The Path, Vol. I.—1886-'7. / A Magazine Devoted to the Brotherhood of Humanity, Theosophy in America, and the Study of Occult Science, Philosophy, and Aryan Literature.

by Various

We know that the Earth is a Magnet and that it acts like one.

We also know that when Magnets act freely one upon another, the poles of the same name are repulsed and the poles of contrary names are attracted.

Now, Mr. Durville found by repeated experiments that all the right side of a sensitive subject is strongly influenced by the positive pole of the Magnet which produces contraction, repulsion and excitation; while, on the contrary, the other pole relaxes, attracts and calms the same side. The Austral pole of the Magnet presented within about 4-inches of the forehead of the subject, repulses him and puts him to sleep; while the left hand attracts and awakens him. It is evident, then, that the positive pole of the Magnet and the right hand are poles of the same name; and, if the Austral pole of the Magnet is positive, then the Boreal or Northern pole of the Earth must be negative. The physical laws of the Human Magnetism are consequently identical with those governing the actions of the Magnets.

The Human body represents three horse-shoe Magnets, two of them having the neutral point at the summit of the head and the third in an inverted position to that of the two first ones. The axis the most important divides us laterally from right to left, the other from the forepart to the back part of the body. The first horse-shoe Magnet has its neutral point at the summit of the head, and its extremities or poles at the right hand and the left hand, the right hand being the positive, and the left hand the negative pole.

The second horse-shoe Magnet has also its neutral point at the summit of the head, and the extremities or poles of its two branches are the right and the left foot, the right foot being positive and the left foot negative.

The third horse-shoe Magnet, the one in an inverted position, has its neutral point at the perineum and the extremities of its branches are the forehead and the occiput. The forehead being positive and the occiput negative.

From this it follows that in the human body, from the extremities of the feet to the summit of the head, all the right side is positive and the left side negative, and from the forehead to the perineum all the forepart of the body is positive, while the opposite or back part, from the occiput to the perineum is negative. The Human body possesses other polary axes of less importance.

Reichenbach has found, through experiments made with many sensitives, that the end of the Magnet which seeks the North pole of the Earth, the end we call positive, sends to the left hand of a sensitive a fresh breeze, while the other end emits a tepid one. He also found that the positive end emits in the dark a blue light, while the negative one emits a yellow red light. His sensitives found that in the dark, the right side of the human body emits a blue light, while the left side emits a yellow red one. Then the right side of the body has the same quality of Magnetism as the positive, or North seeking, or Austral pole of the Magnet, and the left side has the same quality of Magnetism as the negative, or South seeking, or Boreal pole of the Magnet. Those experiments of Reichenbach agree thus entirely with those made by Mr. Durville. His polarity of the Human body is also the same as given by Andrew Jackson Davis, page 91 of his work “The Harbinger of Health.” There are consequently very strong reasons for believing that the theory of Mr. Durville is the right one, since it has been confirmed by practical experiments made by himself, Reichenbach and Davis.

Mr. Durville concludes his article in the “Journal du Magnétisme,” January number of 1886, with some interesting points in Therapeutics. Diseases can be classed as of two kinds, those due to atony or paralysis of the organs, and those due to excitation or inflammation.

The object of Medicine is to excite the functions of the atonic organs and to calm or moderate those which are too active. Magnetizers knew that the ends of the fingers presented within a few inches of the diseased part, will produce excitation, while the palm of the hand applied on produces calm; but they could not always obtain the desired effect for want of the knowledge of the true polarity of the Human body.