Editing Albert Abrams

{{short description|American doctor}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Albert Abrams
| image              = Dr. Albert Abrams.jpg
| alt                = 
| caption            = 
| birth_name         = <!-- only use if differecnt from name -->
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1863|12|08}}
| birth_place        = [[San Francisco, California]], U.S.
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1924|01|13|1863|12|08}}
| death_place        = San Francisco, California, U.S.
| other_names        = 
| occupation         = [[Physician]]
| known_for          = Claiming to be able to cure almost any disease
}}
'''Albert Abrams''' (December 8, 1863 – January 13, 1924) was a fraudulent American [[physician]], well known during his life for inventing machines, such as the "Oscilloclast" and the "Radioclast", which he falsely claimed could diagnose and cure almost any disease.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jmaw.org/dr-albert-abrams-controversial-doctor-of-san-francisco/|website=Jewish Museum of the American West | title=Dr. Albert Abrams: Controversial Doctor of San Francisco |access-date=April 29, 2017}}</ref> These claims were challenged from the outset. Towards the end of his life, and again shortly after his death, many of his machines and conclusions were demonstrated to be intentionally deceptive or false.<ref>[[Joseph Rinn|Rinn, Joseph]]. (1950). ''Searchlight on Psychical Research''. Rider and Company. p. 248. "After the death of Dr. Abrams in 1924 it was proved that he was a faker, and that the claims he had made for his "oscilloclast" were absurd. This wonder box, when opened, was found to contain a small motor hooked up to an electric battery that made a purring noise, nothing else."</ref>

==Biography==
Albert Abrams was born in [[San Francisco]] on December 8, 1863, to Marcus Abrams and Rachel Leavey,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://doi.org/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1200003 |title=Abrams, Albert |last=Young |first=James Harvey |website=American National Biography |year=2000 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1200003 |access-date=August 22, 2022}}</ref> although other dates have also been reported.<ref>[http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=229592 JAMA. 1922;78(14):107–73]. {{doi|10.1001/jama.1922.02640670058034}}</ref> On October 8, 1878, he inscribed at [[Cooper Medical College|Medical College of the Pacific]], worked as an assistant of Prof. Douglass and Prof. Hirschfelder, and got a medical degree on October 30, 1881. Then he went to [[Heidelberg]], Germany, and graduated there in November 1882<ref>{{cite web| url = http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Albert_Abrams_Curiculum_Vitae,_written_by_himself_in_Heidelberg.jpg| title = Curriculum Vitae, hand-written by Albert Abrams, Heidelberg, 1881| date = 12 August 2013}}</ref>
before undertaking further studies in London, Berlin, Vienna, and Paris.

According to Wilson,<ref>[http://elane.stanford.edu/wilson/html/chap26/chap26-sect6.html Wilson, Stanford University School of Medicine and the Predecessor Schools: An Historical Perspective] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110051905/http://elane.stanford.edu/wilson/html/chap26/chap26-sect6.html |date=2013-11-10 }}</ref> Abrams was awarded an M.D. by the Cooper College in 1883.<ref name=JMAW>{{Cite web |title=Dr. Albert Abrams: Controversial Doctor of San Francisco – JMAW – Jewish Museum of the American West |url=https://www.jmaw.org/abrams-jewish-san-francisco/ |access-date=2024-02-07 |website=www.jmaw.org}}</ref> He served on the teaching staff of the College for a total of fourteen years: five years (1885–1889) as Demonstrator of Pathology; four years (1890–1893) as Adjunct to the Chair of Clinical Medicine and Demonstrator of Pathology; and five years (1894–1898) as Professor of Pathology.

He was described by one Jewish newspaper as “our talented young professor.”<ref name=JMAW/> He was elected vice-president of the California State Medical Society in 1889 and was made president of the San Francisco Medico-Chirurgical Society in 1893. In the beginning of the 1900s he had become a respected expert in neurology. From 1904 he was president of the Emanuel Polyclinic in San Francisco.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://openlibrary.org/works/OL5537721W/Report_on_radionics-science_of_the_future.| title = Russell, Edward, Report on Radionics, (London: Neville Spearman), p. 17}}</ref>

Abrams published numerous books from 1891 to 1923.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL2390254A/Albert_Abrams?sort=old#editions.| title = Albert Abrams, List of published books on openlibrary.org}}</ref>

He died January 13, 1924, from a [[broncho-pneumonia]] in San Francisco.

==Practice==
===Heidelberg doctorate claim===
Abrams was accused of fraudulently claiming a medical qualification from the [[University of Heidelberg]];<ref>[http://elane.stanford.edu/wilson/ History of Stanford medical school and predecessors] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060214023220/http://elane.stanford.edu/wilson/ |date=2006-02-14 }} : [http://elane.stanford.edu/wilson/html/chap26/chap26-sect6.html Chapter 26] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110051905/http://elane.stanford.edu/wilson/html/chap26/chap26-sect6.html |date=2013-11-10 }} Wilson</ref> however, documents from Archive of University Heidelberg confirm that Albert Abrams received a medical degree there on 21 November 1882.<ref>[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:M.D._Certificate_of_Albert_Abrams_from_Ruprecht-Karls-Universit%C3%A4t_Heidelberg,_21.11.1882.jpg Certificate of Doctors Degree, Albert Abrams, University of Heidelberg, 1882].</ref>

In Abrams' view, American medicine was dominated by physicians with excessive admiration for German doctors and researchers. In earlier writings, he insulted physicians by calling them "Dr. Hades" or "Dr. Inferior", by comparing their looks to typhoid and other [[Microorganism|germs]], and by making fun of various abstruse therapies that at the time were considered "scientific" by the medical establishment. In a poem that he wrote on balloon therapy, for instance, the doctors take their patients up in the air but do not know how to bring the balloon down again. The poem ends with the lines: "But they never came back. That's why we confess / Aëronautic therapy is not a success."<ref>Albert Abrams: ''Transactions of the Antiseptic Club'', E. B. Treat, New York 1895</ref>

===Spondylotherapy===
Abrams developed a medical technique called spondylotherapy, which was inspired by [[chiropractic]] and [[osteopathy|osteopathic]] ideas. The basic principle is the stimulation of nerves originating from the spinal cord, which can trigger [[reflex]] actions on [[viscera]] or inner organs. The stimulation is performed by controlled concussion with a plexor / [[pleximeter]] combination directly on the [[spinous process]]es, by sinusoidal electric currents or by application of ice. Abrams published the book ''Spondylotherapy'' in several editions between 1910 and 1918.<ref>{{cite book |title=Spondylotherapy |author=Albert Abrams |year=1910 |publisher=Philopolis Press |url=https://openlibrary.org/works/OL7722659W/Spondylotherapy_Physio_and_Pharmaco-therapy_and_Diagnostic_Methods_Based_on_.. }}</ref> A simplified version of spondylotherapy was first published by Alva Emeey Gregory, M.D. in 1914.<ref>{{cite book |title=Spondylotherapy simplified  |author= Alva Emeey Gregory, M.D. |year=1922 |publisher= Alva Emeey Gregory, M.D. |url= https://openlibrary.org/works/OL7759351W/Spondylotherapy_simplified }}</ref>

==Electronic Reactions of Abrams==
{{main|Radionics}}

Abrams promoted an idea that [[electrons]] were the basic element of all life. He called this '''ERA''', for '''Electronic Reactions of Abrams''', and introduced a number of different machines which he claimed were based on these principles.

===The machines===
[[File:Oscilloclast (FDA 143) (8225257144).jpg|thumb|Oscilloclast]]
[[File:Radioclast dials.jpg|thumb|Radioclast]]
The Dynomizer looked something like a [[radio]], and Abrams claimed it could diagnose any known [[disease]] from a single drop of [[blood]] or alternatively the subject's handwriting.<ref name=JMAW/> He performed diagnoses on dried blood samples sent to him on pieces of paper in envelopes through the mail. Apparently Abrams even claimed he could conduct medical practice over the [[telephone]] with his machines,<ref>{{cite book
|title=New Concepts in Diagnosis and Treatment|author=Albert Abrams|year=1922|publisher=Physico-Clinical Co
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xNOAOd2dAWkC&q=New+concepts+in+diagnosis+and+treatment
}}</ref> and that he could determine [[wikt:personality|personality]] characteristics.

The Dynomizer was big business; by 1918, courses in spondylotherapy and ERA cost $200 (about the same purchasing power as $3,150 in 2014); equipment was leased at about $200 with a monthly $5 charge thereafter. The lessee had to sign a contract stating the device would never be opened.<ref>[http://www.seanet.com/~raines/abrams.html Dr. Albert Abrams and the E.R.A.<!-- bot-generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060716084138/http://www.seanet.com/~raines/abrams.html|date=2006-07-16}} at www.seanet.com</ref> Abrams explained that this would disrupt their delicate adjustment, but the rule also served to prevent the Abrams devices from being examined. He then widened his claims to treating the diagnosed diseases. Abrams came up with new and even more impressive gadgets, the "Oscilloclast"<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.americanartifacts.com/smma/abrams/a11.gif| title = Oscilloclast}}</ref> and the "Radioclast", which came with tables of [[frequencies]] that were designed to "attack" specific diseases. Clients were told cures required repeated treatments.

Dynomizer operators tended to give alarming diagnoses, involving combinations of such maladies as [[cancer]], [[diabetes]] and [[syphilis]]. Abrams often included a disease called "bovine syphilis", unknown to other medical practitioners. He claimed the Oscilloclast was capable of defeating most of these diseases, most of the time.

By 1921, there were claimed to be 3,500 practitioners using ERA technology. Conventional medical practitioners were extremely suspicious.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=GLIxAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Albert+Abrams%22+3,500| title = CA: A Journal for Cancer Clinicians, 1950| last1 = Cameron| first1 = Charles S.| year = 1994}}</ref> When people opened Abrams's boxes, they found "simple wiring, a few resistors, a small motor that only made a humming noise, and nothing that could in any way perform a diagnosis or 'broadcast' or even produce radio waves."<ref name="randi-1995">{{Cite book |last=Randi |first=James |title=[[An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural|An encyclopedia of claims, frauds, and hoaxes of the occult and supernatural: decidedly sceptical definitions of alternative realities]] |date=1995 |publisher=St. Martin's Griffin |isbn=978-0-312-15119-5 |location=New York, NY|author-link=James Randi}}</ref>

In the 1970s, Bob DeVries, a product designer for [[Hewlett-Packard]], had a chance to repair an old Oscilloclast (1934). It was owned by a lady whose father had been a president of Abrams' Electronic Medical Foundation and improver of their devices; she had several such devices and believed that electric therapy to be beneficial, from her own experience. DeVries not only restored the old oscilloclast to working order, but also developed a [[transistor]]ized version for his client, which they called a "Pulsed Oscillator".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.hpmemory.org/timeline/bob_devries/some_memories_06.htm#part_06_chapt_14 |title=[Medical consulting using low-level RF treatment]. Remembering |last=DeVries |first=Bob |website=HP Memory Project |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150103003452/http://www.hpmemory.org/timeline/bob_devries/some_memories_06.htm#part_06_chapt_14 |archive-date=2015-01-03}}</ref>

==Investigation==
The dispute between Abrams and his followers and the [[American Medical Association]] (AMA) was intensified. Defenders included American radical author [[Upton Sinclair]]<ref>{{cite news | title =Upton Sinclair's Story About Dr. Abrams and His Work| newspaper =The Miami News| date =November 25, 1922
| url =https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=um5VAAAAIBAJ&pg=4265,416343&dq=albert+abrams+healer&hl=en| access-date =July 24, 2012}}</ref> and the famously credulous Sir [[Arthur Conan Doyle]], the creator of [[Sherlock Holmes]]. Resolution of the dispute through the intervention of a scientifically respected third party was pursued. ''[[Scientific American]]'' magazine decided to investigate Dr. Abrams' claims. ''Scientific American'' was interested in the matter as readers were writing letters to the editor saying that Abrams' revolutionary machines were one of the greatest inventions of the century and so needed to be discussed in the pages of the magazine.

''Scientific American'' assembled a team of investigators who worked with a senior Abrams associate given the pseudonym "Doctor X". The investigators developed a series of tests and the magazine asked readers to suggest their own tests. The investigators asked Doctor X to identify six vials containing unknown [[pathogens]]. It seems likely that Doctor X honestly believed in his Abrams machines; in fact, he allowed the ''Scientific American'' investigators to observe his procedure. Doctor X got the contents of all six vials completely wrong. He examined the vials and pointed out that they had labels in red ink, which produced vibrations that confounded the instruments. The investigators gave him the vials again with less offensive labels, and he got the contents wrong again.

The results were published in ''Scientific American'', and investigators continued their work.<ref>Austin C. Lescarboura, "Our Abrams Investigation – VI." A Study of the Late Dr. Albert Abrams of San Francisco and His Work. Scientific American 1924 March; 130 (3):159 <br>
Austin C. Lescarboura, "Our Abrams Verdict. The Electronic Reactions of Abrams and Electronic Medicine in General Found Utterly Worthless. Scientific American 1924 Sep; 131 (3):158-159</ref> Abrams offered to "cooperate" with the investigators, but always failed to do so on various pretexts.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=GLIxAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Albert+Abrams%22+3,500| title = CA: A Journal for Cancer Clinicians, 1950| last1 = Cameron| first1 = Charles S.| year = 1994}}</ref> Abrams never actually participated in the investigation, and in ERA publications asserted he was a victim of unjust persecution.<ref>{{cite book
|title=New Concepts in Diagnosis and Treatment
|author=Albert Abrams
|year=1922
|publisher=Physico-Clinical Co.
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xNOAOd2dAWkC&dq=%22Albert+Abrams%22+persecution&pg=PR10
}}</ref>

===Debunking===
An AMA member sent a blood sample to an Abrams practitioner, and got back a diagnosis that the patient had [[malaria]], diabetes, cancer and syphilis. The blood sample was in fact from a [[Plymouth Rock (chicken)|Plymouth Rock rooster]].<ref name=Kaplan>[https://centerforinquiry.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2023/04/09193429/albert-abrams-fakery.pdf Doctor Abrams - Dean of Machine Quacks], by Jack Kaplan, in ''Today's Health''; published April 1966; archived at the [[Center for Inquiry]]</ref>

Similar samples were sent to other Abrams practitioners, and a few found themselves facing fraud charges in court. In a case in [[Jonesboro, Arkansas]], Abrams was called to be a witness, but he died of [[pneumonia]] at age 60 shortly before the trial began in January 1924.<ref>{{cite news
 | title ="Blood Healer" is Tried for Fraud| newspaper =The Evening Independent| date =January 14, 1924
 | url =https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=CvtPAAAAIBAJ&pg=2758,934706&dq=albert+abrams+jonesboro&hl=en| access-date =July 24, 2012}}</ref> After his death, investigators with the [[Food and Drug Administration]] opened some of the doctor's boxes. One produced a magnetic field, similar to a doorbell; another was a low-powered radio wave transmitter.<ref>{{cite news | last =Frost | first =Helena| title =Quacks Thrive Because People Want Quick Cures
 | newspaper =Beaver County Times| publisher =UPI| date =May 14, 1960
 | url =https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=uLwuAAAAIBAJ&pg=1422,2298390&dq=albert+abrams+md&hl=en| access-date =July 24, 2012}}</ref>

Psychologist [[Donovan Rawcliffe]] claimed that Abrams' devices had no scientific validity but his successors had "founded a good many special clinics in the United States and their number has by no means diminished in the ensuing years."<ref>[[Donovan Rawcliffe|Rawcliffe, Donovan]]. (1988). ''Occult and Supernatural Phenomena''. Dover Publications. pp. 364-366. {{ISBN|0-486-25551-4}}</ref>

==Selected publications==
*Abrams, Albert (1895). ''Transactions of the Antiseptic Club''<ref>{{Cite book|last=Abrams|first=Albert|title=Transactions of the Antiseptic Club|publisher=E. B. Treat|year=1895|location=New York|language=English}}</ref>''.'' New York: E. B. Treat. [A fictional comedic work on the state of the medical profession]
*{{cite book|author=Abrams, Albert|title=Scattered leaves from a physician's diary|year=1910|location=St. Louis, Missouri|publisher=Fortnightly Press|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006560318}}

==See also==
* ''[[Cults of Unreason]]'' by [[Christopher Evans (computer scientist)|Christopher Evans]]
* [[Elizabeth Holmes]]
* [[Health fraud]]
* [[Royal Rife|Royal Raymond Rife]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* Fishbein, M., ''The Medical Follies: An Analysis of the Foibles of Some Healing Cults, including Osteopathy, Homeopathy, Chiropractic, and the Electronic Reactions of Abrams, with Essays on the Anti-Vivisectionists, Health Legislation, Physical Culture, Birth Control, and Rejuvenation'', Boni & Liveright, (New York), 1925.
* Hale, A.R., ''[http://www.soilandhealth.org/03sov/0303critic/030315cults/cults-toc.htm "These Cults"]: An Analysis of the Foibles of Dr. Morris Fishbein's "Medical Follies" and an Indictment of Medical Practice in General, with a Non-Partisan Presentation of the Case for the Drugless Schools of Healing, Comprising Essays on Homeopathy, Osteopathy, Chiropractic, The Abrams Method, Vivisection, Physical Culture, Christian Science, Medical Publicity, The Cost of Hospitalization and State Medicine'', National Health Foundation, (New York), 1926.

==Further reading==
* ''The Work of Dr. Albert Abrams''. A four-part article series in the journal ''Mind and Matter'': [https://www.scribd.com/doc/169900379/Mind-and-Matter-v5-3 March], [https://www.scribd.com/doc/169899327/Mind-and-Matter-v5-4 June], [https://www.scribd.com/doc/169899328/Mind-and-Matter-v6-1 September] and [https://www.scribd.com/doc/169899325/Mind-and-Matter-v6-2 December] 1966.

==External links==
* [https://quackwatch.org/hx/mm/07-2/ The Medical Messiahs, chapter 7] – James Harvey Young, PhD
* [https://www.radionic.co.uk/ The Radionic Association]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060708041044/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/felfield/SURVEY.pdf Radionics: A Patient Survey by Tom Lafferty]
* [https://skepdic.com/radionics.html Radionics in the Skeptic's Dictionary]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150211172752/http://radionicshealing.com/ The Radionics Healing Guide]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abrams, Albert}}
[[Category:1863 births]]
[[Category:1924 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century American physicians]]
[[Category:Health fraud people]]
[[Category:Radionic practitioners]]
[[Category:Medical controversies in the United States]]
[[Category:Criminals from the San Francisco Bay Area]]