I Sing The Body Electric
Posted January 25, 2013 at 7:00 pm
By Douglas Platt, Museum Curator and Thomas Stearns, Researcher
The Museum recently acquired two fascinating therapeutic instruments from the early twentieth century—"The Master Violet Ray” and "The Monitor Electric Battery.” These were types of high-frequency generators that were made for in-home medical applications. Today’s entry focuses on the Master Violet Ray, which carried the tagline: "No home should be without one."
Manufactured by the Master Electric Company in Chicago, Illinois, the instrument is described as “a diffusion of an electrical current of tremendous power and resistance, into millions of tiny harmless units” and was purported to cure “innumerable instances” of illness and bodily discomfort.
Violet Ray devices were based on the theory that “all human ailments, with the exception of certain highly contagious and infectious diseases, [could] be traced to faulty circulation and impure blood.” When a person’s blood failed to circulate in a healthy manner, it became stagnant and absorbed impurities, resulting in “a condition of self-poison” that left the body susceptible to disease.
The Master Violet Ray’s “penetrating current” reportedly quickened vital processes and stimulated circulation, thereby washing away impurities from the affected region(s) and allowing the “purifying processes of nature” to occur. The blood, now free of poisons, was then able to take up oxygen and nutrition and return “laden with tissue-building material to every part of the body.” This process of regenerative stimulation, known as a “cellular massage,” restored energy and vitality to the entire bodily system—or so the manufacturer claimed.
Customers applied the device’s electrical current through “vacuum applicators” or electrodes, which diffused the current into “sprays of a beautiful deep violet color.” These sprays vibrated to and fro thousands of times per second and produced the “pleasing, invigorating, and corrective effect” characteristic of the Master Violet Ray’s cellular massage.
The device could be applied to the “most delicate parts of the body without the slightest harm,” as indicated by the various types of applicators available for purchase—seemingly one for every orifice. If one so desired, they could acquire electrodes specially designed for usage on the eyes, ears, nasal cavity, and inside the throat. For the more adventurous, there were “urethral electrodes,” “vaginal electrodes,” and “rectal electrodes”—though the manufacturer stressed “competent supervision” for these applicators.
The novel technology used in Violet Ray devices, (they were made possible by the “Tesla coil,” invented by the “electrical wizard” Nikola Tesla in the 1890s), along with their affordability and availability, made them an appealing option to people searching for quick and easy therapeutic relief. Endorsed by hospitals, sanitariums, and physicians, thousands of people across the United States used Violet Ray devices—and for a wide variety of issues, as suggested by this enticing advertisement from a late 1920s issue of Popular Mechanics Magazine:
“Let us tell you how thousands of men and women suffering from rheumatism, neuritis, paralysis, nervousness, skin diseases, headaches, constipation, sprains, prostate trouble, goiter, and many other ailments, even hay fever and asthma, have found quick relief – new health and vitality with this marvelous, scientific invention. Pains vanish almost instantly.” [1]
However, despite assurances that there was “no quackery or uncertainty” about the healing powers of Violet Ray devices, the U.S. Federal Food and Drug Administration sued manufacturers in the 1950s for “false and misleading” therapeutic claims.[2] Shortly thereafter, Violet Ray devices became illegal to produce and advertise, and most units were ordered destroyed. Master Electric Co., which manufactured our device, was the last of over three dozen manufacturers to exist in the United States.[3] Today, Violet Ray devices are still produced outside of the U.S. and are still used in Europe.
Although manufacturers may have exaggerated the therapeutic potential of Violet Ray devices, they certainly did not lie when they stated that these devices “last indefinitely”—ours still works beautifully.
Sources:
- The Master Violet Ray instructional booklet (Master Electric Co., publish date unknown)
- FDA Papers, Volume 1 (U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 1967), 36
http://archive.nlm.nih.gov/fdanj/bitstream/123456789/12749/3/ddnj04319.pdf - Popular Mechanics Magazine, vol. 50, no. 5 (Hearst Magazines, November 1928)
For more information on Violet Ray devices:
- http://www.electrotherapymuseum.com/MuseumVioletRays.htm
- Ellis Neiburger, “Shocking Dentistry: Modern Clinical Applications for an Old Dental Device,” Chairside Magazine (Fall, 2009); http://www.glidewelldental.com/dentist/chairside/issues/fall2009/clinical-techniques1.aspx
- Paul S. Cohen and Brenda H. Cohen, America’s Scientific Treasures: A Travel Companion (American Chemical Society, 1998), 312.
- Bill Fawcett, It Looked Good on Paper: Bizarre Inventions, Design Disasters, and Engineering Follies
(HarperCollins, 2009), 229-231.
[1] Popular Mechanics Magazine, vol. 50, no. 5 (Hearst Magazines, November 1928)
[2] FDA Papers, Volume 1 (U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 1967), 36
http://archive.nlm.nih.gov/fdanj/bitstream/123456789/12749/3/ddnj04319.pdf
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