Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1894-04-10
PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS or MAG
NCTlSM.

when Q magnet 90 acts upon . piece
Of iron as to pull Il towards itself u is
evident that virtue In some way ha'
gone out from Il, for the effect upon The
Iron IL noticeable when it IL quite q dis
tanc~ away from the magnet. Indeed
there Ia good rcason To believe there u
no limit 10 this distance, but that mag
net attracts q piece Of Iron, no mattei
how far apart they may be, only the
strength of the attraction becomes less
as the distance Increases, says n. u. Dol
bear In the Cosmopolitan. The space
about q magnet within which such ef'
fec,s take place Il called the magnetic
feld. and there IL reason TO believe that
,hi. field consists In = particular Kind oi
q stress In the ether which fills the
whole Of space and The effect at any
place depends upon the degree OF TN.
stress at that place. The degree oi
ether stress produced bya magnet de-
pends upon its shape. A straight bar
magnet has the weakest field, and the
field becomes stronger As the magnet IL
bent so its poles approach each other,
and Il may be go great as to produce q
pressure upon q piece of Iron thon'
sand pounds n square Inch. IL has also
been proved that there IL rotary motion
In the magnetic field; right handed Ike
the motion of the hAnis Of q clock u
one Looks towards the south pole OF .
magnet, aud left handed II one looks
tow ard the north pole. One may easily
picture To himscff the physical condi-
tion of this space between the poles .of
magnet by Imagining u hllcd With
great number Of spiral springs running
from one pole TO the other, each one In
state of tension tending 10 pull the poles
together, and oil together representing
the tension Of stress In the region about.
A single one Of these IL often called .
llne Of force, aud as they are measured
there may be ~ many a. 100000 to The
square Inch. when Q wire is carried
across such q field electricity IL develop
ed In Il. II n sheet Of metal be moved
edgewise through IL, u IL resisted ~ u
cutting through soft butter, and u be
made Into disk and rotated rapidly u
becomes hot though it touches nothing
apparently. With all this nothing can
be- seen aud the hand can perceive no
difference between the Iron mAgnetised
and unmsguetised. IL has been claimed
that some eyes have been able TO zee .
lumlnousness about the poles Of magnets,
aud pictures Of what IL said TO be seen
represent flames apparently Issuing from
the poles. such forms are go different
from the shape OF the magnet field ~
found In other ways as TO render 10
highly probable that the so-called flames
are imaginary. Some persons have
claimed 10 be affected by the presence OF
q magnet, that Il produces an indescrib-
able sensation In them, but wooden imi-
tations of magnets were found tn pro-
duce the same symptoms. A few years
ago some large and powerful electro
magnets were made OF old cannon. No
effect upon the body was perceived by
those who worked with them, even when
the head Was thrust Into the open mouth,
when the magnetism Was strong enough
to support tons Of cannon balls. so u
appears that q common magnetic held is
incapable Of affecting the nervous sys-
TEN In any appreciable way. The case
Il different. however. with an alternat-
Ing magnetic field where the polarity is
reversed many times q second by alter.
Mating electrical currents, for local
ans.thesia or insensibility is produced
so complete a. To allow surgical opera
tions 10 be- performed without surrender
Ing ones consciousness, as happens
when one takes ether or chloroform.
his discovery seems To be very I'm
ortant, ss Il may revolutionise the sur
ical practice with an1sthetics.