Scientific American Investigation of the Electronic Reactions of Abrams

Method

A year-long committee investigation (reported monthly from October 1923 to September 1924, at a cost of about $20,000) testing ERA practitioners with blinded specimens, including vials of pure single-germ cultures submitted for electronic diagnosis.

Findings

• In the committee's first test, six vials of pure single-disease cultures were each diagnosed as groupings of many diseases — a tube of pneumococcus returned syphilis, tuberculosis, streptococcus, malaria and influenza.
• The committee's final statement: the claims advanced on behalf of the electronic reactions of Abrams and of electronic practice in general are not substantiated and have no basis in fact.