Babbitt's Method
In 1878, Edwin Babbitt, M.D., utilized two forms of color therapy, and outlined the principles of modern color therapy in his book, The Principles of Light and Color. He invented the Chromodisc which had sunlight pass through various colors of glass. The light hitting one area of skin could effect the entire body as it entered the local blood vessels carrying its properties to the organ through the bloodstream. He also made "solar elixirs", or suncharged water. This is as simple as brewing sun tea. You leave water setting in sunlight in a colored bottle. Drinking "blue water" would cure a sore throat.
Dinshah's Influence
In 1920, Dinshah Ghadiali, a doctor from India who came to New Jersey, developed a program called Spectro-Chrome. He outlined 22 areas on the skin for exposure to light and which corresponding organs would be effected. In addition to the seven colors of the spectrum, he used scarlet (red plus blue), lemon (yellow plus green), turquoise (green plus blue), purple and magenta (red plus violet). He assigned certain healing properties and an affinity for certain organs to each color. By using the right color on the right area, or in combinations, he had a treatment program for a host of illnesses. His most famous student was Kate Baldwin, M.D., who was the Chief Surgeon at a Philadelphia hospital. In 1926, she was quoted as saying, "After nearly 37 years of active hospital and private practice in medicine and surgery, I can produce quicker and more accurate results with colors than with any or all other methods combined."
Spitler's Syntonic Principle
In 1941, Harry Riley Spitler, M.D., O.D., wrote The Syntonic Principle. Syntony means "to bring to balance". He balanced the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system by administering light through the eyes. "Blue light" stimulates the parasympathetic and "red light" the sympathetic nervous systems. Today, there are hundreds of optometrists practicing light therapy by projecting light through the retina directly into the central nervous system. Their work is supported and documented through membership in the School of Syntonic Optometry.
