and British schools unfavorably with the German. By 1930 American medicine was practically totally
patterned after the Germanic "Wissenschaftliches Medicine." Electrotherapy became a scientifically
unsupportable technique and disappeared from medical practice, with most of its proponents embracing
the technology of Roentgen's X-rays, and the biomedical scientists set about solving the remaining few
riddles of life with chemistry as their prime tool.
During the 20's and 30's these reformers received considerable support from two quite divergent
sources. Knowledge of the physics of electricity and magnetism had progressed from Oersted's
demonstration of the relationship between the two, to Faraday's generation of electrical current by
magnetic induction, and to Maxwell's profound insight on the nature of electromagnetic radiation, the
latter predicting the existence of a whole spectrum of electromagnetic radiation. After Hertz had proven
Maxwell's predictions in 1888 the age of electrical technology began. By 1897 Marconi was using this
radiation to send signals over distances of twelve miles and within four years a message was
instantaneously sent across the Atlantic ocean. Edison perfected his first electric light in 1879, and by
1882 the first central electrical generating station, the Pearl Street Station in New York City, began
operating.
By 1900 the electric age was well on its way and within a few short years was to result in the
total electrification of the entire world. Man began to live in an electromagnetic environment that
deviated significantly from the natural, but since the social and economic advantages were obvious, the
technology was enthusiastically embraced. When questions were raised as to the possible effects of all
this progress upon human health, scientists reassured the populace that since electricity played
absolutely no role in living things there was nothing to fear. (It would seem obvious also that the
investors who stood to gain considerably from further expansion of the technology would be similarly
pleased.) A few experiments were performed in a rather perfunctory but spectacular fashion,
particularly in Edison's own laboratory. In one instance a dog was placed in a strong magnetic field for
five hours without obvious discomfort" (no other determinations were apparently made); in another,
five human volunteers reported no subjective sensations whatever when they placed their head within a
strong magnetic field, whether the field was on steadily or switched on and off repeatedly. This
reported lack of sensation is particularly intriguing since d'Arsonval reported at the same time that such
changing fields (from the field on-off) when applied to the human head produced the subjective
sensation of light! A few years later Beer substantiated this observation and named it the "magnetic
phosphene." It has been studied extensively since then and its existence is unquestioned. It is difficult
to understand why it was not reported from the experiments in Edison's laboratory, since they were
performed under circumstances known to produce it. At any rate the rapidly expanding electric utility
and communications industry joined with the scientists in totally denying the existence of any effects of
electromagnetic fields on living things.
During the period another area of industry was also rapidly expanding, the manufacture of
chemical drugs. It would seem likely that the biochemical view of life then being promoted by
scientific medicine would be most attractive to these companies and indeed, they actively contributed
to the campaign to discredit the electrotherapeutic techniques. Only within the past few years has it
become possible to raise questions about the Flexner Report. While Flexner himself unquestionably
was motivated by the best of intentions, the initial funding for most of his reports was derived from
somewhat suspect sources.
By 1930 the convergence of powerful forces had brought to a final conclusion the debate that
had begun with Galvani in 1791. Anyone who aspired to a career in the medical or biological sciences
was well advised to hesitate before publicly proposing that electromagnetic forces had any effect on
ELECTROMAGNETISM & LIFE - 18