. To complicate matters even more, many cells have a double outer membrane; electrically, such a membrane functions as a capacitor with the characteristics of a leaky dialectric.3
The Earth’s natural field is normally positive, ranging from a few hundred volts per meter to many thousands, depending on altitude, humidity, temperature, and geographical location. Inside metal-frame buildings, automobiles, airplanes or any structure surrounded by metal, the earth’s electrostatic field is zero; a natural Faraday Cage is produced.3
Viewed as a minute but extremely elaborate electrochemical system, the living cell is subject to the influence of electromagnetic fields, both static and dynamic, as well as electrostatic fields. These fields may induce not just one, but a complex system of reactions. The effects will depend upon the field orientation, components of the system, its organization, its energy and other variable factors.3
The magnetic field of the earth averages about 0.5 Gauss and has continuous pulsations of low magnitude at frequencies ranging from 0.1 to 100 Hz, peaking at around 10 Hz. The typical 7-14 Hz alpha brainwave pattern for sleep and dreaming falls precisely in this range.3
A magnet at 50 Hz and 8700 Gauss held to the temple gives rise to a visual light sensation known as the “phosphene” effect. The same effect may result from certain electrical frequencies, chemicals, fasting, meditation, fatigue, or just pressing the eyeballs. Electrosleep and electroanesthesia have been widely accepted in clinical and surgical practice in the USSR for over ten years. The application of rhythmic, low-power, low frequency (10-100 Hz) current pulses to a patient’s head produces a pleasant, relaxing effect, and depending on power used, can put you to sleep gradually, in the case of insomnia, or rapidly for anesthesia purposes.10
The effects of fields on brainwave activity are definite as indicated by Kholodov13 and Presman18, who point out that depending on conditions, intensity, frequency, and location of the radiating antenna, brainwave frequency will be increased or decreased.
EARLY EXPERIMENTS IN ELECTRO-MAGNETISM
Empirical evidence does exist that a number of ancient cultures knew about the vectorial relationship existing between the electromagnetic field direction and the neuraxis, and that the geomagnetic field appeared to affect the functioning of higher neuronal centers. Thus in building homes and temples, the location of shrines and beds reflect the idea that proper geophysical orientation is important.4
Perhaps the first use of an external electric field to affect the human body was the application by a Roman physician of the torpedo ray to the head of a mental patient. This treatment was also given for headaches and for gout.12
References to the lodestone (leading stone) are found in the Vedas, the most ancient religious scriptures of the Hindus, dating back to about 1000 B.C., in the Platonic dialogues of Socrates, and in the ancient literature of the Chinese. Scientific studies of magnetism began with William Gilbert of Colchester (1540-1603); he showed that the earth itself behaves like a magnet, that iron ceases to be attracted while red hot, and that substances such as paper and cloth do not affect the force of attraction between a magnet and iron.16
Faraday may be regarded as a founder of Biomagnetics or Magnetobiology. Many writers have noted the historical fact that on November 8, 1845, he investigated the properties of dried blood and noted that he “must try recent fluid blood”.16 Since Faraday’s time, electrotechnics have provided us with strong magnetic fields. The circumstances that reliable biological effects were observed only during the last decades indicates that biological effects of static magnetic fields are certainly not spectacular, but rather an elusive nature. Therefore, care must be taken in evaluating the results, as well as in carrying on the experiments. Thus, some tests do not show results because the time is too short, e.g. exposure to certain fields by navy volunteers at the U.S. Naval Ordnance Lab in Maryland (14 days) or the astronauts’ tests by the U.S. Naval Aerospace Medical Institute in Florida (10 days). It may be that years would be needed to complete a definitive test.
ELECTRIFIED MYRTLES AND CHARGED WATER
In 1746, one of the first experiments reported involved two myrtle trees that were “electrified” artificially with electrostatic charges in an effort to learn what effect this force would have. Two trees so stimulated grew branches and blossomed, while those left to nature’s pace did not make such development.12
In 1870, France’s Abbé Bertholon experimented with garden plants sprinkled with “electrified water.” A gardener stood on a platform of insulating material and watered the plants from a container connected with a static-electricity generator. According to a writer of the times, “By means of this process, strange for the times, the good Abbé Bertholon, who was considered something of a sorcerer, obtained salads of extraordinary size.”12
LIGHTNING AS ELECTROSTATIC ENERGY
Lightning is also static electricity (electrostatis energy, as Benjamin Franklin discovered. It has electromotive force — but no current. Other examples are the Wimshurst machine Van de Graaff generator — or rubbing your shoes on the carpet.
Lightning discharges all of its electrons in one big lightning bolt. Hard rubber subjected to friction, or a charged Leyden jar or condenser, produces an instantaneous spark and then needs recharging. The chemical battery produces not this quick discharge of electrons but a continuous current of electricity, or flow of impulses through the electrons in conducting materials.12 Living things are actually bioelectrochemical batteries that produce appreciable amounts of electricity that flows in currents. We live in an environment of electricity; it flows in the lower atmosphere we breathe, in the ionosphere above, and in the earth beneath our feet. It flows through us too.12 A magnetic field is always a corollary to an electric current.2
CHIHUAHUAS AND ASTHMA
James B. Beal, specialist in biosystems research and bioelectric field effects, formerly aerospace engineer for NASA, has an interesting discussion of the well-known nostrum for an asthma attack — cuddling a Chihuahua. “It is recognized that there may be more psychological factors associated with asthmatic pathologies than almost any other body condition, but there seem to be some possible field effect tie-ins to the old wives’ tale that can be called the Chihuahua or Dachshund Effect! Basically, the idea is to give a child with severe asthma a small dog (assuming the child is not allergic to animals). The dog must be near the child as much of the time as possible and must sleep with the child. I remember that there was much controversy about this type of therapy when I read about it over twenty years ago; the only possible answers at that time were the psychological benefits of a child having a small, lovable animal to play with. When I started to collect information on EM field effects associated with living systems, the beneficial effects of the positive field-negative ion interrelationship began to accumulate. In addition, information on the positive field around plants, animals, humans, and the earth supplied interesting potential tie-ins. Equipment became available (electrostatic field meters) to easily check out these conditions, and what do you know? Small dogs, such as dachshunds and chihuahuas, have up to 400 volts/meter (+) potential! This is due to their short hair and high metabolic rate. The potential generated is about twice that found in the Huntsville, Alabama area. Of course, we can now replace the dog with a DC power supply and save a lot of possible mess and bother.4 Beal’s article is included in the just published, and very excellent volume, edited by Stanley R. Dean, M.D., Psychiatry and Mysticism (Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1975), p. 163.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES
(1) Barnothy, Madeleine F., (ed.), Biological Effects of Magnetic Fields (New York: Plenum Press, 1964), ix + 324 pp. Full annotated bibliography, index. Contains a collection of scientific papers by outstanding researchers.
(2) Barnothy, Jeno M., president of Biomagnetic Research Foundation, Evanston, Illinois, wrote several chapters in the book edited by his wife (see #1 above).
(3) Beal, James B., “How Fields Affect Us,” in Fields Within Fields, Number 12 (Summer, 1974), pp. 46-57.
(4) Beal, James B., “The Synthesis between Psychiatry, Biology, Technology, and Mysticism, ” in Psychiatry and Mysticism (Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1975), pp. 153-174. This excellent compendium is edited by Stanley R. Dean, M.D.
(5) Burr, Harold Saxton, The Fields of Life: Our Links with the Universe (New York: Ballantine Books, 1973), 215 pp. First published in 1972 by Neville Spearman Ltd. under the title Blueprint for Immortality.
(6) Davis, Albert Roy, and Ralph U. Sierra, The Anatomy of Biomagnetism (privately printed by Albert Roy Davis Research Laboratory, 520 Magnolia Avenue, Green Cove Springs, Fla., 1974), 55 pp.
(7) Davis, Albert Roy, Magnetism and its Effects on the Living System (Hicksville, N.Y.: Exposition Press, 1974); xxii + 132 pp. Co-authored by Walter C. Rawls, Jr.
(8) Davis, Albert Roy, and Walter C. Rawls, Jr., The Magnetic Effect (Hicksville, N.Y.: Exposition Press, 1975); 128 pp.
(9) Fallah, Skaidrite Maliks, Psychoenergetics: Annotated Bibliography (published by ESPress, Inc., Washington, D.C., 1974.
(10) (11) (12) (13) for Mankind Research Unlimited, Inc.); x + 112 pp. Foreign Science Bulletins Vol. 5, No. 4 (Apr., 1969), pp. 72-89, contains circuits and diagrams of equipment. Gross, Leo, biophysicist, Waldemar Medical Research Foundation, Woodbury, L.I., N.Y. See note #1. Halacy, Daniel S., Jr., Radiation, Magnetism, and Living Things (New York: Holiday House, 1966); 196 pp. Kholodov, Yurinac A., “Effect of Electromagnetic and Magnetic Fields on the Central Nervous System,” NASA Technical Translation TT F-465, June, 1967. See similar article in Biological Effects of Magnetic Fields (note #1 above).
(14) Logan, Henry L., “Light and the Human Environment,” in Fields Within Fields, Number 12 (Summer, 1974), pp. 58-64.
(15) Long, Max Freedom, in various issues of HRA Bulletins and Huna Vistas, e.g. B64, B65, B66 (1951); HV63 (1964).
(16) Laxman N. Mulay, professor at Penn. State Univ., see #1. (17) Peter W. Neurath, Senior Consulting Scientist, Medical Science Dept., Avco Corp, Wilmington, Mass. See note #1.
(18) (19)(20)(21)(22) Presman, A. S., Electromagnetic Fields and Life (N.Y.: Plenum Press, 1970). Rocard, Yves A., “Actions of a Very Weak Magnetic Gradient: The Reflex of the Dowser,” in Biological Effects of Magnetic Fields (see note #1), pp. 279-286. Dr. Rocard is Prof, and Director of Laboratory of Physics, Ecole Normal Supérieur, University of Paris. Russell, Edward W., Design for Destiny (N.Y.: Ballantine Books, 1973), first published by Neville Spearman Ltd. in 1971. This is a study of Dr. Burr’s L-fields (note #5). Tompkins, Peter, and Christopher Bird, The Secret Life of Plants (N.Y.: Avon Books, 1974), first published by Harper and Row, 1973. Vargiu, Jeunes G., “A Model of Creative Behavior,” in Fields Within Fields, Vol. 5, No. 1 (1972), pp. 49-66.
INTERLUDE
This summary of concepts in the area of electromagnetic and electrostatic fields as they relate to living beings is basic to our study of BIOMAGNETISM.
The standard published sources — the so-called “authorities” and “specialists” — have been abstracted in order to give you sufficient background for understanding the more practical applications of principles. The work of the Albert Roy Davis Research Laboratory has continued for some forty years. New discoveries and new concepts have resulted from the experimentation of Davis and his associates, which include prominent researchers throughout the world. As early as 1936, for example, Davis discovered that each pole of a magnet has a completely different effect. The story of that discovery and of the research into practical uses of the magnetic field theory will be the subject of Part 2 in the next issue. –E.O.W.
