From Boing Boing comes an excellent story about Thomas Edison. He wanted to see what heavy magnetism would do to the human brain, so found a boy who was willing to stick his head between two magnetic poles. Luckily, the boy was unharmed. In fact, he had this to say:
“The experiment is bully. I am all right in the magnet. I like to be here for I do not have to work while the experiment is going on and I can take a nap occasionally. But don’t tell Mr. Edison. I hope he will keep me here for a long time.”