DINSHAH AND SPECTRO-CHROME

View Chronological History

The Healing Art of Spectro-Chrome

By Steven A. Ross

The effects of color and light on the human system are subjects of continuous scientific investigation. The research and experiments of the late Dinshah Ghadiali proved that the body could be tuned or adjusted from disease to health by systematically exposing it to colored light. An example of this effect is found in the medical practice of treating premature babies with Bilirubin Syndrome (jaundice) by exposing them to blue light, although the methodology is somewhat different from Ghadiali's.

Dinshah Ghadiali was born of Persian descent in Bombay, India, in the year 1873. At the age of eleven, he became assistant to the Professor of Mathematics and Science at Wilson College in Bombay. In his early career, Dinshah was Superintendent of Telephone and Telegraph for Dolphur State in India.

The year 1897 marked a permanent turning point in his medical career. The niece of a friend was suffering from mucous colitis. The attending physician was using the then accepted drugs, to no avail. Having read Edwin S. Babbitt's work, The Principles of Light and Color, and Blue and Red Light, by Dr. Seth Pancoast, Dinshah was aware of the theory of chromopathy (healing with colored light). Dinshah treated the young woman according to Dr. Babbitt's technique. The light from a kerosene lantern, filtered through an indigo colored glass, shone on her. Milk was placed in a bottle of the same color, exposed to the sunlight, and then given to her to drink. Dinshah writes, "The urgent straining to evacuate, which occurred perhaps a hundred times a day, abated to ten after one treatment; after three days she was able to get out of bed." This case was the beginning of Dinshah's intense investigation into the effects of colored light on the human organism.

In April of 1920, Dinshah introduced his system of healing with colored lights to the world in New York City. (He had taken up permanent residence in the United States in 1911.) He named his development Spectro-Chrome. In the next four years Dinshah trained over 800 professionals and lay persons. He also designed and sold color projectors and accessories.

The first indication of opposition to Spectro-Chrome emerged in the pages of the January 1924 Journal of the American Medical Association. The article ridiculed Spectro-Chrome and its originator as being preposterous, closing with the statements, "Some physicians, after reading this article, may wonder why we have devoted the amount of space to a subject that, on its face seems so preposterous as to condemn itself. When it is realized that helpless but credulous patients are being treated for such serious conditions as syphilitic conjunctivitis, ovaritis, diabetes mellitus, pulmonary tuberculosis and chronic gonorrhea with colored lights, the space devoted to this latest cult will not be deemed excessive."

An indictment in Buffalo, New York, in 1931 charged that Dinshah feloniously defrauded a purchaser by falsely representing Spectro-Chrome as a healing system. He defended Spectro-Chrome with the testimony of three physicians: Dr. Kate Baldwin, Dr. Martha Peebles and Dr. Welcome Hanor.

All three of the medical experts gave sworn testimony before the New York Supreme Court. Dr. Kate Baldwin, M.D., F.A.C.S., was Senior Surgeon at the Women's Hospital of Philadelphia, and had been using the Spectro-Chrome system for ten years. When she was asked by the prosecution if Spectro-Chrome would cure cancer, Dr. Baldwin stated that in many cases it would. She testified that she had used it to cure gonorrhea, syphilis, breast tumors, cataracts, gastric ulcers, and severe third-degree burns, "I may commence at the top of the head and cover practically every part of the body: ordinary inflammatory conditions of the eye, cataracts, glaucoma, hemorrhage into the retina and sclera, infection of the sinuses, bronchitis, pneumonia, pleurisy, tuberculosis, heart conditions (functional and organic), acute indigestion and ulcers of the stomach, asthma and hay fever, hiccoughs that had for ten days resisted all classical methods, cured in less than one day, all sorts of infections (local and systemic), abscesses, jaundice, kidney conditions, appendicitis…"

In fact, in an article printed in the Atlantic Medical Journal of April 1927, Dr. Baldwin stated that after thirty-seven years of active hospital and private practice in medicine and surgery, she produced quicker and more accurate results using Spectro-Chrome than with any other methods, and there was less strain on the patient.

Urging the medical profession to investigate the effect of color light on burns, she cited the following case history, "In very extensive burns in a child of eight years of age, there was almost complete suppression of urine for more than 48 hours, with a temperature of 105 to 106 degrees. Fluids were forced to no effect, and a more hopeless case is seldom seen. Scarlet was applied just over the kidneys at a distance of eighteen inches for twenty minutes, all other areas being covered. Two hours later, the child voided eight ounces of urine."

Dr. Martha Peebles also gave sworn testimony at the trial. Dr. Peebles was a doctor of medicine for twenty-four years, including twenty years working for the Department of Health for the City of New York. She was a physician for New York Life Insurance, and was a physician to the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I. During the war, she would attend up to 61 operations daily. She stated that she had been forced to retire due to ill health, but using the Spectro-Chrome system had restored her health. She had used seventeen color machines over ten years, and had treated cancer, hypertrophic arthritis, poliomyelitis, mastoiditis, and many other medical conditions.

Dr. Welcome Hanor, M.D., a medical doctor for over thirty years, provided sworn testimony that he had treated cancer, diabetes, gonorrhea, syphilis, ulcers, hemorrhage, neuritis, spinal meningitis, heart disorders, uremic poisoning, and other medical conditions.

The jury did not find Dinshah's healing system "preposterous." Ninety minutes of deliberation resulted in a verdict of 'Not Guilty.'

In 1947, Dinshah was tried in court for "mislabeling." Dinshah was found guilty and was forced to surrender all of the books, magazine articles and papers he had written on Spectro-Chrome to be burned! The estimated worth of the material that the government destroyed was $250,000. Dinshah was placed on five years probation, ordered to disassociate himself from Spectro-Chrome, and to close his institute.

In 1958, the FDA obtained a permanent injunction against Dinshah's institute. He worked under the limits of the injunction until his death in 1966.

A very interesting statement was made by Dr. A. J. Ochsner, M.D., F.A.C.S., who was an author on several texts on surgery during those years, "In a personal experience with septic infection, the pain was so severe that it seemed unbearable. When the use of electric light was suggested, it seemed unlikely that this could act differently from the other forms of therapy that had been employed. Upon applying the light, however, the excruciating pain disappeared almost at once, and since this experience, we have employed the light treatment in hundreds of cases of pain caused by septic infection, and quite regularly with results that were eminently satisfactory, not only in relief of pain, but also because the remedy assists materially in reducing the infection."

Dinshah's son, Darius, is alive and well, living in New Jersey. He has produced two books dealing with his father's work. Both of these books, Let There Be Light, which was written by Darius, and a reprint of his father's 1935 work, the Spectro-Chrome Metry Encyclopedia, are available from the World Research Foundation.

I have had personal experience with the Spectro-Chrome system over the last twenty years. My father, Stan, was told by physicians that he would not regain the use of his legs due to a spinal infection. Through the use of the Spectro-Chrome, my father did regain the full and complete use of his legs. I have personally been involved with, and witnessed results in, the application of Spectro-Chrome in over one hundred severe medical conditions. In the majority of these cases, the medical profession had nothing to offer those who chose to utilize this therapy.

There are several hundred articles published in reputable scientific and medical journals relating to the effects of light on biological functions, such as Volume 453 of the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, "The Medical and Biological Effects of Light." Here is an entire conference dedicated to the biological effects from the use of light and color.

I believe that color therapy is one of the most successful, yet non-invasive therapies in the world! It is also one of the easiest to use; it can be done by laypersons.

The medical profession has utilized color therapy for many years, such as in the example given in the beginning of this article. They may not want to call it as such, but it is.

A couple of years ago, I was asked by my brother if WRF had information concerning a therapy for his injured dog. The young dog had broken out of the yard, and been hit by and dragged under a car for approximately 90 feet. The dog was being brought to a veterinarian daily for fresh bandages. After our recommendation of color therapy, my brother began color tonations about one week after the accident. After four days of color tonations, the veterinarian remarked that he had not witnessed an animal healing so quickly from that type of injury. When my sister-in-law began to explain what they had been doing, the veterinarian said that he did not want to know. His next statement was, "Keep doing it, whatever it is."

By Steven A. Ross

Dinshah Pestanji  Ghadiali - A Chronological History
By Darius Dinshah

Dinshah P. Ghadiali, born in India, was my father. His last name often seemed too difficult for American tongues, so he preferred to be called by his first name. He was quite proud of having earned the rank of Colonel in the New York City Police Air Reserve. In time, he became widely known as "Col. Dinshah'.' I was named Darius Dinshah Ghadiali. in keeping with an Indian custom of children using their father's first name as their middle name. However, to the American mind, "Col. Dinshah" implied that Dinshah was his and my last name; so to simplify matters I legally dropped the "Ghadiali" as did my mother and most of my siblings. Now, when you read "Dinshah" in my book it is as he wished; and it means THE Dinshah, my father.

Dinshah was born to a family of Zoroastrian faith (sometimes called "The Religion of Light"). He zealously practiced his beliefs, with sincere respect for all persuasions. One of his favorite quotations was from the Bible, "And God said, 'Let there be Light...'" which now stands out as the fitting title for my book on the Dinshah method of healing with Light.

1873 Born in Bombay, India, on November 28th.

1876 Entered Bhulia Mehta's primary school.

1881 Began high school.

1884 Became assistant to the Professor of mathematics and science at Wilson College. Was awarded prizes for proficiency in English, Persian, and religion. He eventually learned eight oriental and eight occidental languages, some of them fluently.

1886 Took Bombay University examination.

1887 Gave experimental demonstrations in chemistry and physics at seven institutions of learning. Began study of medicine. Conducted his own business of installing electric lights, doorbells, burglar alarms, annunciator systems, etc.

1891 Began his oratorical career, on spiritual and scientific subjects with "The Electric Light: Its Production, Practicability, and Cheapness'.' Was initiated as a Fellow in the Theosophical Society; there, he commenced earnest study of "occultism" (true meaning; hidden knowledge; modem usage for devil worship, etc., is incorrect). Became a Lacto-vegetarian and teetotaler; this regimen he practiced and ardently advocated for the rest of his life.

1892 Erected several electric light installations. Was appointed Superintendent of Telephone and Telegraph for Dholpur State.

1893 Signed on as an Electrical Engineer (seaman) with the Peninsular and Oriental Steamship Company; went to London, England, and returned to India.

1894 Was appointed Electrical Engineer of Patiala State, and Mechanical Engineer of the Umballa Flour Mills.

1896 Made his first visit to the United States. Met Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla and other noted scientists. Lectured on x-rays and radioactivity; the New York Times and other newspapers termed him the "Parsee Edison'.' Returned to India to continue his professions there.

1897 Campaigned for a number of civil reforms throughout India; and developed his medical practice. During the bubonic plague of this and following years, the accepted medical treatment saved only 40% of the unfortunate sufferers. Over 60% of Dinshah's patients recovered by his closely watching the strength of the heart, using caffeine, ammonia, and other stimulants when needed; and the utilization of iodineterchloride, a nonofficial preparation. His later studies relating elements to Colors would classify this as having Color emanations of Lemon and Green.

The year 1897 also marked a turning point in his medical thinking: The niece of one of his Theosophical Society friends was dying from mucous colitis. The learned physician who was ministering to her used the then-accepted drugs to no avail. Dinshah was aware of the theory of chromopathy, having read The Principles of Light and Color (1878), by Dr. Edwin D. Babbitt; and Blue and Red Lights, or Light and its Rays as Medicine (1877), by Dr. Seth Pancoast.

Convinced that the only hope for her recovery lay in an unorthodox healing method, he proceeded according to Dr. Babbitt's technique. The light from a kerosene lantern, with an Indigo-colored glass bottle used as a filter, was shone on her. Milk was placed in another bottle of the same color as the filter bottle and then exposed to Sunlight; she later drank the milk. The urgent straining to evacuate, which occurred perhaps a hundred times a day, abated to ten after one day of treatment; after three days she was able to get out of bed. Saving this near-fatal case was the beginning but twenty-three years passed before his scientific researches culminated in the healing system he called SPECTRO-CHROME.

1899 Became stage manager of the Bombay Theater and installed there one of the earliest electric motion-picture projectors. He also appeared onstage as an actor.

1900 Established the "Electro-Medical Hall" at Ajmer, India, for healing by color, magneto-therapy, electro-therapy, suggesto-therapy, as well as orthodox medicine.

1901 Opened another Electro-Medical Hall, in Surat, India. Dinshah became known for his successful treatment of bubonic plague, and so-called incurable diseases.

1902 Married Manek H. Mehta.

1904 Was elected Chairman of the "Nanpura Parsee Community" a group organized to help the poor.

1905 Started his own weekly newspaper, "Impartial"; his editorials exposing corrupt officials created an uproar. Stricken with tuberculosis, Dinshah was given six months to live by a medical consultant who advised him, "Take plenty of rest, eat some meat and drink some wine for strength" Dinshah steadfastly maintained his principles, and recovered his health by following a rigorous regimen of work and physical training with no meal, no wine, and LESS rest.

1908 Left India and travelled around Europe promoting some of his inventions.

1909 Lectured on Prohibition in London, England. In order to provide drinkers with a substitute, he began selling fruit juices (processed in Switzerland) under the name "Alcohol-Free Wines'.'

1911 Emigrated to the United States with his wife and two children.

1912 Despite his qualifications, steady employment was not his lot; privations eventually caused Manek to leave the family and return to India. Developed the "Dinshah Automobile Engine Fault-Finder" and an "Anti-Forgery Electric Pen": and formed companies to market them.

1913 Began manufacture of the "Fault-Finder'.' He was offered $100,000 for the invention, but later donated it to the United States government for use on aircraft engines.

1914 Organized the "Dinshah Photokinephone Corporation" for developing a sound-on film, shutterless, flickerless motion-picture projector. A patent application was later filed on the apparatus.

1917 Was naturalized as a citizen of the United States.

1918 Received a commission as a Captain in the New York City Police Reserve. Joined the American Association of Progressive Medicine.

1919 Was appointed Governor of the New York City Police Aviation School, and later was commissioned Colonel and Commander of the New York Police Reserve Air Service. Two aircraft were obtained from the federal government for patrolling the New York harbor. He flew the first police airmail, New York to Philadelphia. For his meritorious service to the city, New York Mayor John Hyland awarded Dinshah the Liberty Medal. Served as Vice-President of the Allied Medical Associations of America, and the National Association of Drugless Practitioners. Healing was always in his mind, even if not at the forefront.

1920 While the year 1897 marked a turning point in Dinshah's thinking, 1920 was pivotal in many other ways. His research completed, in April he delivered the first lecture on Spectro-Chrome therapy. The Spectro-Chrome Institute was established in New York City. The first class for training in the use of Spectro-Chrome began in December with 27 in attendance.

In the next four years he conducted 26 such classes in cities from coast to coast, with 800 in attendance. Their occupations covered most branches of the medical profession, as well as many laypersons. He eventually taught one hundred classes. This then was the pattern for the second 46 years of his life: Lecture, write books on Spectro-Chrome, teach classes, design Color equipment and accessories such as the Sympathometer, Itisometer, Spirometer, Antinude, and Nurmand (descriptions are in Chapter four of Let There Be Light); and defend himself and his work in numerous litigations. Lawsuits were fought in Portland OR, Cleveland Oil, Buffalo NY, Wilmington DE, Washington DC, Brooklyn NY, and twice in Camden NJ. His defense was successful in Buffalo (1931) against a charge of grand larceny-that the complainant was defrauded because Spectro-Chrome could not have any effect on diseases; Dinshah proved that it did with several lay and medical practitioners testifying for him (see Chapter 11, A Triumph for Spectro-Chrome). In Camden (first lawsuit), he won by documenting that he was of the white race and therefore should not be deported, 17 years after he had been naturalized.

The rest of the litigations were lost, resulting in penalties ranging from $25 to $20,000; and prison sentences from two months to five years, of which 18 months were served. These continuing setbacks he bore stoically with an unbounded confidence in the value of his System and its eventual vindication and acceptance.

1922 Divorce from Manek granted on grounds of desertion.

1923 Married Irene Grace Hoger; they were blessed with eight children, the last born in 1947.

1924 Acquired a 23-acre property in Malaga NJ which then became the Spectro-Chrome Institute headquarters.

1933 Wrote the Spectro-Chrome Metry Encyclopedia which has come to be known as an authoritative treatise on Color therapy. As a definitive work, other authors often quote material in it.

1937 Ran as an independent candidate for Governor of New Jersey. Came in next to last in the vote count.

1939 Made an around-the-world tour: lecturing and opening two offices in India for promoting Spectro-Chrome.

1941 Dissolved the corporate entity of Spectro-Chrome Institute; chartered the Dinshah Spectro-Chrome Institute, a nonprofit corporation. Institute activities severely hampered by a U.S. Post Office fraud-order. This is an administrative procedure, not a lawsuit, ordering the local postmaster to return to the senders all mail addressed to the "offender" stamped with the notation, "FRAUDULENT, Mail to this address returned by order of Postmaster General" The order stands to this day.

1944 Donated a fire engine and siren to the Malaga Volunteer Fire Company. His appreciation of the community's need for more modern fire protection turned out to be quite prophetic.

1945 A calamitous fire on January 2nd totally destroyed the Institute's main building, despite the efforts of several fire battalions. Dinshah lost all his scientific demonstration equipment, invention models, library, case histories, personal belongings, etc. The loss materially handicapped his defense in the Brooklyn lawsuit which was fought three months later, and in the Camden litigation of 1947-48. The disaster also rendered some of his books out-of-print, but many others were separately warehoused.

1947 A six-week trial in Camden NJ, initiated by the Federal Food and Drug Administration, resulted in a fine of $20,000 and probation for Dinshah for five years with the stipulation that he dissolve the Institute and dissociate himself from any form of promotion of Spectro-Chrome. He also was ordered to surrender for destruction all books in his possession relating to Spectro-Chrome; their total value may have amounted to $250,000 (in 1948 dollars). He was permitted to keep one set of his writings for his personal library.

1953 His probation completed, Dinshah organized another nonprofit corporation, the Visible Spectrum Research Institute. The Colour devices, now called "Visible Spectrum Projectors; were sold with a warning stating that according to then-accepted medical views the Projectors had no curative or therapeutic value.

1958 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration obtained a permanent injunction against the Visible Spectrum Research Institute, preventing shipment across State lines of Colour Projectors and books pertaining to them. Even some books unrelated to Spectro-Chrome were banned (Freedom of the Press?). The Court held that even though there were warnings on the Projectors and books, stating their lack of orthodox medical acceptance, they were the same misbranded articles of the 1947 decision against the previous corporation (res adjudicata). The injunction still stands. The injunction compelled Dinshah to limit most of his activities to the State of New Jersey where he sold a few Projectors and books, and delivered a few lectures. It was a time of forced semiretirement.

1966 April 30th. Dinshah ceased his work on this level. The body was cremated, in accordance with his wishes. The name Dinshah means "King of Duty" and a man could not have been named more aptly. He was a man with faults and foibles, as any man may have; but when duty called the bell had to ring only once.

Shanti

1966 Having been raised in the service of the Institutes, three of Dinshah's sons assumed the responsibilities of conducting the Institute's affairs: Darius, Trustee and President; Roshan, Trustee, Vice President and Treasurer; Jal, Secretary (and later, Trustee). A new compact colour projector was designed and marketed in New Jersey. Darius spoke each year at several meetings. Some material which could not be sent across State boundaries was written and printed in many States.

1975 The Institute's Trustees, and members at their 1975 annual Convention meetings, decided that it was too great a handicap to continue working under the Court injunction. The corporate entity of the Visible Spectrum Research Institute was then dissolved. November 15th. The Dinshah Health Society was registered as a nonprofit corporation, with the express aim of stimulating interest in, and promulgating knowledge of, lesser known methods of restoring and maintaining health.

1977 The U.S. Internal Revenue Service approved the Society's application for status as a nonprofit, scientific, educational organization, for tax exemption purposes.

1978 The Spectro-Chrome System was written when the Society became aware of the need for a concise manual on the Dinshah method of colour therapy.

1985 Requests for more in-depth instructions on Spectro-Chrome resulted in the rewriting and expansion of "The Spectro-Chrome System'.' Due to the considerable amount of new material, it was retitled Let There Be Light.

1989 Increasing interest overseas prompted the Society to translate and print "Let There Re Light" in the German language: Es werde Licht. Later, other Society literature also was printed in German.

1993 My Spectro-Chrome, a six hour video monolog, was produced by the Society to increase the means of promoting and understanding Spectro-Chrome therapy.

1995 Second edition of Let There Be Light was published, containing three additional chapters, and revisions. Other editions followed in later years with few changes.

1997 Spectro-Chrome Guide, a condensed version of Let There Be Light was published.