Dr. Albert Abrams and His Oscilloclast: Charlatan or Visionary

to the Jewish Museum of the American West. But what makes Abrams a bit different than other con artists will meet this season is that though he was dismissed within the medical community for quackery and fraud in his time, he probably wasn't really a guy running a con, at least not on purpose. He truly believed he was revolutionizing the way physicians diagnosed their patients, and today he's considered

the father of radionics. Well, come to Criminalia. I'm Maria Tramarqui and I'm Holly Fry, So let's get to know a little about Albert Abrams. He was born in San Francisco in eighteen sixty three. He earned his medical degree from the University of Heidelberg, Germany's oldest university, in eight two and took additional graduate courses in London, Berlin, Vienna, and Paris. In eighty three, he returned to San Francisco

to open his own practice. He's noted in more than one written instance as having quote exceptional intelligence and productivity, and he quickly built up a large and prosperous practice in the city. Abrams, though, diagnosed his patients through an unconventional method. He mapped out various areas of residence and dullness in the human body through controlled percussion, or, to put it a lot more simply, he would tap and listen.

His solid reputation as a physician afforded him opportunities to lecture on an number of medical subjects, and that led him to a position as a professor of pathology at Cooper Medical College from eighteen ninety three to eight. During his tenure there, Cooper Medical College referred to him as quote our talented young professor. Abrams, though abruptly submitted his

resignation on May sixteenth. It was accepted by the Board of Directors of the college on November fifteenth that year, but, as medical historians have noted, it was curiously received and approved without the usual expressions of appreciation for services during his time at the school. There was no thank you, There was no good luck. It's generally believed among experts that due to the nature of his work, he was

asked to resign his position. Abrams may have had a good reputation among his patients, but his work was considered very controversial in the medical community. A decade of experiments and research led Abrams to ellop to basic theories. The first, all matter radiates energy, and each element or compounds radiations differ from the radiation emitted by any other element or compound. The characteristics of each of those radiations are dependent upon

the molecular constituents of whatever material is involved. So, for instance, take organic compounds. They belong to one of four classes of molecules, carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids. Every single molecule would have a unique energy I D. And his second theory goes like this, The radiations emitted by different types of matter of a living organism can be detected, can be differentiated, and can be measured by a trained

practitioner using relatively simple instruments. The whole concept was based on the idea that all of us humans and all other life on Earth are part of the planet's electromagnetic field, and that each living being has its own unique identity

or electromagnetic frequency. In the early nineteen hundreds, Abrams developed and wrote about a physical treatment called spondul the therapy or spinal reflexology, a kind of combination of chiropractic and osteopathic practices that used controlled percussion, so either that would be a practitioner's hand or a plex or instrument to

perform reflex stimulation. It was also around this time Abrams began to expand on his two theories and began to claim he could detect what he called energy frequencies in his patient's bodies. The idea here was that a healthy person's body would have certain energy frequencies moving through it that define it as a healthy body. An unhealthy body, in comparison, would develop other different or distorted energy frequencies. By considering each organ and tissue to have its own vibration,

when vibration change, it signaled disease was developing. He said he could cure people by, as he called it, balancing discordant frequencies. Abram's continued to expand his theories on how the body emits electromagnetic radiation. He began to claim that disease could be diagnosed and treated by applying electromagnetic radiation to the human body through an electrically powered device, and he, as we'll talk about in a moment, went on to

invent those devices. His assumption was that external application of electromagnetic energy could cure the body's energy field and in turn cure the patient's disease. His experiments and discoveries went on to be known as radionics. Radionics is also called electromagnetic therapy and the Abrams method. Electromagnetic therapy is a form of energy medicine, and the idea has been used

in medical treatments for thousands of years. In traditional Chinese medicine, for example, magnetic energy has been used on acupuncture points. Minerals called load stones were used to treat many health conditions in the tenth and eleventh centuries because of their natural magnetic qualities. The biological effects of low frequency electromagnetic radiation on the human body have been studied since the

sixteenth century, but electromagnetic therapies have never been mainstream. Today's research in the field is based on the belief that every cell in the human body contains its own unique electromagnetic energy, and that the unique energy wave can be detected before any physical symptoms of disease appear. Sounds familiar, right, and that's because it's basically the theory Abrams was working on. But still today there's no consensus on whether the effects

are physiologically significant. We're going to take a break for a word from our sponsor. When we return, we'll talk more about how Abrams went from well liked professor to facing accusations that he wasn't even a real doctor. Welcome back to Criminalia. Abraham's caught a lot of crap from his peers, and although that probably felt terrible, it doesn't seem to have slowed him down. Let's talk about his inventions.

During the nineteenth century. At the time Abrahams was beginning his practice, some pretty big advancements were being made in medical equipment. Magnetic insuls were invented, as were new tools such as the stethoscope, laring scope, the medical thermometer, and the X ray. Abrams did not invent the X ray, but he demonstrated the value of it in cardiac diagnosis in but shortly after by the end of the eighteen nineties, Abrams' colleagues began to point out and greatly discussed what they

considered to be his growing eccentricities. Abrams was experimenting with the increasing popularity of using electricity and using it in medical practice with his own magnetic and electrical inventions, and that right there was unheard of. He used diagnostic data gathered through the use of his devices, of which he

built about a dozen. That data was analyzed by Abrams or by a trained practitioner who detected and measured abnormal frequencies while looking for changes in the energy and body of the patient, radiations that could be caused by, say, a tumor. Operators used abrams as devices to determine the location of the disease in the body, and some devices also suggested which remedy should be prescribed, such as a

specific vitamin. His devices, as well as those invented by practic sisuers who came after him, were later updated with the capability to broadcast, as he called it, forms of low energy to treat, for instance, the frequencies of remote patients. After nineteen o four, his colleagues began to consider his ideas to be more like the writings of a quack

or a charlatan than of a knowledgeable physician. His peers began to claim his work indicated he didn't have any understanding of how the human body works, and despite his medical degree, that he was not a real doctor. Between eighteen ninety one to nineteen twenty three, so pretty wide swath of time, Abrahams authored several books on medicinal techniques

and related subjects. He was a Fellow of the Royal Medical Society of London, the Honorary President of the American Association for the Study of Spondlo Therapy, and President of the American Society of Psychophysical Research. In ninety two, he quote, disease is an aberration of the electron structure, a change in the otherwise uniform flow of electrons constituting the field

of energy which is radiated from the physical organism. Abrams, as we've said, believed he could diagnose diseases such as cancer, syphilis, and tuberculosis through electromagnetic analysis rather than relying on traditional methods stethoscopes and jars of leeches and the like. He promoted his ideas through lectures he gave across the United States and Europe, as well as through his own writings

and in newspaper advertisements. He also established clinics in cities in both the United States and Europe, and in London, for instance, his practice featured an electric sign in Trafalgar Square. These clinics, they were a huge success and he made a good bit of money from them. Though the medical theories on which those clinics operated were rejected by abrams peers in the medical community, the public seemed to see things differently. He continued to lecture, and his lectures continued

to attract curious audiences. He received favorable mentions by well known figures outside of the medical community, including up In Sinclair, author of the well known novel The Jungle, which was an expose of the appalling conditions inside the meat packing industry. Abrams expanded on the idea that different diseases caused tissues to vibrate at different frequencies with the development of various instruments. We've hinted at these devices already, so let's actually talk

about them. One of his first inventions was called the Reflexiphone. Was this black box with instrumentation used to measure those different vibrations. He also experimented with magnets, and he wrote about the idea of using them to cure health issues such as gastro intestinal ailments. His next invention was basically

an updated reflexiphone. The dynamizer, as he called it, was basically another black box with plenty of knobs and dials and wires, and Abrams claimed that he could diagnose the sex, race, and disease of the patient, including the patient's religion, and that included patients he had never met. So to do so, he just required a single drop of blood. Oh but wait, not so fast. That drop of blood needed to be taken while the patient was facing west very important instructions.

The blood was then placed on a piece of paper and mailed to him for evaluation. As Abram's described it, he would then place the paper into the dynamizer, which would feed information into other machines he had invented for this process. Those other machines were known as the rio stat dynamizer, the vibratory rate riostat, and the measuring riostat.

He aimed for his machines to not only suggest treatment, but transfer medication to those who needed it, such as prescribing quinine to treat patients suffering from malaria without ever needing to see that patient in person. Abram's also invented a device he called the asilic last, working with the idea that diseases had their own vibrations that could be picked up from an electrical device. This instrument was as previous devices designed to identify energy waves. The asilic last

was an electrical instrument used for generating oscillations. That sounds confusing, probably, but think of it like this. Think of it like how a pendulum swings, and how that looks. It was used to reverse diseased frequencies by aiming those frequencies back at the affected tissue, so you see how that swing is happening. In doing so, Abrams believed he could remove

disease from that tissue. The reaction was something Abram's called the electronic reaction of Abram's simplified as e r A. Abram's kept detailed notes of the sounds different diseases made, and he calculated the resistance in olms of a range of diseases and disorders. These were known in his work as radionic rates and ohm. Just to brush up on our terminology, here is a measurement of electrical resistance simple

as that. The original Acila class was a long rectangular black box with three rotary switches for adjusting radionic rates, a switch button, lightbulb, and four binding terminal posts. It, along with his other inventions, have since become known as black boxes, while yes, they were literally black boxes. In scientific terminology, a black box is a device, or a system or an object that produces useful information without revealing

any information about its internal workings. In Abrahams promoted his new e r RA system with a new book titled New Concepts in Diagnosis and Treatment, and by more than three thousand doctors were using his e r A technology. But things weren't actually great. We're going to take a break for a word from our sponsor, and when we return, we'll talk about how the medical community began to target

Abrams and his work. Welcome back to Criminalia. The end of Abram's career brought both his downfall as well as a rise of followers also seeking to understand electromagnetic therapy, and a lot of that actually happened after his death in ninety two. The British Royal Society of Medicine published an unfavorable report on Abrams as well as his theories and his practices, and as you may imagine, it had

negative consequences on his work. It wasn't until the nineteen thirties when Dr Ruth Drowned, another pioneer in electromagnetic therapy picked up where Abram's left off, and it's Dr drown who renamed the e r A system to the more

common term radionics. Abrams's work went on to find a home with George de Laire, Galen, Heronymous, Malcolm Ray, David Tansley, Peter Kelly, and others, including the umbrella of the American Association for Medico Physical Research today that is, medical physical Research. Although considered a joke by those practicing traditional medicine, Abrams was not alone in this field of study. Russian born scientists and engineer George Lakowski developed the radio cellulo oscillator

in the nineteen twenties. His theory was that every living human being radiates and amidst electromagnetic frequencies. He believed living beings had what he called quote a dynamic equilibrium of all cells, and that the harmony of multiple radiations reacted upon one another. Lakowsky also believed that disease in the body was the result of an oscillatory disequilibrium of a cell. He described that as the struggle between microbic radiation and

cellular radiation. So then, under his theory, if microbic radiation became dominant, disease was present, but if cellular radiation was dominant, then the body was healthy. He, just like Abrams, was a controversial and antagonized figure in his time, despite having actually had a small amount of success with his treatments.

Also in nineties, American scientist doctor Royal Raymond Rife invented the Rife Machine, a device built on the work of Abram's and the theory that's sending an electrical impulse identical to the cell's unique electromagnetic frequency could kill cancerous cells.

The instrument, like Abram's inventions, I mean, it was considered a bunch of whui in the nineteen twenties, but when it was tested on sixteen terminal cancer patients in nineteen thirty four, Rife claimed his machine cured fourteen of those patients. Two remaining were also cured, but it was noted they had also undergone some other type of treatment as well. Today, the Rife machine is used by some to help treat conditions like lyme disease, and newer studies suggest that certain

types of electromagnetic waves may affect tumor growth. The American Medical Association joined Abrams's peers to discredit his theories. They called him quote the dean of twentieth century Charlatan's about his dynamizer. They wrote, quote, the mysterious energy from the patient's blood sample or other specimen passes from the subject's forehead to the subject's abdomen. Where this mysterious electronic emanation sets up certain changes is in the hollow organs, which

may be detected by percussing the subject's abdomen. Dr Abram's claims to be able to tell by this means whether the individual whose blood is being tested is suffering from syphilis, sarcoma, carcinoma, typhoid fever, malaria, gonorrhea, or tuberculosis, and if so, suffering where the diseased area is located. He can also diagnose pregnancy and the paternity of the fetus by the same method. The A m A. In an attempt to discredit Abrams

and his inventions, also wrote quote. The absurdity of his devices was demonstrated at various times by sending some of Abram's disciples specimens of blood purported to be from patients who were ill, but we're actually taken from animals. A given example was of a sheep. One sheep was diagnosed with hereditary syphilis, which a helpful e r A practitioner offered to or for two hundred and fifty dollars. Chickens were also diagnosed with syphilis, both from samples of their

blood as well as samples of red ink. The foul were also offered a cure for two and fifty dollars. So this was not the best show here for Abrams. Abrams's inventions were sold to operators, and some operators began claiming that they could make a medical diagnosis from a person's signature, and it didn't matter whether that person was living or dead. Of this, the A. M a replied quote. When the autograph of Samuel Peeps was tested, this famous

diarist was alleged to have suffered from congenital syphilis. The autographs of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Edgar Allan Poe gave the same result. It wasn't just the A m A that was anti Abrams and anti electromagnetic theory. The period viewed medical journal The Lancet also reported that blood from healthy chickens sent to your A practitioners had been diagnosed

with major diseases. Scientific American and the American Medical Association spent ten months and thirty thousand dollars investigating Abram's E r A devices. It's panel of scientists concluded quote analyzed in the cold light of scientific knowledge, the entire Abrams matter is the height of absurdity. The so called electronic reactions of Abrams do not exist, at least objectively. They are merely products of the Abrams practitioner's mind. At best, it is all an illusion. At worst, it is a

colossal fraud. Abrams died of pneumonia on January four, at the age of sixty one, fifty one Sacramento Street, his home, after several days of fighting a bronchial pneumonia infection. According to his friends, the doctor had correctly predicted the exact date of his death by application of an electronic test, scooching ahead on the timeline of it to ninety two.

The US Court of Appeals found the American Medical Association guilty of suppressing new medical technologies, including electromagnetic therapy, in favor of pharmaceutical companies, and it took roughly four decades after his death for the US Food and Drug Administration to crack open his black boxes. Why no one did the sooner is kind of a mystery, but a report in Beaver County Times explained, quote one type produced a

magnetic field, as in a vacuum cleaner or doorbell. Another was a low powered transmitter generating radio waves on the short wave band used by police or taxi cabs. That there was really hardly much to write home about. E r A disappeared almost entirely from the medical community, but the idea, but hind it continued to evolve over the decades. Radionics devices were experimented with in agriculture during the nineteen fifties.

It was highly experimental. But let's talk about a company that went by the name u K A c O. And that company claimed Abrams's technology could kill pests in farmer's fields. They contracted with Dalen Horonymous, a follower of Abrams's theories, to build them a slightly modified a silic last. Their process went like this, and stay with us because

this is a little bit of an unexpected ride. U K a c O practitioners would photograph a farmer's field and then apply a small amount of insecticide to that photo, yes to the photo. That photo would then be placed in the modified a silic last and the device would broadcast the term you'll recognized from Abrams's work that treatment to the actual field. So here's an example of one

of these cases from UK CEO reports. Believe it or not, a farmer looking to save his corn field from a heavy infestation of Japanese beetles contacted the company when insecticides were not doing the trick, practitioners used an aerial photo of the field with one corner of the photo cut off. Insecticide was applied to the photo, and through their radionics machine, they broadcast the imagined insecticide treatment over the actual field. So the amazing thing is allegedly it got results. And

that's not just one report from one farmer. Several farmers noted the effectiveness of Abrams's electromagnetic theory and agriculture, and some ended their use of traditional chemical insecticides in favor

of these new techniques. So in that particular beetle example, both uk a CEO and the farmer Clay aimed between eighty and nine of the beatles either died or just left the field in reports that were kept by the company, that corner that was cut off in the photo was the only part of the field where the beetle infestation remained at maximum capacity. Is this lucky coincidence? Was there

something more going on? There are both stories of success and failure, both as anecdotal stories and in written documented results of the success stories. As you may imagine true or not, those reports did not sit well with chemical companies who supplied insecticide to farmers, and they actually lobbied the United States Department of Agriculture and the two groups

joined forces. But uk CEO out of business, and they did just that through a publicity campaign intended to discredit the company and its process in the ice of farmers. So much for that continued study will never know. I Electromagnetic therapies haven't fallen out of scientific study. A cancer treatment known as the magneto mechanical effect of particles is

today a growing field of research. The idea is to connect magnetic, mechanical and electric phenomena in solid materials like tissue, and here it's applied to destroy cancerous cells with vibrations. In this technique, magnetic particles are injected into a tumor or exposed to cancer cells, and a low frequency alternating e m F is applied. Not quite Abram's theory, but

not quite not Abram's theory. In addition, while the US Food and Drug Administration hasn't approved magnetic vibrations for the treatment of any medical condition, pulsing electronic devices have been approved for treating some diseases and are specifically being researched for the promise they've shown in relieving symptoms of multiple sclerosis. Abrooms, it seems, does live on. We'll never know if he ever thought for a moment this might not work but I'm going to keep going, or if he was a

true believer the whole time. We don't know. It's not quite clear. But what we do know is that it's time for scam sauce. But you got today. So here's the thing. The paragraph that really got me here was when we were talking about the dynamizer and specifically prescribing quinine to people, because as you know, quinine isn't tonic water, which gets used in cocktails all the time. I am not tonics best friend, but I'm willing to reach out in olive branch, and that is what we're doing today.

So this is a drink that I'm calling the Dynamizer, and it has tonic and it has lots of delicious antioxidant property. And you drop a magnet into the bottom. There's no magnet in it. There's no trickery like that, but there is delicious fruitiness. And I will say the the mocked tail version of this is full of delicious and good for you fruit. The cocktail has some, not as much. First of all, you were gonna juice half of an orange. You can do this however you wish.

I use my same juicer that I used for lemons and limes. I just cut the orange down, but whatever works for you. And you're going to put that into a shaking tin. And then you were going to add three quarters of an ounce of strawberry vodka, three quarters of an ounce of watermelon vodka, three quarters and three quarters of an ounce of or jia or just almond syrup if you can't get and then you're gonna shake that with some ice, strain it over ice into a

column's glass, and top it with tonic water. It's like I'm drinking in alcohol like fruit salad. I'm really kind of and it's really tasty the or ja. Really. If you're like me and you do not like the taste of tonic, the orja fixes it. Now. If you're also like Holly, I do not wish to buy a bunch of fruity vodkas, I have an easy fix. Toss a few ounces in a small, little mason jar with some strawberries overnight. Really a few days is better, and same

thing with some watermelon for a few days. You can even I know people that like to then take that, put it in the blender and then strain it out so that they get a lot of fruit flavor. I usually just muddle mine a little and let him sit in the vodka. I'm lazy, but either way works great. I happen to have those flavors of vodka on hand, so it's easy peasy. But it's really really easy to infuse any spirit with fruit right in your own home. You just have to wait a couple of days. And

so if you are doing the mock tail version. You can do that kind the same thing. You can mash strawberries directly into it and really muddle the strawberry and watermelon together with your orange juice, and then when you strain it, you're gonna get all of the pulpy bits out and you'll still have all of that beautiful, bright

juice and it's very, very yummy. You can also if you want, and I actually didn't do this, but I would like to try it, which is that you could do this with those fruits whole and put that in a blender and make like a little bread blended smoothie with it, like a summer mocktail. Yes, which I think might be delicious. So many things to try, but basically

super fruity, good for you. I feel like this is a mocktail that at the end of the season, when we pick our favorites, I feel like this is one will be like the cocktail is great, but this is the mocktail. But maybe as a note, we should mention that quinine is not something you should take if um, you know, you shouldn't be drinking tonic if you are pregnant or nursing. Obviously, probably shouldn't be drinking this cocktail either, but if you're making the mocktail, keep in mind not

that either. Or consult your physician. We're not doctors. Drink responsibly. But also if there's anything that makes you go, should I have that right now, I'm on a medication or I'm in a state of things, check with your doctor and then if if they say cool, then enjoy a delicious sip. Yes, we are so thankful that you are hanging out with us this season as we talk about scam artists and people who maybe didn't mean to be

scam artists, like our friend Neighbrahams. But we will be right back here next week with more stories just like this and more drinks, so we hope you join us. Criminalia is a production of Shonda land Audio in partnership with I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, please visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,