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Volney G. Mathison was an American chiropractor, writer, and inventor of the E-meter.

Inventor

Mathison invented a device called an electroencephaloneuromentimograph or E-meter. He came up with the design for the device and subsequently built it in the 1940s. It was initially known as the "Mathison Electropsychometer". The E-meter "has a needle that swings back and forth across a scale when a patient when a patient holds on to two electrical contacts". Mathison was a chiropractor and psychoanalyst. He used the device with his patients in order to investigate their inner problems. He then employed self-hypnosis tapes, and instructed his patients to use these in order to address their "inner" issues. The device became popular and was used among other chiropractors. John Freeman writes in Suppressed and Incredible Inventions, "Recalling my visits at the height of his career, I remember that, while his results were outstanding, he was typically fought by the Medical Profession."

Mathison was a follower of Dianetics founded by L. Ron Hubbard. Hubbard incorporated Mathison's device into Scientology practices. Hubbard often called the inventor of the E-meter simply "Mathison" in his writings. According to author Paulette Cooper, Scientologists erroneously referred to the inventor of the E-meter as "Olin Mathison". Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst write in Trick or Treatment that "The E-meter was also widely used by the Church of Scientology, so much so that many Scientologists believe that it was invented by their founder L. Ron Hubbard."

After establishing usage of the E-meter in Dianetics, Hubbard sought for Mathison to turn over patent rights of the device to him. Mathison refused to give up the patent rights over the device, wishing that it remain the "Mathison E-meter". Usage of the E-meter in Dianetics practices was subsequently stopped by Hubbard in 1954. In writing that use of the E-meter should be discontinued, Hubbard said, "Yesterday, we used an instrument called an E-Meter to register whether or not the process was still getting results so that the auditor would know how long to continue it. While the E-Meter is an interesting investigation instrument and has played its part in research, it is not today used by the auditor.... As we long ago suspected, the intervention of a mechnical gadget between the auditor and the preclear had a tendency to depersonalize the session...." Scientology engineers manufactured a similar type of E-meter device, and this began usage in the movement in 1958. The version of the E-meter developed by Joe Wallis and Don Breeding was powered by a battery and was smaller than Mathison's device. This device was called the "Hubbard electrometer", and was seen as a necessary part of the Scientology practice of "Auditing". In 1966, Hubbard received a patent in the United States for a "Device for Measuring and Indicating Changes in Resistance of a Living Body".

Bibliography

Mathison authored a Science Fiction novel called Radiobuster, and also published many non-fiction books over the years on various topics, some less scientific than others:

• How to Achieve Past Life Recalls
• The Secret Power of the Crystal Pendulum
• Practical Self-Hypnosis
• Space-Age Self-Hypnosis
• The Secret of Lourdes Revealed
• Creative Image Therapy
• Electropsychometry
• The Power and Glory of Sex

References

1. ^ Cooper, Paulette (1971). The Scandal of Scientology. New York: Tower Publications. pp. 145–146. OCLC 921001.
2. ^ Singh, Simon (2008). Trick or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts about Alternative Medicine. W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 163–165. ISBN 0393066614. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
3. ^ Atack, Jon (1990). A Piece of Blue Sky. New York: Carol Publishing Group. pp. 128–129. ISBN 081840499X.
4. ^ Freeman, John (1987). Suppressed and Incredible Inventions. Health Research. p. 41. ISBN 0787310913.
5. ^ Pilkington, Mark (February 17, 2005). "Clear thinking". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved 2010-01-14.
6. ^ Pilkington, Mark (2007). Far Out: 101 Strange Tales from Science's Outer Edge. The Disinformation Company. pp. 85–87. ISBN 1932857877.
7. ^ Corydon, Bent (1992). L. Ron Hubbard: Messiah or Madman?. Barricade Books. pp. 332–333. ISBN 0942637577.

Further reading

• Messiah or Madman, expanded paperback edition, Bent Corydon, L.Ron Hubbard Jr., Barricade Books, 1992.
• Article from Fortnight magazine, 1953
• skepdic.com on the E-meter
• The Aberree, Vol. 8, #2, May 1961
• Early advertisements from Mathison
• List of Scientology patents, including Mathison's
• L.Ron Hubbard Jr.'s affidavit

• American chiropractors
• American inventors
• Scientology beliefs and practices
• American science fiction writers