Historical Perspective Manuel R. Mourino, PhD From Thales to Lauterbur, or From the Lodestone to MR Imaging: Magnetism and Medicine’ then, from the heart of one of those stone-a magnetic oxide of iron: tween the [lodejstone and the iron. new lights,/there came a voice that Fe304). This, legend has it, is how the When this space is emptied and a drew me to itself,/(I was the needle inhabitants of the foothills of Mount large tract in the middle is left void, pointing to the star) [DANTE, The Ida, consecrated to the Mother of the then atoms of the iron . slide and Divine Comedy, Vol III: Paradise, xii, Gods (Ida), came to be the first to dis- tumble into the vacuum . the 28-301 cover and work iron and why, in the [whole mass] itself follows . the air ancient world, Magnesia ad Sipylum situated at the back of the [whole (home of the Magnetes) was a source mass] pushes and shoves it forward EOPLE have been aware of magne- P from behind.” Why are some materi- tism from the earliest times. of magnets (‘ Ma’yvfrrLff XCOoa [mag- Their attempts to understand, and netis lithos], meaning the Magnesian als immune from the lodestone’s ef- stone) or lodestones (lead stones- fects? “Some are held fast by their explain, this phenomenon have en- gendered and/or abetted religious stones that point the way). weight . gold. Others cannot be For over 2,000 years the ability of moved anywhere, because their loose persecution, a proof that the earth is lodestones to attract iron filings and texture [due to the large air spaces round, elixirs of life, cures for epi- lepsy, devices to explore the earth the ability of amber rods when between the atoms that form them] and navigate its seas, the French Rev- rubbed with fur to attract small pieces allows the effluence [emanation of olution, and an instrument that can of paper, foil, and other lightweight atoms from the lodestone] to pass generate three-dimensional views of objects were considered manifesta- through intact . wood.” the internal organs of living creatures. tions of the same phenomenon. The The “stream of atoms” from the lodestone was put to artistic use in Quite often, those searchers were mechanisms of magnetism and elec- trostatics were considered to be con- Egypt in one of the most grandiose physicians.. and other odd charac- building projects ever. Deinokrates ters. substantial. The consequences of this have reverberated throughout his- The record of the discovery in the (ca ?-278 iic)-the Macedonian or, Western world of the first magnetic tory. possibly, Rhodian architect to Alex- What is the nature of the lodestone ander the Great (356-323 BC)-is cred- substance-a poem by Nicander of according to the early Greeks and Ro- ited by Pliny the Elder in Historiae Colophon (2nd century BC)-is mans? The answer is in De Rerum Nat- known from a footnote in Historiae Naturalis XXX VII with designing for the Pharaoh of Egypt Ptolemy 11(309- Naturalis XXXVII, the 37-volume ura (On the nature of things), the only work of the Roman naturalist Pliny surviving work of the Roman poet 247 BC), the Arsinoeon, a temple in Titus Lucretius Cams (96-55 BC); the honor of his full sister/second wife/ the Elder (23-79 AD). Circa 1000 BC, the theme is the atomistic theory formed sister-in-law/stepmother-to-his-first- shepherd Magnes, the eponymous progenitor of the Magnetes (Magne- by the Greek philosophers Leukippos wife Arsinoe II Philadelphos (ca 316- (ca 500 BC), Demokritos (460-370 BC), 270 BC. In it, her iron cult statue was sians), was walking on Mount Ida in and Epicurus (341-270 BC). Within to be levitated by means of a vault of the Troad in Mysia (now Turkey). that theory, the atomus (Latin for the lodestone (she did, after all, love Suddenly, he was strongly drawn to [4i.Xo, phileo] her brother [#{226}8#{128}X4xSa, the earth by the tacks in his sandals. Greek, a [not] + temon [cut])-the uncuttable, innumerable, indivisible, adelphos] well). According to Pliny, He dug to ascertain the cause and dis- ever-moving unit of matter-was the Deinokrate’s death put a halt to that covered magnetite (the mineral lode- ultimate constituent of the world. In phase of the project. His demise may De Rerum Natura, Lucretius states that have been opportune. It is highly im- Index terms: Magnetic resonance (MR) #{149}Ra- “if you think atoms can stop their probable (in fact, inconceivable) that diology and radiologists, history course, refrain from movement, and naturally occurring lodestone could by cessation cause new kinds of mo- be arranged in the form of a vault to Radiology 1991; 180:593-612 tion, you are far astray indeed. Since accomplish this architect’s vision. there is void through which they Who knows how Ptolemy II would move, all fundamental motes must be have reacted to Deinokrate’s failure? From the Department of Radiology, New impelled, either by their own weight The Arsinoeon was not the first of York University Medical Center, 560 First Aye, or by some force outside them.” Thus, Deinokrate’s building projects that New York, NY 10016. Received January 11, 1991; for a lodestone to attract iron it must revision requested February 22; revision re- “emit a dense stream or emanation of ceived April 1; accepted May 13. Address re- print requests to the author. atoms, which dispels by a process of Abbreviations:NMR = nuclear magnetic reso- #{176}RSNA,1991 bombardment all the air that lies be- nance, RF = radio frequency. IIUHi IIU 593 8CCE was associated with, or marred by, AD, Greek physicians were prescribing death. He created the plan for the amber pills to stop hemorrhages, and foundation of the city in which Alex- the priests of Samothrace were selling ander would eventually be en- magnetic rings as a cure for arthritis. tombed-Alexandria (332 BC). The Many more medical cures based on hecatomb, or funeral pyre, that he these two materials were to follow, constructed in Babylon for Hephaes- but first, lodestones had to be put to tion (ca 356-324 BC, Alexander’s lover) the service of the True Faith. has itself become legend. His program Saint Augustine (354-430), the great to transform Mount Athos in the philosopher of the early Christian Chalcidice Peninsula in northeastern church, included a factual summary Greece into a colossal statue of Alex- of the early knowledge of electrostat- ander (height, 6,670 feet [2,032 m]), ics and magnetism in his magnum holding in one hand a city and in the opus De Civitate Dei (The city of God), other a goblet from which the moun- which he finished writing in 428. In it, tam streams might flow into the sea, he says that his “observation . [that] was halted (only!) by Alexander’s . the magnet, which by its mysteri- death. ous and sensible suction attracts the The Greeks and the Romans sensed iron . has no effect on straw,” puz- that lodestones could be put to practi- zled him greatly and led him to the cal use. They also knew that they conclusion that “if such common phe- could be dangerous. The Alexandrian nomena be inexplicable . why astronomer Ptolemy (2nd century) should it be demanded of man that he writes in Geography: “And there are explain miracles by human reason?” reported to be as well ten more is- Given that the book De Civitate Dei lands in a row, called the Manoliai was one of the fundamental theologi- [that is to say, beyond the island of cal works of the early Christian Figure 1. A page from Peregrinus’ treatise Iabadiou, which is generally taken to church, it has been argued that mag- on magnetism. It contains the first drawing and description of the compass in the West- be Sumatra or Java, or perhaps Malay netic phenomena were one of the rea- em world. The compass points, Septemtri- mistaken for an island], amid which sons empirical scientific research was ones, Meridiens, Oriens, and Occidens, refer, they say that boats having iron nails suppressed in the Western world un- respectively, to what we now call the Little are held in check, perhaps because til the flourishing of religious plural- Bear (Ursa Minor) constellation (in Roman the Stone of Heracles [Hercules, the ism in the 16th century. times, the seven [septem] plough-oxen [hi- lodestone] is native there, and for this In 1289, Peter Peregrinus wrote the ones]), whose brightest star is Polaris (the North Star); noon or midday (Latin, medius/ reason shipbuilding is done in first great treatise on magnetism, Epis- dies), as the sun at its zenith (noon), always trenches.” A similar phenomenon is tola Petri Peregrini de Maricourt ad appears due south in the northern hemi- reported in The Arabian Nights-The Sygerum de Foucaucourt, Militem, De sphere; the constellation Orion (Latin, Tale of the Third Kalendar (Beggar): “to- Magnete (Fig 1). In it he tells the Oriens), whose brightest star, Betelgeuse, morrow we will come to an isle of reader to perform the following ex- appears in the northern hemisphere in the black rocks called the Magnetic periment: Round a lodestone; take an geographical east, in the winter before sun- set, and in the summertime before dawn; Mountain, against which the force of iron needle and place it over the and evening (Latin, occidens-sunset, the the water will dash us and destroy stone; draw a line on the stone along west). The modern names of the compass our ship. All her nails will fly from her the direction of the needle, thus di- points-north, south, east, and west-are of and cleave to the sides of the Mag- viding the stone along the middle; Teutonic origin and first appear in Old En- glish texts circa 800 AD.