​The ancients employed the magnet to treat some ailments, especially the gout. The mineral was pulverized and transformed into compounds to be ingested or in ointments. From the seventeenth century, these stones were applied directly on the parts to be treated, because it was believed that the curative effect derived from their specific physical properties. Fragments of magnetized iron were wrapped in flannel bags and worn as necklaces. 

In 1811, Giuseppe Saverio Poli (1746-1825) published "Breve saggio sulla calamita e sulla sua virtù medicinale"​ (Brief essay on the magnet and its medicinal virtue), an instruction booklet to manufacture magnetic talismans and to use them to cure headaches, toothaches and other ailments. Poli believed that the magnet could be a “wonderful drug”. He wrote a reasoned and scientific manual for therapeutic experimentation of magnetism. The medical theory of the magnet was called “mineral magnetism” to distinguish it from Mesmer’s “animal magnetism”.