Volney Mathison
Volney Mathison was an American experimenter/hobbyist in early
biofeedback, galvanic skin response technology, and psychogalvanometer
(lie-detector machine) research in the 1940s and 1950s. He was also a
Chiropractor and an author of paranormal and Science Fiction books.
Mathison discovered through experiments with early lie-detectors during the
1940s that when the subject was reminded of certain past events, the lie
detector needle would fluctuate. He further determined that the degree of
fluctuation was in direct proportion to the strength of the subject's reaction.
It was Volney Mathison's idea, by way of his study of Carl Jung's theories, to create a
special lie-detector for examining unconscious and subconscious reactions rather
than conscious ones. This notion, however pseudoscientific, was directly
appropriated by fellow Science Fiction author
L. Ron Hubbard, who enlisted Mathison to build similar devices for use in
his still-developing concepts of Dianetics and Scientology. The devices were
called Mathison E-meters, short for "electro-psychometer" or sometimes "electroencephaloneuromentimograph".
Mathison and Hubbard's business relationship ended in the mid-1950s, when
Hubbard, who already had coerced Mathison into giving him exclusive rights to
the device, now urged Mathison to transfer complete ownership of the patent. He
refused. Hubbard discontinued use of the E-meter and issued a statement that
read in part:
As we long ago suspected, the intervention of a mechanical gadget
between the auditor and the preclear had a tendency to depersonalize the
session.
Four years later, in 1958, the E-Meter returned, but it was now called the
Hubbard E-Meter, with only slight modifications to the design having been
made by Don Breeding and Joe Wallis. E-meters once again became an essential
part of Scientology's Auditing process, and no further mention was made of the
four-year period in which Hubbard had disavowed it.
It has been noted by historians and critics that Mathison's concept of
"Personalized Recording Methodology", which he believed would render psychology
and psychiatry unnecessary, also seems to have been a considerable influence on
Hubbard's own philosophy.
Volney 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:
Selected Bibliography
Shortfiction
- The Death Bottle (1925)
- The Mongolians' Ray (1929)
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