And there was the case of Tom Hepker, a machinist, who was referred by a friend to a health machine quack who treated him with a so-called diagnostic machine for what Doctor Fraud said was a system full of arsenic and strychnine. After his pains got worse, Tom decided to see a real doctor, from whom he learned he was suffering from cancer of the lung. Yes, Tom caught it in time to stay alive. But he's a welfare case now -- a human wreck -- thanks to this modern witch doctor.

But the machine quack can cause far more than just suffering. In such diseases as cancer, tuberculosis, and heart disease, early diagnosis and treatment are so vital that the waste of time by the patient with Doctor Fraud's cure-all gadget can prove fatal. Moreover, the diabetic patient who relies on cure by the quack device and therefore cuts off his insulin intake can be committing suicide. For instance:

In Chicago, some time ago, Mr. H., age 27, a diabetic since he was six, stopped using insulin because he had bought a ``magic spike'' -- a glass tube about the size of a pencil filled with barium chloride worth a small fraction of a cent -- sold by the Vrilium Company of Chicago for $306 as a cure-all. ``Hang this around your neck or attach it to other parts of your anatomy, and its rays will cure any disease you have,'' said the company. Mr. H. is dead today because he followed this advice.

Doris Hull, suffering from tuberculosis, was taken by her husband to see Otis G. Carroll, a sanipractor -- a licensed drugless healer -- in Spokane. Carroll diagnosed Mrs. Hull by taking a drop of blood from her ear and putting it on his ``radionic'' machine and twirling some knobs (fee $50).