______________________________________________________________________________
|  File Name      : MINDPOLR.ASC     |  Online Date     :  11/24/94          |
|  Contributed by : John Peters      |  Dir Category    :  BIOLOGY           |
|  From           : KeelyNet BBS     |  DataLine        :  (214) 324-3501    |
|           KeelyNet * PO BOX 870716 * Mesquite, Texas * USA * 75187         |
|        A FREE Alternative Sciences BBS sponsored by Vanguard Sciences      |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
The following excellent file is for information purposes only.  KeelyNet and
its Affiliates and Associates are not in any way responsible for any damage or
injury should the reader choose to experiment with the techniques described.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  BRAIN POLARIZATION:  A ParaLab Staff Report

            from the Journal of Paraphysics, Vol. 5, Issue 4, 1971

As long ago as 1953, Dr. W. Grey Walter of the Burden Neurological Institute
published his book 'The Living Brain' (Pelican Book) which should be consulted
by students.  In 1967, the Elsevier Publishing Co. published the book 'The
Evoked Potentials' (ed. Wm. Cobb & C. Morocutti) consisting of papers read at
the International conference in Siena, June 30th, 1966.

One of these was a paper by Dr. Grey Walter entitled 'Slow potential changes
in the human brain associated with expectancy, decision, and intention'; this
phenomenon become known as 'E-Waves' or 'Expectancy Waves' and a summary of
this appeared in Vol. 2, No. 5 of the Journal of Paraphysics'.

In effect, it was found that when a subject made a decision to act, an E-Wave
built up in his EEG just prior to the action, and this, by suitable filters
and amplifiers, could be made to trigger off relays.  Thus, one could switch
on a TV merely by willing it, as it were, without having to push a button.

Following upon these fascinating discoveries, Dr. Grey Walter attended an
International Conference on Methodology in Psi Research at Le Piol, 2nd Sept.
1968, and read a paper 'The Contingent Negative Variation (CNV) and its
Significance for Psi research'.  He states:--

  "Superficial polarization of the brain with a very simple electrode on the
   forehead and another on the leg, passing only 300 or 400 microamperes, has
   a spectacular effect on the evoked potential and on the CNV.  A few good
   papers have appeared on this subject, but there is still an extreme
   scepticism about these effects.

   The fact remains that if you pass a small direct current from an anode on
   the forehead to a cathode on the leg, in a normal person, he feels excited
   and stimulated.  A depressed patient feels relieved, brighter and more
   accessible.

   If the current is reversed, all subjects feel terrible, so much so that the
   procedure could be quite dangerous.  It is such a simple system that I am
   certain they would restrict the sale of batteries the way they restrict the
   sale of LSD if people started using it."

In experiments conducted at the Paralab, in the presence on a medical doctor,
we found that no danger resulted if moderate voltages are used, such as from a
torch battery, at most 3 volts.

One electrode should be attached to the forehead of the agent, and the other
to the left or right wrist, or left or right ankle (different results may be
experienced and in all these cases it should be borne in mind that people may
have different potentials at these points.

The electrode can consist of a small piece of aluminum foil held against the
skin by adhesive tape.  The electrodes should be connected in series to a
micro-ammeter, a potentiometer, and the battery, and to commence with, the
resistance of the potentiometer (say 50,000 ohms) should be set at maximum, so
that only a minute of say 50 microamps flows.

The positive end of the battery should initially be connected to the forehead,
as this gives pleasant effects to most people; however, in some cases the
polarity is reversed, i.e. negative battery to forehead is best; reversing
the polarity can produce slight discomfort so some caution is necessary to
begin with; the wire to the forehead should not be permanently connected to
the electrode, but held in one hand (insulated by a rubber glove) and touched
for only a fraction of a second upon the electrode, in case the effect is
unpleasant.

It is not recommended at any time to make a permanent connection to the
forehead, as people are more relaxed if they feel they can immediately remove
the connection.  However, there is no reason to be unduly apprehensive, if
only a torch battery of 3 volts is used.

Naturally if any unpleasant effect is felt, such as a slight tingle, the
polarity should be reversed, or a potentiometer of higher resistance should be
employed.  It is quite likely that no sensation at all will be felt with most
subjects, under the above conditions, with low voltage, owing to the high
resistance of a dry electrode; and if no higher voltage is available than 3
volts, a considerable improvement in conductivity may be achieved by dabbing a
few drops of salt solution (a teaspoon of salt dissolved in a cup of tap water
will do) upon the skin before affixing the electrode.

If using this method, however, extra caution is necessary and the
potentiometer should be set to maximum resistance for the current may increase
a hundredfold or more.  On no account should the current be allowed to exceed
200 microamps; many subjects find 100 microamps is quite adequate for
experimental purposes.

As Dr. Grey Walter states, extreme scepticism exist in medical circles
concerning these effects, and the matter is still in the experimental stage.
However, in preliminary experiments, we found that the effects were so
strongly marked, particularly the unpleasant effect when forehead is negative,
that we felt convinced as to validity.

We did find, however, a marked variation depending upon which arm or leg was
used for the second electrode; the best results were found with the leg.  One
agent with the electrodes on the left leg was found to almost short-circuit
and therefore we warn again that a potentiometer of high resistance should be
in the circuit in series.

It is recommended that the current should flow for only a fraction of a
second, then if no unpleasant effects are noted, then slightly longer.  The
polarization process has two aspects:

   (1)  therapeutic Value:  As Dr. Walter says, "A depressed patient feels
        relieved, brighter, and more accessible", and so this simple device,
        if connected with correct polarity as stated may be beneficial in
        depressed states.
   (2)  Experimental Use in Psi Research.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Observations and comments by John W. Peters:

    1.  The authors seem to have safety in mind throughout this article.
        Using Ohm's Law and the figures cited, power levels are below 1
        milliwatt in each instance.

    2.  If one has to use the electrolyte solution (1 teaspoon of salt and 1
        cup of water) mentioned, consider using DISTILLED water and salt.
        This will help to maintain consistant levels of conduction between
        different batches of solution.

    3.  My only addition to this article was placing the initials "(CNV)" in
        paragraph 2.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------