THE THERAPEUTIC VALUE OF LIGHT AND COLOUR
Kate Baldwin, M.D.
Kate Baldwin was one of the hundreds of physicians trained by Dinshah. As a highly credentialled and eminent surgeon she was a member of the AMA, but she was also a vociferous advocate of Spectro-Chrome Therapy and defender of Dinshah throughout her life. The following is excerpted from her paper presented at the clinical meeting of the Section on Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Diseases of the Medical Society of the State of Pennsylvania, October 12, 1926. Reprinted from the Atlantic Medical Journal, April, 1927.
For centuries scientists have devoted
untiring effort to discover means for the relief or cure of human ills and
restoration of the normal functions. Yet in neglected light and colour there
is a potency far beyond that of drugs and serums.
In order that the whole body may function perfectly, each organ must be a hundred per cent perfect. When the spleen, the liver, or any other organ falls below normal, it simply means that the body laboratories have not provided the required materials with which to work, either because they are not functioning, as a result of some disorder of the internal mechanism, or because they have not been provided with the necessary materials. Before the body can appropriate the required elements, they must be separated from the waste matter. Each element gives off a characteristic colour wave. The prevailing colour wave of hydrogen is red, and that of oxygen is blue, and each element in turn gives off its own special colour wave. Sunlight, as it is received by the body, is split into the prismatic colours and their combinations, as white light is split by passage through a prism. Everything on the red side of the spectrum is more or less stimulating, while the blue is sedative. There are many shades of each colour, and each is produced by a little different wavelength. Just as sound waves are tuned to each other and produce harmony or discords, so colour waves may be tuned, and only so can they be depended on always to produce the same results.
If the body is sick it should be restored with the least possible effort. There is no more accurate or easier way than by giving the colour representing the lacking elements, and the body will, through its radioactive forces appropriate them and so restore the normal balance. Colour is the simplest and most accurate therapeutic measure yet developed.
For about six years I have given close attention to the action of colours in restoring the body functions, and I am perfectly honest in saying that, after nearly thirty-seven years of active hospital and private practice in medicine and surgery, I can produce quicker and more accurate results with colours than with any or all other methods combined—and with less strain on the patient. In many cases, the functions have been restored after the classical remedies have failed. Of course, surgery is necessary in some cases, but results will be quicker and better if colour is used before and after operation. Sprains, bruises and traumata of all sorts respond to colour as to no other treatment. Septic conditions yield, regardless of the specific organism. Cardiac lesions, asthma, hay fever, pneumonia, inflammatory conditions of the eyes, corneal ulcers, glaucoma, and cataracts are relieved by the treatment
The use of colour in the treatment of burns is well worth investigation by every member of the profession. In such cases the burning sensation caused by the destructive forces may be counteracted in from twenty to thirty minutes, and it does not return. True burns are caused by the destructive action of the red side of the spectrum, hydrogen predominating. Apply oxygen by the use of the blue side of the spectrum, and much will be done to relieve the nervous strain, the healing processes are rapid, and the resulting tissues soft and flexible.
There is no question that light and colour are important therapeutic media, and that their adoption will be of advantage to both the profession and the people.