Edwin D. Babbitt

Edwin D. Babbitt
As pictured in "The Health Guide"
Born	1 February 1828(1828-02-01) Hampden, New York
Died	28 June 1905 (77) Rochester, New York
Occupation(s)	Physician
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Knox College, M.D. Cincinnati Eclectic Medical College, LL.D. (1883)
Affiliations	New York College of Magnetics • College of Fine Forces • Academy of Higher Sciences
Spouse(s)	Augusta Darling (m. 1857); Elizabeth Smith (m. 1879)
Influences A. J. Pleasonton

Edwin Dwight Babbitt (February 1, 1828 - June 28, 1905) was an American physician, Spiritualist, and early promoter of Chromopathy.

Background

Babbitt was born at Hamden, New York on 1 February 1828, to Samuel Tillotson Babbitt, a Congregationalist reverend, and Elizabeth (Smith) Babbitt. Prior to his work in the field of chromopathy, Edwin D. Babbitt was noted for his books on penmanship - what he called the "Babbittonian System" - and as founder of the Miami Commercial College (now the Miami-Jacobs Career College) in Dayton, Ohio. A deep interest in arcane matters, for which Babbitt is most well-known today, did not fully manifest until he was in his early forties, when he first became active as a Spiritualist and as a "psychophysician," practising out of Boston and New York. During this time period, Babbitt developed his theories of colour therapy and the fine forces, areas of study that would preoccupy him for the remainder of his life.

In the final decade of his life, Babbitt was frequently made to relocate his practices and chromopathic schools, bringing his wife and five children as he established and re-established himself in various locales. After first leaving New York (following the loss of a school charter) to East Orange, New Jersey (1893-6), Babbitt and family then moved across the country to California — Los Angeles, CA (1897-1901) and San Jose, CA (1901~3) — before eventually returning to New York, settling in Geneva, NY (1903-04), and finally Rochester, NY (1904-05).

Doctor of Magnetics

"...duly qualified to administer sun-baths, water-baths, massage, mental and psychological forces, electricity, suncharges, substances, and other refined natural agencies for upbuilding the system."

• Doctor of Magnetics, D.M., was a degree awarded by Babbitt's very own New York College of Magnetics, and later College of Fine Forces. The full course and degree was gladly made available for students via correspondence.

Chromopathy, or the New Science of Healing by Light and Color

"All fine elements upbuild the mental forces also and are more safe, penetrating and enduring than grosser elements."

• Babbitt's Lamp Shade, described in the ad copy as "The most Simple, Useful and Beautiful thing of the kind ever devised," is a translucent paper covering of a graded blue tint, producing a soft blue light to "soothe and strength the eye and nerves". Lamp Shade Holder extra.
• The Chromo Lens, described as being "5½ inches in diameter, made in the form of a double convex lens, and being hollow will hold about 8 ounces. These lenses are made of glass of different colors, and when filled with water will concentrate the rays of light into a brilliant focus by holding them from 6 to 11 inches from the object. Not only does each color when focused over different parts of the body which are diseased have a penetrating healing power, but the water inside after being exposed to the sun is found to possess a most refined medical power which is often more potent to heal than any drug."

A New Theory of Sex Selection

• "SAYS LIGHT CAN GOVERN SEX SELECTION; Eastern Physician Claims a Great Discovery. Prismatic Rays Said to Alter Prenatal Conditions. Demonstrations Will Be Made at One of the Prominent Colleges.", San Francisco Call (San Francisco, California) 94 (139): 1, 1903-10-17, http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/1903-10-17/ed-1/seq-1/ 
• "SAYS LIGHT GOVERNS SEX; Dr. Babbitt Claims to Have Discovered a Polychromatic Control", Minneapolis Journal (Minneapolis, Minnesota): 14, 1903-10-17, http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045366/1903-10-17/ed-1/seq-14/ 
• "Has New Theory on Sex Selection", Saint Paul Globe (St. Paul, Minnesota) 26 (319): 18, 1903-11-15, http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90059523/1903-11-15/ed-1/seq-18/ 

Other Therapeutic Innovations

• Psychomized Paper, in Acidulated (positive) and Alkaline (negative) forms, for use in magnetic self-healing. The acidulated paper was proposed by Babbitt as treatment for "chronic rheumatism, paralysis, dormant tumors, torpid liver, stomach or bowels, the low thypoid grade of fevers, cold feet, and general debility," while the alkaline paper was for "inflamed or hot portions of the body," as "burning fevers, etc." The paper itself was simple white tissue paper, saturated in a magnetised acid liquid, and was to be applied directly to the affected area, layered to increase thickness (and presumably increase potency) when necessary.
• Babbitt's "Sun and Vapor Bath", patented on 6 August 1889 under US Patent No. 408204, is described as "a solar thermolume, [which] has for its object to provide a new and improved solar and heating bath or apparatus for subjecting the body to the action of the sun's rays, steam, or other style of heat, or to the influence of electric light, for the purpose of curing various maladies and increasing physical and mental forces."

Selected Bibliography

Books

• "The Health Guide: Aiming at a Higher Science of Life and the Life-Forces" (1874)
• "The Principles of Light and Color; Including among Other Things the Harmonic Laws of the Universe, the Etherio-Atomic Philosophy of Force, Chromo Chemistry, Chromo Therapeutics, and the General Philosophy of the Fine Forces, Together with Numerous Discoveries and Practical Applications" (1878)
• "The Wonders of Light and Color, Including Chromopathy or the New Science of Color Healing" (1879)
• "Religion as Revealed by the Material and Spiritual Universe" (1881)
• "Human Culture and Cure, in six parts" [as follows]:
  1. "Philosophy of cure" (1887)
  2. "Marriage, sexual development and social upbuilding" (1895)
  3. "Mental and psychological forces" (1895)
  4. "The nervous system and insanity" (1898)
  5. "The bodily organs, their diseases and the great natural methods for their cure" (1903)
  6. -

Articles

• Babbitt, E. D. (1886-10-20), "A Glimpse of Paradise. The Greatest Social Movement Of The Ages - The Problem Of Happy Human Lives Solved By The Pacific Colony Co-Operation Planned On A Scientific Basis", The Spiritual Offering, https://archive.org/stream/newspaperarticle00owenrich#page/32/mode/2up