The Spectro-Chrome

Object/Artifact

-

Museum Of American Heritage

Name/Title

The Spectro-Chrome

Entry/Object ID

1000.1573.18

Description

Spectro-Chrome visible light therapy device (quack medicine)

Made/Created

Manufacturer

Dinshah Spectro-Chrome Institute

Date made

1920

Notes

where made: Malaga, NJ model name: Spectro-Chrome Metry serial number: BS-7616

Color

Blue

Web Links and URLs

Item in Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, Article on the inventor and the machine in Cabinet magazine

Interpretative Labels

Label Type

curated description

Label

This visible light therapy device was created by Dinshah Pestanji Ghadiali, who claimed it could correct imbalances in the body by manipulating 12 colors of light. The cabinet contains a 1000-watt bulb, colored glass slides, 2 condenser lenses, a fan, and a water container for cooling. Ghadiali asserted that different colors of light could cure a variety of ailments, including severe burns, paralysis, blindness, and deafness.

General Notes

Note

On rolling stand, sliding color filters, only a lamp inside, one hour mechanical timer.