Bovis scale

Bovis-units according to A. Bovis

The Bovis-scale (Bovis-units) is used by radiestesists (dowsers) and adherents of geomancy to describe the "strength" of a presumed "subtle energy" or "life energy" or a postulated "cosmo-telluric energy". This unit is scientifically not accepted and has a pseudoscientific character.

The origins, and the inventor A. Bovis

A. Bovis (putative Antoine Bovis)

André Bovis

The origins of the term "Bovis" is unclear. According to different sources the Bovis-scale is named after a French alleged physicist, radiestesist, inventor and tinkerer Bovis. His first name is referred as Anton, Antoine, "André Bovis from Nice", or Alfred. But there are no doubts about his birth date, the 12th of january 1871 in Nice (France). A. Bovis died the day november 13 in 1947.

The szech radio-technician an pseudo-scientist Karel Drbal asserts in his book The Struggle for the Pyramid Patent,, that the inventor of the Bovis-scale would be Antoine Bovis, who allegedly had a hard-ware store and made private radiestetic studies and worked on a esoteric pyramide-energy. On the website "Sceptic.com" a Antoine Bovis is also mentioned. Sceptic.com shows a book of a "A. Bovis" in which he repots about his "méthode niçoise de radiesthesie" (Nice-method of radiestesia) with his biometre. But, the first name Antoine is never shown, the author is always descrd as "Mr. A. Bovis" living at the address "Bovis, 15 rue Pertinax, Nice". Apparently, and for unknown reasons, the author decided not to reveal his first name.

On the other hand however, there are no doubts, that "Mr. A. Bovis" was in reality André Bovis, a tinkerer, inventor and radiestesist from Nice in southern France. His grandson Jacques Bovis, who defines himself as a "geobiologist", refers to his grandfather André Bovis and his alleged radiestetic abilities..

The French André Simoneton seems to have made further developments of Bovis's invention, and he talked about a so-called radio vitality (radiovitalité). Both, Bovis and Simoneton related the Bovis-scale to the well-known lenth-scale Ångström (1 Å = 0,1 nm or 10⁻¹⁰m). On a original Bovis-scale of Bovis, the unit Ångström can be seen (see picture).

Bovis reading

biometer or bovismeter (french: biometre)

During a Bovis-"measurement" the dowser is walking around the place or approaching a particular object with an object (a pendulum, biotensor or "biometer"). The "measurement" is finshed, when the dowser declares the local Bovis number ("this place has 18000 Bovis"). Sometimes a second person is douncounting from a high number until the dowser asks him to stop counting and to tell the actual number.

A number of 6500 is considered "neutral", lower figures affect human "energies" negatively, higher numbers positively.

The values

A Bovis-number 6500 is considered "neutral", lower figures affect human "energies" negatively, higher numbers positively.

Numbers above 10,000 are in the "ethereal range" and considered to be Places of power

Bovis-numbers accoring to German dowser Markus Schirner

0 - 2000	crossings of two or more disturbing zones; immune dysfunction; arrest of growth
2000 - 6000	interference zone; detrimental to humans
6500	neutral
7000 - 8000	best value / full vitality
9000 - 10000	too high in case of long duration
10000 - 13500	energetic an etheric zones of the human body
13500 - 18000	spiritual, sacred and esoteric places
18000 and higher	regions of cosmic rays

Visible light has wave-length between 3800 Å and 7800 Å. These wave-length correspond to frequencies from 789 to 385 THz. So, the declaration of "full vitality" would correspond to red light and having an energy of 2 eV per photon, ultra-violet light having an energy of 3 eV per photon (1 eV = 1,6 · 10^-19 Joule).

criticism

example for advertisement for a comestible using "Bovis-values"

The Bovis-scale is used on a basis of undefined or cloudy words like "life-energy", "astralic" or "vitality". Furthermore, known scientific terms (energy, radiation, measurement) are used, but their meaning is not disclosed, sign for pseudoscience. There is no definition given for the "Bovis-units" and there are no known detecting or calibrating instruments for the claimed "subtle energies". Effects deduced from pendulum movements are known to be influenced by the Carpenter-effect.

Some sources, also inventors Bovis and Simoneton, relate their Bovis-values to the known unit Ångström while speaking about "wavelenghth" of alleged measured radiations. Some authors also speak about "Bio-Ångström" die Rede, making it futher difficult to understand about what they are talking about. Using Bovis-values as length units, they can be used to assign an energy in its physical meaning. But, by doing this, an increasing Bovis-value would assign decreasing energies (as known in physics), because the wavelenghth of an electromagnetic radiation is inversely proportional to its frequency, and not increasing enegy as supporters of the Bovis concept state. Also, using the Bovis-numbers as Ångström, the claimed radiation energy would be visible.

Sometimes the Bovis-numbers are used to diagnose deseases of humans. There is no rational basis for this pseudo-medical use.

literature

• Simoneton, André: Radiations des aliments, ondes humaines et sante, Paris 1949
• Simoneton, André: Radiovitalite des des aliements - hypotheses sur la vie et la sante (1949)

Weblinks

• "Sceptic.com": expose of A. Bovis (french)

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• this article in German language