The Cowling 'limiting-points' proof of his anti-dynamo theorem

According to the Cowling antidynamo theorem, a self-excited steady-state dynamo in a conducting fluid cannot be axisymmetric. One of his proofs, which is based on the impossibility of the existence of limiting points, was referred to by I. Alexeff (ibid., vol.17, pp.282-283, Apr. 1989) who showed that it is not valid in diffuse plasmas. It is here shown that Cowling's limiting-points proof, which implicitly applies to closed systems, rests on an unrealistic assumption. Cowling's proof is shown not to apply to one particular type of open system.<
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