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In southern New
Jersey, in the town of Malaga, there is a street named Dinshaw Drive. An
inquiry as to the origin of the name would reveal the genuine but
checkered story of a highly creative Zarathushti gentleman who arrived on
these shores in 1911.
The street is named
after Dinshaw P. Ghadiali, medical healer, scientist, inventor, author,
aviator, and a man of many other avocations. His prowess was well
developed even before he arrived in the US. Born in Bombay, in 1873,
Dinshaw became an Assistant to the Science Professor at Wilson College, at
the age of 11.
Greatly attracted to
electricity and related subjects, he began installing electric lights,
and after a spell as an electric engineer on the P&Q Steamship Co, was
appointed Electric Engineer of Patiala State.
He first visited the
US in 1896 where he met Thomas Edison and other noted scientists. He began
to research the healing effect of color and light on the human body.
Twenty-three years were to pass before Dinshaw developed a healing system,
which he called the Spectro-Chrome. An example in present-day medical
practice is the use of blue light in the treatment of premature babies
born with jaundice.
After arrival in the
US in 1911, Dinshaw became a Professor at the New York College of
Engineering and Automobile Instruction. He invented the ‘Dinshaw
Automobile Engine Fault-Finder,’ for which he was offered $100,000. He
eventually donated the invention to the US government for use on aircraft
engines. In 1917, Dinshaw became a naturalized American citizen in Camden,
NJ, after he proved that he was of the white race.
At a New York City
parade of foreign-born Americans, Dinshaw carried a banner, leading the
parade of 75,000 for 11 hours. At the parade, his knowledge of aeronautics
became known, and he was appointed Governor of the New York City Police
Aviation School and commissioned as a Colonel and Commander of the New
York Police Reserve Air Service, which patrolled the harbor in case of
attack during the First World War. Dinshaw also flew the first police
airmail service, from New York to Philadelphia. Later, Mayor John Hylan
awarded him the Liberty Medal for his service to New York City.
In April 1920, after
completing his research on light. Dinshaw established a Spectro-Chrome
Institute in New York City, and moved it to Malaga in 1924. The next 46
years of his life were spent in practicing and teaching the color healing
system. He designed many instruments and accessories for the use of light.
The Spectro-Chrome
system, how-ever was misjudged and misunderstood. He was sued many times.
In 1931, Dinshaw was charged with grand larceny because Spectro-Chrome
could not have any effect on diseases. Dinshaw conducted his own defense
and was acquitted.
In 1947, at the
initiation of the Food and Drug Administration, Dinshaw was again tried
before a Camden court. He was fined $20,000 and was put on probation for
five years. His writings on
Spectro-Chrome were
ordered to be burned! In 1958, the FDA obtained a permanent injunction
against another Institute organized by Dinshaw. However, within the limits
of the injunction, Dinshaw continued to promote his concepts of healing by
the age of 92, in 1966. Dinshaw married 1902 and had two children who came
with him to the US. In 1913, Maneck returned to India and a divorce was
granted in 1922. He married Irene Grace Hoger in 1923 and fathered eight
more children, the last born in 1947. Three of Dinshaw's sons, Darius,
Roshan and Jal have continued to promote his work. Rev. Roshan Dinshaw
ministers to prisoners in New Jersey, and his brother Darius used to be
the head of the local Vegetarian Society. The Dinshaw Health Society was
formed in 1975.
[Sources: Darius
Dinshaw, Let There Be Light, 1985; M. L. Taylor, Dinshaw Ghadiali: The
Triumph of Sprectro-Chrome, the IN Side, Autumn 1986; Hillsdale's
Renaissance Man, Pascack Valley Tales, 1993, and a chance meeting between
the author and Roshan Dinshaw who owns an appliance repair shop in
Malaga.]
This article appeared in the FEZANA journal
of Spring 1997, and was reproduced on vohuman.org on February 11, 2005
courtesy of its author and FEZANA journal.
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