The king of quacks: Albert Abrams, M.D.; one of the greatest quacks of all time was Albert Abrams, M.D. Abrams earned the dubious distinction of "the dean of twentieth century charlatans" the American Medical Association

The physician is the most convincing of all quacks. He has both the knowledge and the authority to promote his claims, no matter how outlandish. In the history of physician-quacks, the undisputed king is Dr. Albert Abrams. This Stanford professor was given the dubious distinction as the "dean of twentieth century charlatans," according to the American Medical Association in 1924 (Cramp 1936).

Quack is short for quacksalver, which means one who "quacks," or makes a loud noise, about a remedy, such as a salve (Randi 1995). The requirements for a convincing quack are threefold. First, he must pretend to have knowledge of some remarkable medical remedy. Second, he must be a convincing liar. And finally, he must have a gullible victim. As Benjamin Franklin once said, "There are no greater liars in the world than quacks--except for their patients" (Randi 1995).

Even though history has revealed multitudes of charlatans, their victims often remain their most ardent supporters. Hope, and the desire to believe, are powerful forces that quacks exploit to great advantage. While many today laugh at those who fell victim to Dr. Abrams's ridiculous methods and treatments, the spirit of his work is still alive and well. The story of how Abrams achieved the title of the dean of American quackery is a fascinating tale.

Abrams began his career in the conventional way, obtaining a medical degree at the early age of twenty from the University of Heidelburg in 1882. He pursued postgraduate studies in Berlin, Paris, Vienna, and London before returning to his native San Francisco.

Little is known of his childhood, however E. W. Page wrote in 1939 that Abrams's parents instilled in him a desire to dominate others by intellectual achievement. Abrams came to feel that that he was destined to become a sage, or even a prophet, and to possess both wealth and power (Bailey 1978).

In 1893 Abrams accepted the position of Professor of Pathology at Cooper Medical College, the predecessor of Stanford University. Early in his career, he began writing and publishing on a wide range of medical subjects, including textbooks on clinical diagnosis and cardiology. He also published several collections of essays containing references to quackery.

By 1900, Abrams began to turn increasingly from mainstream medicine to more eccentric beliefs. In rapid succession, he published Nervous Breakdown in 1901, The Blues (Splanchnic Neurasthenia) in 1904, Diseases of the Lungs in 1905, and Man and His Poisons in 1906.

In The Blues, he set forth his theory that neurasthenia (similar to nervous exhaustion) resulted in part from stagnation of the blood in the abdominal veins. Treatment consisted of physical exercise to strengthen the abdominal muscles. He also introduced an apparatus of his own design to accomplish the strengthening. Man and His Poisons contained one of the first electrical devices designed by Abrams to be used in treatment.

But his true break with conventional medicine occurred in 1910 with the publication of Spondylotherapy. He claimed to be able to diagnose and cure disease by a steady, rapid percussing of the spine. The California Medical Society declared the technique "a hybrid of up-stage osteopathy and chiropractic" (Cramp 1936).

A review of the technique was critical, but Abrams cleverly twisted the wording to make it an endorsement, which he then featured in advertising. The book was popular with the public, rapidly selling through five printings. Abrams embarked on a lecture tour, charging $200 to teach spondylotherapy to anyone willing to pay the fee.

Several years later, Dr. Morris Fishbein of the American Medical Association wrote, "Apparently having percussed the back to the fullest extent of what it would yield monetarily, Dr. Albert Abrams turned the patient over and began to percuss the abdomen" (Fishbein 1927). His new system, however, was much more complex and capitalized on America's fascination with radio and the invention of new gadgets.

Electricity had provided a tremendous boost to quackery. In the early twentieth century, America became hooked on radio. Abrams pronounced, "The spirit of the age is radio, and we can use radio in diagnosis" (Abrams 1925). In 1917 Abrams published his electronic theory of diseases, called "Electronic Reactions of Abrams," or E.R.A., inaugurating one of the most famous cults of all time.

E.R.A. proposed that the human body possessed a characteristic rate of electronic vibration in health and disease. By measuring altered vibratory rates, the type, severity, and location of any disease could be determined. These vibratory rates were measured by an instrument invented by Abrams, the dynamizer.

By linking the dynamizer to a series of other machines, Abrams claimed he could harness the new force, which would revolutionize the field of diagnostics. The system worked like this: a drop of blood on a piece of paper, a piece of preserved tissue or even a handwriting sample, or photograph from the diseased person was all that was needed to yield a diagnosis. Each of these samples supposedly possessed the vibratory rate of the diseased person.