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The man. Albert Abrams was born in San Francisco in 1863. He studied at the University of Heidelberg, received his M. D. at 20. For a number of years he occupied a respected place in the medical fraternity of the Coast, was a professor in Cooper Medical College (later the medical school of Leland Stanford, Jr., University) and an officer in various medical societies. Until two years ago he was a member of the American Medical Association. For some years he was interested in " spondylotherapy," a system of " physiotherapy of the spine" invented by him. About 1912 he began to experiment with electrical apparatus, made public his system of " electronic reactions " and since then has invented many new features and mechanisms. These he sells or rents to other physicians, giving courses in his therapeutic system at $200 tuition. Whether or not Dr. Abrams makes a large income from his interests, it is admitted that Abrams practitioners in many cases make from $1,000 to $2,000 a week. Among these are a few men with M. D. degrees from reputable medical colleges, but many who have unsavory reputations for proved quackery throughout the country.
His machines. Abrams' main card is his method of "splanchno-diagnosis" (abdominal). It is applied to blood specimens, cultures of tissues from the body of a patient, or even to samples of his handwriting! The tests may be conducted in absentia with the patient 3,000 miles away. For best results the samples must be taken under certain prescribed conditions—dim light, no red in room, patient facing west! The specimens are placed on aluminum electrodes in a small, round box called a "dynamizer," connected by an elaborate wiring system with a "rheostat dynamizer" for amplifying the reactions, a " vibratory rate rheostat" and a "measuring rheostat" for determining the wave rate "ohmage" of the specimen. These are connected to an electrode on the forehead of a healthy human being, called the " re-agent," who stands stripped to the waist and barefooted on two metal grounding plates. The doctor "percusses" the abdomen of the reagent, i.e., thumps the back of his left hand with the middle finger of his right, on which is a weighted thimble. The abdomen normally shows a "line of dullness," below which a hollow sound is elicited. Different diseases in the patient's blood specimen cause different "areas of dullness" in the abdomen of the re-agent. Abrams claims to diagnose by this method not only the specific disease and its location, but also the sex, race and religion of the patient. Areas of dullness are distinguished for Catholics, Methodists, Seventh Day Adventists, Theosophists, Protestants and Jews! The diagnoses seem to be restricted in number, but include several serious microbic diseases — tuberculosis, typhoid, acquired or congenital "diminished resistance" (euphemistic for syphilis), carcinoma (cancer), sarcoma (tumor), gonorrhea, malaria, influenza, colon septicaemia, streptococcus and staphylococcus infections. Most patients have traces of several of these, and the majority are found to have some form of syphilis. Autographs of Samuel Johnson, Poe, Longfellow, Oscar Wilde, Samuel Pepys and Bret Harte have been tested by Dr. Abrams, revealing that all of them suffered from various dread diseases,