Spondylotherapy: spinal concussion and the application of other methods to the spine in the treatment of disease.

San Francisco:: Philopolis Press, 1910., 1910. 243 x 162 mm. 8vo. xvii, 400 pp. 97 figs., bibliog., index. White cloth; spine dust soiled, lightly rubbed. Ownership signatures. Very good. FIRST EDITION. The medical spurious technique called by Albert Abrams "Spondylotherapy, " was developed based on principles derived from chiropractic and osteopathic methods. "In the first quarter of the 20th century, Albert Abrams, M.D. devised what may be the greatest medical hoax of all time. His credentials as a medical man, combined with the public's fascination with and lack of understanding of the newly introduced radio set the stage for the marvelous theatrics (truncated) which still play today in some bizarre corners of the "New Age" movement." - Van Vleck. "In 1910, his book on "Spondylotherapy" ("Physio-Therapy of the Spine") was reviewed in THE JOURNAL. "Spondylotherapy" is a neologic creation of Dr. Abrams. According to its disciples, it concerns itself "only with the excitation of the functional centers of the spinal cord" and has been called "the science of evoking the reflexes of the body both to diagnose and to cure disease." – Retrieved from: MuseumofQuackery. The employment of remedial measures to the spinal region in the treatment of disease. Abrams was Jewish American physician, born in San Francisco, took his medical degree in 1881 from the Medical College of the Pacific, then turned to Heidelberg, Berlin, Paris and London to further his skills. He received a medical degree from Cooper College, where he continued to teach as a demonstrator of pathology. He became famous for his numerous inventions to diagnose and cure diseases and ailments. Many of these devices were soon proven to be fake or intentionally deceptive. He even developed a device called the "Radio Disease Killer" – rarely seen and totally valueless for what it was purported to be – now highly valued as a collector's item. In 1889 he was elected vice-president of the California State Medical Society, then San Francisco Medico-Chirurgical Society in 1893. In 1922 Upton Sinclair wrote a letter in support of Abrams. Concurrently there were several articles in medical journals questioning Abrams' credentials and his 'science.' Cordasco 00-0020; Richard Van Vleck, "The Electronic Reactions of Albert Abrams," American Artifacts No.39. (Inventory #: M3760)