d taught the influence of the stars upon
men, which doctrine was accepted by the great physician Theophrastus
Paracelsus (1490-1541). This, however, was only part of his belief:
the human body was endowed with a double magnetism; one portion
attracted to itself the planets and was nourished by them, the result
of which was the mental powers; the other portion attracted and
disintegrated the elements, from which process resulted the body. He
also claimed that the magnetic virtue of healthy persons attracted the
enfeebled magnetism of the sick. With this theory of animal magnetism,
it was only natural that he should value the use of the magnet very
highly in the cure of diseases. This dual theory of magnetic cures,
that of the magnetic influence of men on men and of the magnet on man,
was prevalent for over a century, and found its latest exponent in
Mesmer.

Following Paracelsus, Glocenius, Burgrave, Helinotius, Robert Fludd,
and Kircher believed that the magnet represented the universal
principle by which all natural phenomena might be explained. This
principle, existing as it did in the human body, was an important
factor in health and disease. The great chemist Von Helmont
(1577-1644) taught more precisely that a power resided in man by which
he could magnetically affect others, and thereby cure the sick who
were most influenced by it. He published a work on the effects of
magnetism on the human frame.

About the same time Balthazar Gracian, a Spaniard, boldly proclaimed
his views. "The magnet," he said, "attracts iron; iron is found
everywhere; everything, therefore, is under the influence of
magnetism.... It is the same agent which gives rise to sympathy,
antipathy, and the passions." Baptista Porta (1543-1615), one of the
originators of the weapon-salve, had also great faith in the magnet.
So effective was his work on the imaginations of his patients that he
was considered a magician and prohibited from practising by the court
of Rome. Sebastian Wirdig, professor of medicine at the University of
Rostock, in Mecklenburg, wrote a treatise on "The New Medicine of the
Spirits" which he presented to the Royal Society of London in 1673. He
maintained that a magnetic influence took place, not only between the
celestial and terrestrial bodies, but between all living things. The
whole world was under the influence of magnetism: life was preserved
by magnetism, death was the consequence of magnetism.

Maxwell (1581-1640)