As the above mentioned theses from abroad are very old, they are difficult to get in Japan and we have never read the originals only knowing them indirectly. However, judging from the titles of the theses, I believe we can safely presume magneto-therapy was tried and that it had quite a long history.

Following this, during the 1920s, as far as I can ascertain only a few theses on magneto-therapy were forwarded. However, in 1928, Rosenberg(27) stated that "We must admit that until now no basis for acknowledging the effect of a constant magnetic field has been obtained." This appeared to become the established theory in western countries, and also appears to have been accepted in Japan. I believe it was because of this that research on magnetism in the medical and biological fields was deemed meaningless.

In 1938, Hansen, K.M.(32) reported that patients suffering from subjective symptoms of sciatica, lumbago, joint pains, etc. but showing no findings in an X-ray examination, found relief when the constant field from an electromagnet was applied. The report further stated that magnetism was also effective in treating acute inflammatory illnesses and chronic gingivitis. It does not give the strength of the field used, but we can assume it to be quite strong. With this therapy, the S-pole was applied to the body for periods of 10-40 minutes, this being repeated several or in some cases over 10 times.

Hansen, in 1944(33) and 1949(34) also forwarded her research on magnetic fields applied to the human body, but as this has no direct relationship to therapy I will not elaborate here. She states that from those studies it is found that magnetism applied to the human body functions mainly on the autonomic nervous system.

During the 1950s, research on the removal of strongly magnetic objects from the human body was made (35)(36), but as this also does not fall into the category of magneto-therapy I will not elaborate.

In 1960, Freeman, M.W.(37) forwarded his thesis on "Magnetism in Medicine", however this also does not deal with the therapeutic effects of magnetism. Sinkarera, L.F. et al.(38) reported in 1970 that a constant magnetic field was found effective in treating inflammatory illnesses of the female genital organs.

In 1972, Degan, I.L.(39) experimented with applying a constant magnetic field of 450-530 gauss to the hands of patients suffering from Dupuytrens contracture incurable by drugs. the treatment lasted for 15-40 minutes at a time, this being repeated from 5-40 times depending on the case. The treatment was found effective on first-degree symptoms, and also considerable improvement was noticed as well in cases with second degree symptoms.

c.) Deficiency of the Magnetic Field acting on the human body

The earths magnetic field is of course a stationary magnetic field working constantly on the human body. For this reason, I wish to discuss here whether this field is actually in a deficient state or not. Kawai(40) stated that the strength of the earths field has decreased a total of 50% during the last 500 years, decreasing 5% over the past 100 years. Furthermore, it is said(41) that the total moment of the earths magnetic field has been decreasing at the rate of 0.05% per year. Along these lines, Rikitake(42) also states that the magnetic moment of the earth is decreasing quite rapidly, the rate of decrease having reached about 5% per one hundred years. He maintains that if this continues the earths magnetic field will eventually reach zero in 200 years. Along with this decrease, the angles of the earths magnetic field are also said to be changing.

It seems certain we can assume that the earths magnetic field is decreasing in strength, and we can well imagine that this could be the cause of disorder in the human body.

Furthermore, we also consider that there are other factors as well, which could play a part in decreasing the effect of the earths field acting on the human body.

Living or working in steel frame or steel structure buildings is one of these. Iron is several hundred to several thousand times more permeable than air(43), and so can absorb a large part of the magnetic lines of the earths field thus sheltering people from such. Automobiles, electric trains, and ships are, to some extent, also sheltered places, the latter being especially so.

To confirm this point, it is necessary to actually measure the field strength on the spot, and we are at the moment preparing to do this. However, the actual process of measurement seems to be very difficult(42).

As the human race has long been under the influence of the earths magnetic field I believe, as I mentioned before(7), that any change in this field could cause disorder in the human body. Kawais book (40) is subtitled "The Earths Magnetic Field Controls the Weather", and if this is really the situation, the human body will be influenced by this change in the weather. This can be shown as follows: Change in the earths magnetic field leads to a change in the weather which leads to an influence on the human body and consequent disorder of some kind.

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