The Effect of Magnetic Fields on Wound Healing

The Effect of Magnetic Fields on Wound Healing
Experimental Study and Review of the Literature

Steven L. Henry, MD, Matthew J. Concannon, MD, and Gloria J. Yee, MD
Division of Plastic Surgery, University of Missouri Hospital & Clinics, Columbia, MO
Published July 25, 2008

Objective: Magnets are purported to aid wound healing despite a paucity of scientific evidence. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of static magnetic fields on cutaneous wound healing in an animal model. The  literature was reviewed to explore the historical and scientific basis of magnet therapy and to define its current role in the evidence-based practice of plastic surgery. Methods: Standardized wounds were created on the backs of 33 Sprague-Dawley rats, which were divided into 3 groups with either a 23 gauss magnet (group 1), a sham magnet (group 2), or nothing (group 3) positioned over the wound. The rate of wound closure by secondary intention was compared between the groups. Literature review was conducted through searches of PubMed and Ovid databases for articles pertinent to magnets and wound healing. Results: Wounds in the magnet group healed in an average of 15.3 days, significantly faster than those in either the sham group (20.9 days, P = .006) or control group (20.3 days, P < .0001). There was no statistically significant difference between the sham and control groups (P = .45).

Conclusions: An externally applied, low-power, static magnetic field increases the rate of secondary healing. Review of the literature reveals conflicting evidence regarding the use of magnetic energy to aid the healing of bone, tendon, and skin. Level I studies are lacking and difficult to execute but are needed to define conclusively the role of magnets in clinical practice.

Throughout history physicians have sought techniques to facilitate wound healing. From salves and potions to hyperbaric oxygen chambers, the means by which physicians have attempted to manipulate the wound healing process have been innumerable and, despite the claims of their proponents, oftentimes ineffectual.1,2

One popular yet controversial modality is magnet therapy. Particularly in alternative medicine circles, magnets have been touted to promote the wound healing process with claims of decreased pain, accelerated healing time, and increased scar strength. However, these claims have little support in the scientific literature3,4 and the use of magnetic field energy for medical treatment remains limited.

In this study we sought to investigate scientifically the effect of an externally applied, low-power, static magnetic field on the rate of wound healing in a rat model. We also reviewed the literature to explore the historical and scientific basis of magnet therapy and to define its current role in evidence-based medicine as it pertains to plastic surgeons.

METHODS

Standardized wounds were created on the backs of 33 Sprague-Dawley rats. These wounds measured 1.5 × 1.5 cm and were produced under sterile conditions by excising skin, subcutaneous tissue, and panniculus carnosus. After achieving hemostasis, the wounds were covered with an occlusive dressing. The animals were then equally divided into 3 groups. In group 1,a23 gauss magnet measuring 2 × 2 cm was placed over the wound directly on top of the occlusive dressing (Fig 1) (This magnetic strength was chosen to be commensurate with commercially available products marketed for “medical” use). In group 2, a piece of leather of the same dimensions was likewise placed over the wound to serve as a sham magnet. In group 3, nothing was placed on the wound (other than the occlusive dressing).

Figure 1. A 23 gauss magnet measuring 2 × 2 cm was placed over the wound on the back of Sprague-Dawley rats, directly on top of the occlusive dressing.

The wounds were allowed to heal by secondary intention and the time to complete closure was recorded for each animal. The t test was used to compare the mean healing rates of each group.

In the review of the literature, searches of PubMed and Ovid databases were performed. Articles pertaining to magnets and wound healing particularly with regard to bone, skin, and tendon were perused.

RESULTS

The mean time to wound closure in the group treated with magnets was 15.3 ± 2.8 days compared with 20.9 ± 2.5 days for the sham magnet group and 20.3 ± 1.6 days for the  control group (Fig 2). This represents a 27% reduction in healing time relative to the sham group and a 25% reduction relative to the control group. Both comparisons were highly statistically significant (P = .006 vs sham group and P < .0001 vs control group). There was no statistically significant difference between the sham and control groups (P = .45).

Figure 2. Graph comparing the mean time to wound closure in the group treated with magnets to those treated with sham magnets or nothing.

DISCUSSION

The results of this study suggest that exposure to a static magnetic field increases the rate of cutaneous wound healing by secondary intention and provide further testimony to the notion that magnetic fields can influence the physiology of the human body. However, as the following discussion reveals, the precise mechanism and clinical applicability of this effect are still poorly defined.

The earliest reported use of magnetic therapy to aid wound healing dates to the 1600s, when electrically charged gold leaf was applied to smallpox lesions in an attempt to prevent scarring.1 Throughout the following centuries magnetic energy was propounded as a treatment for innumerable ailments and conditions, usually without substantiation of any kind. Today, however, at least 1 application, the promotion of bone healing has garnered strong scientific support and widespread clinical acceptance. The genesis of this application began in the 1950s, when Fukuda and Yasuda in Japan described the piezoelectric effect of bone, in which an electrical potential is produced as a response to mechanical stress.5 Subsequent investigations elucidated the numerous actions of electromagnetic energy on bone including effects on cellular calcium and calcification,6,7 collagen and proteoglycans,8,9 and angiogenesis.10 Clinical investigations proved the benefit of electromagnetic therapy in the treatment of delayed unions,11−14 difficult fractures,15 and osteotomies.16,17 The electrical current and electromagnetic field produced by a bone stimulator is a common application of this concept.

Although there is ample experimental and clinical evidence supporting the use of magnetic fields to aid bone healing, its application for soft tissue healing, including skin and tendons, is still ambiguous. Promising research along these lines was first produced in the 1960s by Becker. Studying amphibians, he described the presence of an electromagnetic skin circuit, alterations which accompanied limb regeneration.18 Borgens et al confirmed that this current is essential for amphibian limb regeneration and that its reversal induces limb degeneration.19,20 In a study involving limb amputations in frogs, a species that does not naturally produce this current and that is normally incapable of limb regeneration, induction of this current stimulated the regeneration of a rudimentary limb that included cartilage, nerve, and skin tissues.20 These skin circuits have been identified in humans and are similar in magnitude to those demonstrated in amphibians.21 Given this fact, it is plausible that external magnetic therapy could influence soft tissue healing in humans as well.

Several laboratory studies support this theory and most implicate a vascular mechanism of action. For example, Tepper et al applied pulsed electromagnetic energy to endothelial cell cultures and demonstrated a marked increase in proliferation and tubulization. They also reported a substantial increase in the expression of fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF-2), a potent stimulator of angiogenesis, and showed that anti-FGF-2 antibodies inhibited the effects of the electromagnetic energy.22 This upregulation of FGF-2 in endothelial cells exposed to pulsed electromagnetic fields was recently confirmed by Callaghan et al.23 Roland et al used pulsed magnetic energy to stimulate neovascularization in a rat model.24 Weber et al demonstrated increased survival of rat groin composite flaps supported by an arterial loop, again showing that pulsed magnetic fields promote neovascularization.25

Less consistent results have been reported in investigations of the direct effect of magnetic energy on cutaneous blood flow. Miura and Okada showed that the arterioles of frogs’ webs dilate in response to pulsed electromagnetic radiation. This effect was shown to be independent of heat and was postulated to involve the modulation of calcium balance in vascular smooth muscle cells.26 Gmitrov et al observed increased blood flow when a static magnetic field of 2500 gauss was applied to rabbit ears,27 whereas Smith et al noted significant arteriolar vasodilatation when pulsed electromagnetic energy was applied to the cremaster muscle of rats.28 However, in a series of studies Ichioka et al demonstrated decreased cutaneous blood flow and temperature in rats exposed to an 8 tesla (80,000 gauss) superconducting magnet,29−31 whereas Mayrovitz and Groseclose found that a 4000 gauss static magnet reduced perfusion in the fingers of human volunteers.32 Several investigators have employed a rat model similar to ours to examine the effect of magnetic fields on cutaneous wound healing, yet have produced conflicting results. Leaper et al studied the effect of 400 gauss magnetic foil (a static field) applied over wounds. They found no influence on wound healing rate, collagen content, or tensile strength.33 Patino et al demonstrated faster healing in wounds treated intermittently with pulsed electromagnetic fields of 200 gauss.34 Similar benefits were found by Callaghan et al in diabetic mice.23 Strauch et al observed accelerated healing and higher tensile strength in rat wounds exposed to pulsed electromagnetic fields.35 On the other hand, Milgram et al found that pulsed magnetic energy did not have a significantly beneficial effect on the rate of wound healing in a rat model.36

The data regarding magnet therapy for tendon healing are even more ambiguous. Greenbough applied pulsed electromagnetic fields to repaired flexor tendons in rabbits and found no benefit in terms of tensile strength or adhesion formation,37 whereas Robotti et al. showed that pulsed electromagnetic fields decrease tensile strength and increase adhesions after tendon repair in chickens.38 These studies are in stark contrast to that of Strauch et al who recently demonstrated a 69% increase in tensile strength in repaired Achilles tendons in rats. They emphasized the importance of using a pulsed magnetic field of low amplitude (0.1 gauss) designed to maximize the effect on calcium ions, which, in theory, enhances the calcium-dependent activation of growth factors.39 Interestingly, our protocol employed a static magnetic field (23 gauss) that was relatively weak compared with those used in many of the aforementioned studies, yet our results indicate a relatively profound effect. Other examples of seemingly contradictory results abound in the literature, many of them presented in this discussion. Most modern investigators believe that pulsed magnetic energy is more effective than static but as seen above both successes and failures have been observed with both modalities. From a practical perspective, the ease of use and affordability of a small static magnet is appealing compared with a relatively cumbersome and expensive pulsed magnetic field generator.

Review of the magnet literature is frustrating not only for the contradictory results of the in vitro and animal studies but also for the lack of well-designed, well-executed clinical trials in humans. Unfortunately, a truly randomized trial, with perfectly matched cohorts, is almost impossible to achieve in the setting of wounds, particularly those involving bone, tendon, and/or skin. Level I evidence regarding the use of magnets, at least as it pertains to plastic surgery, is therefore likely to remain elusive.

CONCLUSION

The application of a low-power, static magnetic field over an excisional wound appears to increase the rate of healing by secondary intention. Review of the literature reveals substantial evidence demonstrating a beneficial effect of magnetic therapy on bone healing but mixed results on tendon and skin healing. Recent laboratory and animal studies point to a vascular, and possibly a calcium-based, mechanism of action. Level I studies are lacking and difficult to execute but are necessary to define conclusively the role of magnets in clinical practice.

REFERENCES

1. Robertson KR. Digby’s receipts. Ann Med Hist. 1925;7:216–9.
2. Carley PJ, Wainapel SF. Electrotherapy for acceleration of wound healing: low intensity direct current. Arch
Phys Med Rehabil. 1985;66:443–6.
3. Szor JK, Topp R. Use of magnet therapy to heal an abdominal wound: a case study. Ostomy Wound Manage.
1998;44:24–9.
4. Man D, Man B, Plosker H. The influence of permanent magnetic field therapy on wound healing in suction
lipectomy patients: a double-blind study. Plast Reconstr Surg. 1999;104:2261–6222.
5. Fukuda E, Yasuda I. On the piezoelectric effect of bone. J Phys Soc Jpn. 1957;10:1158.
6. Bassett CA, Chokshi HR, Hernandez E, et al. The effect of pulsing electromagnetic fields on cellular calcium
and calcification of nonunions. In: Brighton CT, Black J, Pollack SR, eds. Electrical Properties of Bone and
Cartilage: Experimental Effects and Clinical Applications. New York: Grune & Stratton; 1979:427–41.
7. Norton LA, Rovetti LA. Calcium incorporation in cultured chondroblasts perturbed by electromagnetic
field. J Orthop Res. 1988;6:559–66.
397
ePlasty VOLUME 8
8. Norton LA. Pulsed electromagnetic field effects on chondroblast culture. Reconstr Surg Traumatol.
1985;19:70–86.
9. Farndale RW, Murray JC. Pulsed electromagnetic fields promote collagen production in bone marrow
fibroblasts via athermal mechanisms. Calcif Tissue Int. 1985;37:178–82.
10. Yen-Patton GP, Patton WF, Beer DM, Jacobson BS. Endothelial cell response to pulsed electromagnetic
fields: stimulation of growth rate and angiogenesis in vitro. J Cell Physiol. 1988;134:37–46.
11. Bassett CA, Becker RO. Generation of electric potentials by bone in response to mechanical stress. Science.
1962;137:1063–4.
12. Friedenberg ZB, Harlow MC, Brighton CT. Healing of nonunion of the medial malleolus by means of direct
current: a case report. J Trauma. 1971;11:883–5.
13. Bassett CA. Fundamental and practical aspects of therapeutic uses of pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMFs).
Crit Rev Biomed Eng. 1989;17:451–529.
14. Sharrard WJ. A double-blind trial of pulsed electromagnetic fields for delayed union of tibial fractures.
J Bone Joint Surg. 1990;72B:347–55.
15. Linovitz RJ, Pathria M, Bernhardt M, et al. Combined magnetic fields accelerate and increase spine fusion:
a double-blind, randomized, placebo controlled study. Spine. 2002;27:1383–9.
16. Fredericks DC, Nepola JV, Baker JT, Abbott J, Simon B. Effects of pulsed electromagnetic fields on bone
healing in a rabbit tibial osteotomy model. J Orthop Trauma. 2000;14:93–100.
17. Inoue N, Ohnishi I, Chen D, Deitz LW, Schwardt JD, Chao EY. Effects of pulsed electromagnetic fields
(PEMF) on late-phase osteotomy gap healing in a canine tibial model. J Orthop Res. 2002;20:1106–
14.
18. Becker RO. The bioelectric factors in amphibian limb regeneration. J Bone Joint Surg. 1961;43A:643–56.
19. Borgens RB, Vanable, Jr JW, Jaffe LF. Bioelectricity and regeneration: large currents leave the stumps of
regenerating newt limbs. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 1977;74:4528–32.
20. Borgens RB, Vanable Jr JW, Jaffe LF. Bioelectricity and regeneration: initiation of frog limb regeneration
by minute currents. J Exp Zool. 1977;200:403–16.
21. Foulds IS, Barker AT. Human skin battery potentials and their possible role in wound healing. Br J Dermatol.
1983;109:515–22.
22. Tepper OM, Callaghan MJ, Chang EI, et al. Electromagnetic fields increase in vitro and in vivo angiogenesis
through endothelial release of FGF-2. FASEB J. 2004;18:1231–3.
23. Callaghan MJ, Chang EI, Seiser N, et al. Pulsed electromagnetic fields accelerate normal and diabetic wound
healing by increasing endogenous FGF-2 release. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2008;121:130–41.
24. Roland D, Ferder M, Kothuru R, Faierman T, Strauch B. Effects of pulsed magnetic energy on a microsurgically
transferred vessel. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2000;105:1371–4.
25. Weber RV, Navarro A, Wu JK, Yu HL, Strauch B. Pulsed magnetic fields applied to a transferred arterial
loop support the rat groin composite flap. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2004;114:1185–9.
26. Miura M, Okada J. Non-thermal vasodilatation by radiofrequency burst-type electromagnetic field radiation
in the frog. J Physiol. 1991;435:257–73.
27. Gmitrov J, Ohkubo C, Okano H. Effect of 0.25 T static magnetic field on microcirculation in rabbits.
Bioelectromagnetics. 2002;23:224–9.
28. Smith TL, Wong-Gibbons D, Maultsby J. Microcirculatory effects of pulsed electromagnetic fields. J Orthop
Res. 2004;22:80–4.
29. Ichioka S, Iwasaka M, Shibata M, Harii K, Kamiya A, Ueno S. Biological effects of static magnetic fields
on the microcirculatory blood flow in vivo: a preliminary report. Med Biol Eng Comput. 1998;36:91–5.
30. Ichioka S, Minegishi M, Iwasaka M, et al. High-intensity static magnetic fields modulate skin microcirculation
and temperature in vivo. Bioelectromagnetics. 2000;21:183–8.
31. Ichioka S, Minegishi M, Iwasaka M, et al. Skin temperature changes induced by strong static magnetic field
exposure. Bioelectromagnetics. 2003;24:380–6.
32. Mayrovitz HN, Groseclose EE. Effects of static magnetic field of either polarity on skin microcirculation.
Microvasc Res. 2005;69:24–7.
33. Leaper DJ, Foster ME, Brennan SS, Davies PW. An experimental study of the influence of magnetic fields
on soft-tissue wound healing. J Trauma. 1985;25:1083–4.
34. Patino O, Grana D, Bolgiani A, et al. Pulsed electromagnetic fields in experimental cutaneous wound healing
in rats. J Burn Care Rehabil. 1996;17:528–31.
35. Strauch B, Patel MK, Navarro JA, Berdichevsky M, Yu HL, Pilla AA. Pulsed magnetic fields accelerate
cutaneous wound healing in rats. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2007;120:425–30.
36. Milgram J, Shahar R, Levin-Harrus T, Kass P. The effect of short, high intensity magnetic field pulses on
the healing of skin wounds in rats. Bioelectomagnetics. 2004;25:271–7.
37. Greenough CG. The effect of pulsed electromagnetic fields on flexor tendon healing in the rabbit. J Hand
Surg. 1996;21A:808–12.
38. Robotti E, Zimbler AG, Kenna D, Grossman JA. The effect of pulsed electromagnetic fields on flexor tendon
healing in chickens. J Hand Surg. 1999;24B:56–8.
39. Strauch B, Patel M, Rosen D, Mahadevia S, Brindzei N, Pilla A. Pulsed magnetic field therapy increases
tensile strength in a rat Achilles’ tendon repair model. J Hand Surg. 2006;31A:1131–5.

Home

Top of Pg.

Highlander Bible

Blunderbuss Mai Tai Recipe

Blackbeard’s Jolly Roger

If you’re looking for that most refreshing of summertime beverages for sipping out on the back patio or perhaps as a last drink before walking the plank, let me recommend my Blunderbuss Mai Tai. I picked up the basics to this recipe over thirty years ago when holed up [...] Read more →

Beef Jerky

BEEF JERKY

Preparation.

Slice 5 pounds lean beef (flank steak or similar cut) into strips 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick, 1 to 2 inches wide, and 4 to 12 inches long. Cut with grain of meat; remove the fat. Lay out in a single layer on a smooth clean surface (use [...] Read more →

Gold and Economic Freedom

by Alan Greenspan, 1967

An almost hysterical antagonism toward the gold standard is one issue which unites statists of all persuasions. They seem to sense-perhaps more clearly and subtly than many consistent defenders of laissez-faire — that gold and economic freedom are inseparable, that the gold standard is an instrument [...] Read more →

The Shirk – An Old but Familiar Phenomena

STORE MANAGEMENT—THE SHIRK.

THE shirk is a well-known specimen of the genus homo. His habitat is offices, stores, business establishments of all kinds. His habits are familiar to us, but a few words on the subject will not be amiss. The shirk usually displays activity when the boss is around, [...] Read more →

Cup of Tea? To be or not to be

Twinings London – photo by Elisa.rolle

Is the tea in your cup genuine?

The fact is, had one been living in the early 19th Century, one might occasionally encounter a counterfeit cup of tea. Food adulterations to include added poisonings and suspect substitutions were a common problem in Europe at [...] Read more →

Bess of Hardwick: Four Times a Lady

Bess of Harwick

Four times the nuptial bed she warm’d, And every time so well perform’d, That when death spoil’d each husband’s billing, He left the widow every shilling. Fond was the dame, but not dejected; Five stately mansions she erected With more than royal pomp, to vary The prison of her captive When [...] Read more →

Arsenic and Old Lace

What is follows is an historical article that appeared in The Hartford Courant in 1916 about the arsenic murders carried out by Mrs. Archer-Gilligan. This story is the basis for the 1944 Hollywood film “Arsenic and Old Lace” starring Cary Grant and Priscilla Lane and directed by Frank Capra. The [...] Read more →

Country House Christmas Pudding

Country House Christmas Pudding

Ingredients

1 cup Christian Bros Brandy ½ cup Myer’s Dark Rum ½ cup Jim Beam Whiskey 1 cup currants 1 cup sultana raisins 1 cup pitted prunes finely chopped 1 med. apple peeled and grated ½ cup chopped dried apricots ½ cup candied orange peel finely chopped 1 ¼ cup [...] Read more →

The Age of Chivalry

KING ARTHUR AND HIS KNIGHTS

On the decline of the Roman power, about five centuries after Christ, the countries of Northern Europe were left almost destitute of a national government. Numerous chiefs, more or less powerful, held local sway, as far as each could enforce his dominion, and occasionally those [...] Read more →

Fortune, Independence, and Competence

THE answer to the question, What is fortune has never been, and probably never will be, satisfactorily made. What may be a fortune for one bears but small proportion to the colossal possessions of another. The scores or hundreds of thousands admired and envied as a fortune in most of our communities [...] Read more →

The First Christian Man Cremated in America

Laurens’ portrait as painted during his time spent imprisoned in the Tower of London, where he was kept for over a year after being captured at sea while serving as the United States minister to the Netherlands during the Revolutionary War.

The first Christian white man to be cremated in America was [...] Read more →

The Hoochie Coochie Hex

From Dr. Marvel’s 1929 book entitled Hoodoo for the Common Man, we find his infamous Hoochie Coochie Hex.

What follows is a verbatim transcription of the text:

The Hoochie Coochie Hex should not be used in conjunction with any other Hexes. This can lead to [...] Read more →

A Few Wine Recipes

EIGHTEEN GALLONS is here give as a STANDARD for all the following Recipes, it being the most convenient size cask to Families. See A General Process for Making Wine

If, however, only half the quantity of Wine is to be made, it is but to divide the portions of [...] Read more →

Audubon’s Art Method and Techniques

Audubon started to develop a special technique for drawing birds in 1806 a Mill Grove, Pennsylvania. He perfected it during the long river trip from Cincinnati to New Orleans and in New Orleans, 1821.

Home Top of [...] Read more →

The Human Seasons

John Keats

Four Seasons fill the measure of the year; There are four seasons in the mind of man: He has his lusty spring, when fancy clear Takes in all beauty with an easy span; He has his Summer, when luxuriously Spring’s honied cud of youthful thoughts he loves To ruminate, and by such [...] Read more →

Target Practice

Nov. 12, 1898 Forest and Stream Pg. 396

The Veterans to the Front.

Ironton. O., Oct. 28.—Editor Forest and Stream: I mail you a target made here today by Messrs. E. Lawton, G. Rogers and R. S. Dupuy. Mr. Dupuy is seventy-four years old, Mr. Lawton seventy-two. Mr. Rogers [...] Read more →

Valentine Poetry from the Cotswold Explorer

 

There is nothing more delightful than a great poetry reading to warm ones heart on a cold winter night fireside. Today is one of the coldest Valentine’s days on record, thus, nothing could be better than listening to the resonant voice of Robin Shuckbrugh, The Cotswold [...] Read more →

What is the Meaning of the Term Thorough-bred Fox-hound

Reprint from the Sportsman Cabinet and Town & Country Magazine, Vol.1, Number 1, November 1832.

MR. Editor,

Will you allow me to inquire, through the medium of your pages, the correct meaning of the term thorough-bred fox-hound? I am very well aware, that the expression is in common [...] Read more →

Sir Joshua Reynolds – Notes from Rome

“The Leda, in the Colonna palace, by Correggio, is dead-coloured white and black, with ultramarine in the shadow ; and over that is scumbled, thinly and smooth, a warmer tint,—I believe caput mortuum. The lights are mellow ; the shadows blueish, but mellow. The picture is painted on panel, in [...] Read more →

Chantry Chapels

William Wyggeston’s chantry house, built around 1511, in Leicester: The building housed two priests, who served at a chantry chapel in the nearby St Mary de Castro church. It was sold as a private dwelling after the dissolution of the chantries.

A Privately Built Chapel

Chantry, chapel, generally within [...] Read more →

Clairvoyance – Methods of Development

CLAIRVOYANCE

by C. W. Leadbeater

Adyar, Madras, India: Theosophical Pub. House

[1899]

CHAPTER IX – METHODS OF DEVELOPMENT

When a men becomes convinced of the reality of the valuable power of clairvoyance, his first question usually is, “How can [...] Read more →

David Starkey: Britain’s Last Great Historian

Dr. David Starkey, the UK’s premiere historian, speaks to the modern and fleeting notion of “cancel culture”. Starkey’s brilliance is unparalleled and it has become quite obvious to the world’s remaining Western scholars willing to stand on intellectual integrity that a few so-called “Woke Intellectuals” most certainly cannot undermine [...] Read more →

Why Beauty Matters

Roger Scruton by Peter Helm

This is one of those videos that the so-called intellectual left would rather not be seen by the general public as it makes a laughing stock of the idiots running the artworld, a multi-billion dollar business.

https://archive.org/details/why-beauty-matters-roger-scruton

or Click here to watch

[...] Read more →

Painting Plaster Work and the History of Terra Cotta

The 1896 Victorian terracotta Bell Edison Telephone Building – 17 & 19 Newhall Street, Birmingham, England. A grade I listed building designed by Frederick Martin of the firm Martin & Chamberlain. Now offices for firms of architects. Photographed 10 May 2006 by Oosoom

[Reprint from Victoria and Albert Museum included below on [...] Read more →

Curing Diabetes With an Old Malaria Formula

For years in the West African nation of Ghana medicine men have used a root and leaves from a plant called nibima(Cryptolepis sanguinolenta) to kill the Plasmodium parasite transmitted through a female mosquito’s bite that is the root cause of malaria. A thousand miles away in India, a similar(same) plant [...] Read more →

Herbal Psychedelics – Rhododendron ponticum and Mad Honey Disease

Toxicity of Rhododendron From Countrysideinfo.co.UK

“Potentially toxic chemicals, particularly ‘free’ phenols, and diterpenes, occur in significant quantities in the tissues of plants of Rhododendron species. Diterpenes, known as grayanotoxins, occur in the leaves, flowers and nectar of Rhododendrons. These differ from species to species. Not all species produce them, although Rhododendron ponticum [...] Read more →

Commercial Tuna Salad Recipe

Tom Oates, aka Nabokov at en.wikipedia

No two commercial tuna salads are prepared by exactly the same formula, but they do not show the wide variety characteristic of herring salad. The recipe given here is typical. It is offered, however, only as a guide. The same recipe with minor variations to suit [...] Read more →

Protecting Rare Books: How to Build a Silverfish Trap

Silverfish damage to book – photo by Micha L. Rieser

The beauty of hunting silverfish is that they are not the most clever of creatures in the insect kingdom.

Simply take a small clean glass jar and wrap it in masking tape. The masking tape gives the silverfish something to [...] Read more →

Watch Fraud on eBay

EBAY’S FRAUD PROBLEM IS GETTING WORSE

EBay has had a problem with fraudulent sellers since its inception back in 1995. Some aspects of the platform have improved with algorithms and automation, but others such as customer service and fraud have gotten worse. Small sellers have definitely been hurt by eBay’s [...] Read more →

King Arthur Legends, Myths, and Maidens

King Arthur, Legends, Myths & Maidens is a massive book of Arthurian legends. This limited edition paperback was just released on Barnes and Noble at a price of $139.00. Although is may seem a bit on the high side, it may prove to be well worth its price as there are only [...] Read more →

CIA 1950s Unevaluated UFO Intelligence

 

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY

INROMATION FROM FOREIGN DOCUMENT OR RADIO BROADCASTS COUNTRY: Non-Orbit SUBJECT: Military – Air – Scientific – Aeronautics HOW PUBLISHED: Newspapers WHERE PUBLISHED: As indicated DATE PUBLISHED: 12 Dec 1953 – 12 Jan 1954 LANGUAGE: Various SOURCE: As indicated REPORT NO. 00-W-30357 DATE OF INFORMATION: 1953-1954 DATE DIST. 27 [...] Read more →

Of Decorated Furniture

DECORATED or “sumptuous” furniture is not merely furniture that is expensive to buy, but that which has been elaborated with much thought, knowledge, and skill. Such furniture cannot be cheap, certainly, but the real cost of it is sometimes borne by the artist who produces rather than by the man who may [...] Read more →

King Lear

Edwin Austin Abbey. King Lear, Act I, Scene I (Cordelia’s Farewell) The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Dates: 1897-1898 Dimensions: Height: 137.8 cm (54.25 in.), Width: 323.2 cm (127.24 in.) Medium: Painting – oil on canvas

Home Top of Pg. Read more →

Fly Casting Instructions

It is a pity that the traditions and literature in praise of fly fishing have unconsciously hampered instead of expanded this graceful, effective sport. Many a sportsman has been anxious to share its joys, but appalled by the rapture of expression in describing its countless thrills and niceties he has been literally [...] Read more →

Mortlake Tapestries of Chatsworth

Mortlake Tapestries at Chatsworth House

Click here to learn more about the Mortlake Tapestries of Chatsworth

The Mortlake Tapestries were founded by Sir Francis Crane.

From the Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 13

Crane, Francis by William Prideaux Courtney

CRANE, Sir FRANCIS (d. [...] Read more →

Wine Making

Wine Making

Grapes are the world’s leading fruit crop and the eighth most important food crop in the world, exceeded only by the principal cereals and starchytubers. Though substantial quantities are used for fresh fruit, raisins, juice and preserves, most of the world’s annual production of about 60 million [...] Read more →

What’s the Matter?

A rhetorical question? Genuine concern?

In this essay we are examining another form of matter otherwise known as national literary matters, the three most important of which being the Matter of Rome, Matter of France, and the Matter of England.

Our focus shall be on the Matter of England or [...] Read more →

How to Distinguish Fishes

 

Sept. 3, 1898. Forest and Stream Pg. 188-189

How to Distinguish Fishes.

BY FRED MATHER. The average angler knows by sight all the fish which he captures, but ask him to describe one and he is puzzled, and will get off on the color of the fish, which is [...] Read more →

The Kalmar War

Wojna Kalmarska – 1611

The Kalmar War

From The Historian’s History of the World (In 25 Volumes) by Henry Smith William L.L.D. – Vol. XVI.(Scandinavia) Pg. 308-310

The northern part of the Scandinavian peninsula, as already noticed, had been peopled from the remotest times by nomadic tribes called Finns or Cwenas by [...] Read more →

The First Pineapple Grown in England

First Pineapple Grown in England

Click here to read an excellent article on the history of pineapple growing in the UK.

Should one be interested in serious mass scale production, click here for scientific resources.

Growing pineapples in the UK.

The video below demonstrates how to grow pineapples in Florida.

[...] Read more →

Chinese Duck Cooking – A Few Recipes

Chen Lin, Water fowl, in Cahill, James. Ge jiang shan se (Hills Beyond a River: Chinese Painting of the Yuan Dynasty, 1279-1368, Taiwan edition). Taipei: Shitou chubanshe fen youxian gongsi, 1994. pl. 4:13, p. 180. Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei. scroll, light colors on paper, 35.7 x 47.5 cm

 

A General Process for Making Wine

A General Process for Making Wine.

Gathering the Fruit Picking the Fruit Bruising the Fruit Vatting the Fruit Vinous Fermentation Drawing the Must Pressing the Must Casking the Must Spirituous Fermentation Racking the Wine Bottling and Corking the Wine Drinking the Wine

GATHERING THE FRUIT.

It is of considerable consequence [...] Read more →

Some Notes on American Ship Worms

July 9, 1898. Forest and Stream Pg. 25

Some Notes on American Ship-Worms.

[Read before the American Fishes Congress at Tampa.]

While we wish to preserve and protect most of the products of our waters, these creatures we would gladly obliterate from the realm of living things. For [...] Read more →

The Snipe

THE SNIPE, from the Shooter’s Guide by B. Thomas – 1811

AFTER having given a particular description of the woodcock, it will only. be necessary to observe, that the plumage and shape of the snipe is much the same ; and indeed its habits and manners sets bear a great [...] Read more →

Banana Propagation

Banana Propagation

Reprinted from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA.org)

The traditional means of obtaining banana planting material (“seed”) is to acquire suckers from one’s own banana garden, from a neighbor, or from a more distant source. This method served to spread common varieties around the world and to multiply them [...] Read more →

History of the Cabildo in New Orleans

Cabildo circa 1936

The Cabildo houses a rare copy of Audubon’s Bird’s of America, a book now valued at $10 million+.

Should one desire to visit the Cabildo, click here to gain free entry with a lowcost New Orleans Pass.

Home Top of [...] Read more →

Looking for a Gift for the Book Collector in the Family?

Buying a book for a serious collector with refined tastes can be a daunting task.

However, there is one company that publishes some of the finest reproduction books in the world, books that most collectors wouldn’t mind having in their collection no matter their general preference or specialty.

U.S. Coast Guard Radio Information for Boaters

VHF Marifoon Sailor RT144, by S.J. de Waard

RADIO INFORMATION FOR BOATERS

Effective 01 August, 2013, the U. S. Coast Guard terminated its radio guard of the international voice distress, safety and calling frequency 2182 kHz and the international digital selective calling (DSC) distress and safety frequency 2187.5 kHz. Additionally, [...] Read more →

English Fig Wine

Take the large blue figs when pretty ripe, and steep them in white wine, having made some slits in them, that they may swell and gather in the substance of the wine.

Then slice some other figs and let them simmer over a fire in water until they are reduced [...] Read more →

JP Morgan’s Digital Currency Patent Application

J.P. Morgan Patent #8,452,703

Method and system for processing internet payments using the electronic funds transfer network.

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention include a method and system for conducting financial transactions over a payment network. The method may include associating a payment address of an account [...] Read more →

Harry Houdini Investigates the Spirit World

The magician delighted in exposing spiritualists as con men and frauds.

By EDMUND WILSON June 24, 1925

Houdini is a short strong stocky man with small feet and a very large head. Seen from the stage, his figure, with its short legs and its pugilist’s proportions, is less impressive than at close [...] Read more →

Money Saving Recipe for Gold Leaf Sizing

Artisans world-wide spend a fortune on commercial brand oil-based gold leaf sizing. The most popular brands include Luco, Dux, and L.A. Gold Leaf. Pricing for quart size containers range from $35 to $55 depending upon retailer pricing.

Fast drying sizing sets up in 2-4 hours depending upon environmental conditions, humidity [...] Read more →

The Perfect Salad Dressing

The following recipes are from a small booklet entitled 500 Delicious Salads that was published for the Culinary Arts Institute in 1940 by Consolidated Book Publishers, Inc. 153 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill.

If you have been looking for a way to lighten up your salads and be free of [...] Read more →

Antibiotic Properties of Jungle Soil

If ever it could be said that there is such a thing as miracle healing soil, Ivan Sanderson said it best in his 1965 book entitled Ivan Sanderson’s Book of Great Jungles.

Sanderson grew up with a natural inclination towards adventure and learning. He hailed from Scotland but spent much [...] Read more →

The Standard Navy Cutter and a Whale Boat Design

Dec. 24, 1898 Forest and Stream Pg. 513-514

The Standard Navy Boats.

Above we find,

The accompanying illustrations show further details of the standard navy boats, the lines of which appeared last week. In all of these boats, as stated previously, the quality of speed has been given [...] Read more →

Producing and Harvesting Tobacco Seed

THE FIRST step in producing a satisfactory crop of tobacco is to use good seed that is true to type. The grower often can save his own seed to advantage, if he wants to.

Before topping is done, he should go over the tobacco field carefully to pick [...] Read more →

Stoke Park – Granted by King Charles I

Stoke Park Pavillions

 

Stoke Park Pavilions, UK, view from A405 Road. photo by Wikipedia user Cj1340

 

From Wikipedia:

Stoke Park – the original house

Stoke park was the first English country house to display a Palladian plan: a central house with balancing pavilions linked by colonnades or [...] Read more →

Glimpses from the Chase

From Fores’s Sporting Notes and Sketches, A Quarterly Magazine Descriptive of British, Indian, Colonial, and Foreign Sport with Thirty Two Full Page Illustrations Volume 10 1893, London; Mssrs. Fores Piccadilly W. 1893, All Rights Reserved.

GLIMPSES OF THE CHASE, Ireland a Hundred Years Ago. By ‘Triviator.’

FOX-HUNTING has, like Racing, [...] Read more →

Country Cabbage and Pea Soup

Add the following ingredients to a four or six quart crock pot, salt & pepper to taste keeping in mind that salt pork is just that, cover with water and cook on high till it boils, then cut back to low for four or five hours. A slow cooker works well, I [...] Read more →

British Craftsmanship is Alive and Well

The Queen Elizabeth Trust, or QEST, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of British craftsmanship through the funding of scholarships and educational endeavours to include apprenticeships, trade schools, and traditional university classwork. The work of QEST is instrumental in keeping alive age old arts and crafts such as masonry, glassblowing, shoemaking, [...] Read more →

Clairvoyance and Occult Powers

Vishnu as the Cosmic Man (Vishvarupa) Opaque watercolour on paper – Jaipur, Rajasthan c. 1800-50

 

CLAIRVOYANCE AND OCCULT POWERS

By Swami Panchadasi

Copyright, 1916

By Advanced Thought Pub. Co. Chicago, Il

INTRODUCTION.

In preparing this series of lessons for students of [...] Read more →

Furniture Polishing Cream

Furniture Polishing Cream.

Animal oil soap…………………….1 onuce Solution of potassium hydroxide…. .5 ounces Beeswax……………………………1 pound Oil of turpentine…………………..3 pints Water, enough to make……………..5 pints

Dissolve the soap in the lye with the aid of heat; add this solution all at once to the warm solution of the wax in the oil. Beat [...] Read more →

Traditional JuJutsu Health, Strength and Combat Tricks

Jujitsu training 1920 in Japanese agricultural school.

CHAPTER V

THE VALUE OF EVEN TEMPER IN ATHLETICS—SOME OF THE FEATS THAT REQUIRE GOOD NATURE

In the writer’s opinion it becomes necessary to make at this point some suggestions relative to a very important part of the training in jiu-jitsu. [...] Read more →

A Survey of Palestine – 1945-1946

This massive volume gives one a real visual sense of what it was like running a highly efficient colonial operation in the early 20rh Century. It will also go a long way to help anyone wishing to understand modern political intrigue in the Middle-East.

Click here to read A Survey of Palestine [...] Read more →

Something about Caius College, Cambridge

Gate of Honour, Caius Court, Gonville & Caius

Gonville & Caius College, known as Caius and pronounced keys was founded in 1348 by Edmund Gonville, the Rector of Terrington St Clement in Norfolk. The first name was thus Goville Hall and it was dedicated to the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. [...] Read more →

List of the 60 Franklin Library Signed Limited Editions

The following highly collectible Franklin Library Signed Editions were published between 1977 and 1982. They are all fully leather bound with beautiful covers and contain gorgeous and rich silk moire endpapers. Signatures are protected by unattached tissue inserts.

The values listed are average prices that were sought by [...] Read more →

Mocking Bird Food

Mocking Bird Food.

Hemp seed……….2 pounds Rape seed………. .1 pound Crackers………….1 pound Rice…………….1/4 pound Corn meal………1/4 pound Lard oil…………1/4 pound

 

Home Top of Pg. Read more →

Books of Use to the International Art Collector

Hebborn Piranesi

Before meeting with an untimely death at the hand of an unknown assassin in Rome on January 11th, 1996, master forger Eric Hebborn put down on paper a wealth of knowledge about the art of forgery. In a book published posthumously in 1997, titled The Art Forger’s Handbook, Hebborn suggests [...] Read more →

Snipe Shooting

Snipe shooting-Epistle on snipe shooting, from Ned Copper Cap, Esq., to George Trigger-George Trigger’s reply to Ned Copper Cap-Black partridge.

——

“Si sine amore jocisque Nil est jucundum, vivas in &more jooisque.” -Horace. “If nothing appears to you delightful without love and sports, then live in sporta and [...] Read more →

A Crock of Squirrel

A CROCK OF SQUIRREL

4 young squirrels – quartered Salt & Pepper 1 large bunch of fresh coriander 2 large cloves of garlic 2 tbsp. salted sweet cream cow butter ¼ cup of brandy 1 tbsp. turbinado sugar 6 fresh apricots 4 strips of bacon 1 large package of Monterrey [...] Read more →

Salmon Caviar

Salmon and Sturgeon Caviar – Photo by Thor

Salmon caviar was originated about 1910 by a fisherman in the Maritime Provinces of Siberia, and the preparation is a modification of the sturgeon caviar method (Cobb 1919). Salomon caviar has found a good market in the U.S.S.R. and other European countries where it [...] Read more →

A Summer Memory

 

Here, where these low lush meadows lie, We wandered in the summer weather, When earth and air and arching sky, Blazed grandly, goldenly together.

And oft, in that same summertime, We sought and roamed these self-same meadows, When evening brought the curfew chime, And peopled field and fold with shadows.

I mind me [...] Read more →

Naval Stores – Distilling Turpentine

Chipping a Turpentine Tree

DISTILLING TURPENTINE One of the Most Important Industries of the State of Georgia Injuring the Magnificent Trees Spirits, Resin, Tar, Pitch, and Crude Turpentine all from the Long Leaved Pine – “Naval Stores” So Called.

Dublin, Ga., May 8. – One of the most important industries [...] Read more →

The First Greek Book by John Williams White

Click here to read The First Greek Book by John Williams White

The First Greek Book - 15.7MB

IN MEMORIAM

JOHN WILLIAMS WHITE

The death, on May 9, of John Williams White, professor of Greek in Harvard University, touches a large number of classical [...] Read more →

The Character of a Happy Life

How happy is he born and taught. That serveth not another’s will; Whose armour is his honest thought, And simple truth his utmost skill

Whose passions not his masters are; Whose soul is still prepared for death, Untied unto the world by care Of public fame or private breath;

Who envies none that chance [...] Read more →

Texas Tarpon

Early Texas photo of Tarpon catch – Not necessarily the one mentioned below…

July 2, 1898. Forest and Stream Pg.10

Texas Tarpon.

Tarpon, Texas.—Mr. W. B. Leach, of Palestine, Texas, caught at Aransas Pass Islet, on June 14, the largest tarpon on record here taken with rod and reel. The [...] Read more →

The Field of the Cloth of Gold

Reprint from the Royal Collection Trust Website

The meeting between Henry VIII and Francis I, known as the Field of the Cloth of Gold, took place between 7 to 24 June 1520 in a valley subsequently called the Val d’Or, near Guisnes to the south of Calais. The [...] Read more →

Palermo Wine

Take to every quart of water one pound of Malaga raisins, rub and cut the raisins small, and put them to the water, and let them stand ten days, stirring once or twice a day. You may boil the water an hour before you put it to the raisins, and let it [...] Read more →

Guaranteed 6% Dividend for Life. Any takers?

Any prudent investor would jump at the chance to receive a guaranteed 6% dividend for life. So how does one get in on this action?

The fact of the matter is…YOU can’t…That is unless you are a shareholder of one of the twelve Federal Reserve Banks and the banks under [...] Read more →

The Billesden Coplow Run

*note – Billesdon and Billesden have both been used to name the hunt.

BILLESDEN COPLOW POEM

[From “Reminiscences of the late Thomas Assheton Smith, Esq”]

The run celebrated in the following verses took place on the 24th of February, 1800, when Mr. Meynell hunted Leicestershire, and has since been [...] Read more →

Fresh Water Angling – The Two Crappies

 

July 2, 1898 Forest and Stream,

Fresh-Water Angling. No. IX.—The Two Crappies. BY FRED MATHER.

Fishing In Tree Tops.

Here a short rod, say 8ft., is long enough, and the line should not be much longer than the rod. A reel is not [...] Read more →

Slaughter in Bombay

From Allen’s Indian Mail, December 3rd, 1851

BOMBAY. MUSULMAN FANATICISM.

On the evening of November 15th, the little village of Mahim was the scene of a murder, perhaps the most determined which has ever stained the annals of Bombay. Three men were massacred in cold blood, in a house used [...] Read more →

Proper Wines to Serve with Food

Foie gras with Sauternes, Photo by Laurent Espitallier

As an Appetizer

Pale dry Sherry, with or without bitters, chilled or not. Plain or mixed Vermouth, with or without bitters. A dry cocktail.

With Oysters, Clams or Caviar

A dry flinty wine such as Chablis, Moselle, Champagne. Home Top of [...] Read more →

Thomas Jefferson Correspondence – On Seed Saving and Sharing

The following are transcripts of two letters written by the Founding Father Thomas Jefferson on the subject of seed saving.

“November 27, 1818. Monticello. Thomas Jefferson to Henry E. Watkins, transmitting succory seed and outlining the culture of succory.” [Transcript] Thomas Jefferson Correspondence Collection Collection 89