Quekett Journal o[ Microscopy , 2003, 39, 459-473 459

Rife and his microscopes

BRIAN BRACEGIRDLE

Introduction with raruo waves tuned tO a pa时cular length for each

kind of 0喀anism， was claimed today by a San Diego
In the 1930 s some newspapers in the USA carried scientist, Royal R. Rife与 Pt. Loma. He added that he had
as tOnishing reports about Royal Raymond R迁e. isolated this cance.r organism but is not positive yet 出at
They said that he had invented a wonderful it is the rurect cause of the disease.. .. Organisrns from
rnicroscope, capable of visualizing filterable virus tubercu1osis, cancer, sarcoma, the tumOr resembling
particles, and they carried reports of his having cancer but not so mortal as itj deadly streptococcω
made an electrical device with which he cured infection, typhoid fever , staphylococcus infection and
cancer, rapidly and painlessly. two forms of leprosy were among the many which the
scientist reported are killed by the waves.
It would be tedious tO rep由lt very much of the
kind of thing which w as written, but the following Even to the present day there is much interest
verbatim extracts are typica l. in Rife and what he is said to have done . just tap
San Diego Union , 3 Nωember 1929: the word "Rife" into your web search-engine, and
NEW APPARA'I'USES UNVE1L HIOOEN MJCROBE be astonished at the result! The majority of the
UNJVERSE TO HUMAN EYE queries on matters microscopical currently
Can you imagine a motion picture film whose hero is received at the Science Museum concern their
tiny enough to use the head of a pin for a ballroom Rife instrument.
floor and invite all his neighbors to come for a da.nce? It is not, of course, my purpose in this article to
Can you imagine the film showing that tiny hero being offer any judgement on his cancer cure, althou:出
formed within the egg, breaking the shell to escape, 1 shall outline something of various reports 00 his
living the normal span of life and dying at a ripe old
age? It takes a bit of imagini吨， true enough, but it's machine and its results. 1 shall discuss the IDÌcro-
being done right out on Point Lo ma. Microbes, bacilli, scopical results he claimed tO have obtained , and
and the smallest units of the vegetable kingdom are 1 shall discuss his five microscopes, with special
yielding up the secretS of their lives to 出e moving reference to the fifth. This 1 have inspectel fully
picrure camera. . .. [R.R. RifeJ has pho吨raphed Bacil. during my work with the microscopy collections
lus Tetanus,or the germ of 1ωkjaw， at 13，1α)() times the of the Science Museum, and so can describe it in
od院lal size. 币1岳阳largement， be says, gave it a 望且 detai1.
that never before has been seen, making it app臼r
similar tOa lollipop on a stick. Then be concentrated
on the spore, and by building it up to 217，0∞ times he Royal Rayrnond Rife, 1888-1971
made it look like a chrysanthemum.
Los Angeles 1imes, 22 November 1931: Rlle, who usually called himself Roy, was born
SCIENCE'S LATEST STRIOES IN WAR ON Ius DJs. 16 May 1888, in Elkhorn, N ebraska, US A. It is
CLOSED. said that he went to live in San Diego, Califorrua
DEVELOPMENT BY SAN DIEGAN HAILEO AS BOONTO in 1906, and later became the chauffeur to wealthy
MEOICAL RESEARCH. retired Henry Timken , of the Timken roller-
Scienti且c discoveries of the greatest magnitude , includ. bearing and axle company. In 1906, of course,
ing a discussion of the world's most powerful micro. Rife would have been only 18 years old, but that
scope recently perfected after 14 years of effort by Dr. was old enough to get a driver's licence.
Royal R. Rife of San Diego, were described Friday Timken had a retirement home in Point Lo ma,
evening to members of the merucal profession....
San Diego , and Rife lived in a small apartment
Through the use of Dr. Rife's powerful microscope,
said tO have a visual power of magni且cation tO 17，'α)() over the garage. H e used a corner of his flat as a
times, compared with 2α)() times of whicb the ordinary little workshop to tinker at his hobby, micro-
microscope is capable, Dr Kendall said he could see 由E scopes and related optical parts. Timken came to
typhoid bacilli in the filterable or formerly invisible know of this, and, it seems, was sufficiently
stage. It is probably the fìrst time the minute filterable impressed to send Rife tO G ermany , where he is
[vÎrusJ organisms ever bave been seen. said to have worked in both Ze iss and Le itZ
San Diego Union , 7 May 1938: factories for a few years before WW1. N ot all
CANCER BLOW SEEN AFTER 18.YEAR TOIL BY RIFE accounts of Rlle's life agree as to dates, but as
Discovery that disease organisms, including one occur. Timken died in 1909 Rife must have gone to
ring in dread cancer, can be killed by bombarrung them Germany by 出en.
 钊0
B RIAN BRA CEG IRDLE

In 1912 he is recorded as mar ryìn g Mamie Ah Som e medical men sup port ed his con tent ions,
Qui n, from a prom inen t Chi nese family in San whi ch wer e wid ely and sensationally repo rted,
Diego: she had been bor n 7 Oct obe r 1886, and largely in the pop ular press as above, before
wou ld die 10 Aug ust 1957. The Chi nese His torical WW 2. H is res u1 ts wer e que stio ned by the Am er-
Society in San Die go has records of her faroily, ican Med ical Associa tion, but tO the pres ent day
but noth ing on Rife. some believe in them. Of course, con spir acy
It is said that Rife was given an hon orar y P hD theories abo und as to the sup pression of his
by Hei delberg Uni vers ity in 1913, but 1 have bee n results and inst rum ents, it being stat ed that the
una ble to con nrm this. Usu ally he was called medical and scie ntifìc establishments had and have
" Mr" in the earl ier years, and in late r newspap er vested inte rests in not allowing a cure for canc er
repo rts ofte n "Dr ": but this, of course, mea ns tO be foun d too quickly!
noth ing. It has also been stat ed that he held
four teen medals from the US and othe r govern- He pub lish ed vinu ally noth ing in the scientific
men ts for wor k on various mechanisms, but it has press, whi ch detr acte d from any repu tatio n he
not bee n poss ible to verify this stateme nt. H e mig ht have earned amo ng established scientists.
seems not to have sold any of his mic roscopes The re are no men tions of any of Rife's wor k in
except the las t, but became very wea lthy; ther e is the learned press pos t the mid-1940s. Rife devel-
no reco rd of how this came abo ut. oped his freq uency device fun her in the 1950s, but
hna ncia l and legal difficulties loom ed large, and
for a whi le he seems to have lived in Mexico , for
C urin g can cer economy. After the deat h of his first wife, he
In the 1920s Rife wor ked on canc er, and with the mar ried Amelia Aragon in 1960, possibly in
aid of a light microscope stat ed tO be mor e Mexico.
pow erfu l than any othe r ever mad e, decided that Rife died penniless on 5 August 1971 , in a
it was caused by bacteria or pan icle s of bacteria, hos pital in La Mesa, nea r San Die go. Acc oun ts of
whi ch could tran sfor m one into ano ther, that is, his life and wor k have bee n provided, in pop ular
wer e pleo mor phic forms. His inst rum ent used form, by Lynes [2], and by Far ly [3].
ligh t, and thus cou ld view living organisms. He
con cluded that there were only ten grou ps of
path oge nic bacteria, individuals in each grou p The firs t and second Rife microsc ope s
being able tO assume the shap e and iden tity of
othe rs in its grou p, as well as bein g able to infect if The fÌrst was revealed in a little detail in 1931 ,
only a small pan icle of a bac teriu m was present: alth oug h it had bee n und er dev elop mem for a
he called this -sm all pan of a bacillus a virus [1]. decade by then. Mu ch of wha t is reco rded here
abo ut this inst rum ent, num ber 1 ，∞ mes from
So far as can cer was con cern ed, he stated that rem arks mad e by Professo r Hub bard, who was
he had isolated a virus specific to carcinomas, and professor of path ology at the Stat e Uni vers ity of
caUed it Bacillus X , or BX virus. H e was able to New Yor k, in Buffalo, and who had been inter-
cult ure this virus outside the bod y by exposìng it ested in these microscopes since 1947. He visited
tO ionizìng rays und er reduced pressure. the Wellcome Mus eum tO see thei r microscoDe
As a result of this discovery, in 出e 1930s [num ber 5] in 1978. Hub bard poss essed pho to-
especially, he mad e a num ber of electrical grap hs of microscopes 1 and 2.. Th e first was
machines whi ch wer e said to be able to generate mou nted hori zon tally on an ordi nary opti cal
specific tuna ble frequencies. By step ping thro ugh bench, while the seco nd seems to have been a
a range of frequencies whi le observing his virus ven ical version of the first.
p anic les with his microscope, he cou ld find one
whi ch "devitalized" the cancer virus, which lit- The first stan d was illus trat ed in newspapers of
erally exp lode d, or at leas t became inactive in its time Lusìng a piαure identical with that
prod ucìng the disease. He described expe rime ntal possessed by Hub bard ] such as with the article
wor k whi ch created rum ours in rats, and then in the Los Angeles Times of 22 Nov emb er 1931, an
repeatedly dest roye d them with his mac hines. extr act from whi ch is reco rded above. Fro m wha t
can be seen in this pho togr aph [which is too poo r
Wh en such a machine [which has bee n in quality to repr odu ce hereJ , a trian思llar-s ection
desc ribed as a plasma emission device] was app lied opti cal ben ch carries wha t cou ld be a high-pres-
even tO the bod y surface it was said to be sure ligh t sou rce in a lamp-hou sing, with quit e an
successful in curi ng various cancers. ordi nary stan d beyo nd it.
 Ri斥 and his microscopes 461

It is quite unclear how the ma伊ifications of tigious journal in February 19钊 ω， and shonly
1 7，α刀 times reported in the newspaper above 近terwards reprinted with a few alterations in the
could have been achieved, but if 1 was tO try to Annua/ Report 0/ the Board 0/ Rege1附 0/ the
do such a thing with a üght microscope 1 woωd Smithsonian Institution.
stan with a l00x immersion objective and use an
astronomical eyepiece [60x is quite usual] with it. Th is original paper requires consideration in
This would easily provide a 6,OOOx direct visual some detai l. It included remarks on a ranee of
result, and viewing the image with some extra ex- instruments, including the electron microscooe
tension in the body-tube would bring it up to the [then very new] , on p叫ges103409.Then remarks
stated vaJue. Such a result would provide empty on resolution and magnification of ordinary
magnification on a spectacular scale, of course, microscopes on pages 109- 113. Thi s was fol1owed
but if a non-expert was looking at the image he by a discussion on the "reduction in the theore-
wouJdn't know this. It cannot now ever be c1ear 证 ticallimit of resolution", as demonstrated by the
Rife himseIf did not know this, or if he did know Graton-Dane microscope [which was mounted on
but simpJy wanted to impress, regardJess. a 36οkg steel bed i? the geology department at
Harvard U niversityJ and was stated to be able to
For photographic results, mereJy enlarging a produce "resolution of up to 6,000 diameters and
negative made at a few thousand times magnifica- magnification of up tO 50,000 diameters" [!].
tion would provide spectacular final magnifica- Those using this instrument 飞xpressed doubt as
tions - and it is o nJy such a final value which to the complete validity of the generaUy accepted
would be needed tO impress, regardJess of any theory of resolution." No doubt they did
accompanying deficit in resolution.
He would not have been alone in not actually J E Barnard in England is stated to have
knowing. Even very prominent medical men k叫ed in 阳ining resolution up to 7,500
totally failed, and st山 fail tO day, to understand mameters with his ultra-da也field scope in which
the wor沁ngs of the rnicroscope, so the mere fact he uses a combined illuminator."
that a surgeon or other specialist endorsed the Th is is the tenor of the remarks by these
work was no endorsement at al1, in real fact. authors 坠鱼旦 they get on to the Rife Universal
A decade ago 1 was concerned with a medical Microscope, to which they devoted the rest of
man in a prestigious European research institute their descriptions, pages 116 to 127. It is only too
who provided highly-magni且ed pictures made clear that they lacked even a basic understanding
wi出 a light microscope: they provided reg of the theory of the microscope. Not o nJ y did
ular patterns of structure which had never been they then go on to describe the instrument, but
demonstrated before. 1 found that they were made they went into a lot of detail about the findings of
py enlawng further h必 od伊~l transparency Rife and his associates as to the nature of disease
lalready made at great extension], sometimes iÍ1 particles.
two or even three successive stages! It took a lot of
persuasion on my part to convince him that what
They say that the instrument consists of 5,682
parts, with al1 optical pa口s made from quartz
he was magni命ing was merely a dispersion of dye
particles in gelatin, and not in the original stmc- [p. 117]. It is also worth quoting, before we go an
缸emo∞n阳a 川川
刽U
白 哈 l
imrn further, what t由he叮 y sa叮yo∞np 切je倪c­
严ag萨e 118 of the ob
ture he thought he wa衍s d
回es used with 由
tiv t hi沁s instrument:
t由hi沁s c∞ 川tryγ" also, have had to be persuaded that
oun
used in the Universal Microscope are a 1.1 2 dry
pictures they sent in to this Journal, made in a
simiJ ar manner, simply wouldn't do. lens, a 116water immersion, a118oil immersion,
and a 1.25 oil immersion." Oh dear!
Microscopes one and two, Hubbard state也
were cannibalized to make stand three, and thus 1 have to conclude that what these authors said
nothing further can be said of them. of the various instruments shows that not onlv
were they were entirely ignorant of the physics of
Rife three, the "Universal" the microscope, but very easily duped into the
bargain. Crucial1 y, it is their paper published in a
This was his masterpiece, cal1ed the Universal, FPutable journal vhich has been held up as
made in 1933. Fig. 1 is a contemporary photograph lvirtual1y the sole] proof that the scieñtific
of this instrument, in a shot made to impress world accepted Rife's c1 aims as to the perfor-
rather than tO inform. This instrument was amone mance of his rnicroscopes, and rus findings of
several described in a paper published in a pres- disease-inducing panicles of bacteria!
L
L
 462 BRIAN BRACEG IRDLE

FIG. 1. The Rife Universal Microscop e of 1933.

Th e o riginal picturc seem s to have come from Rifc himself, and shows off the instr
umem in a way calcuhued tO impress

•
 R{斥 and his microscopes 463

Let us rerum to the Universal stand itself. It arrangement for tÜting. The whole instrument
was 6tted, in what was really the best English stood 24 in. high and weighed 2∞ lb.， with a 6ne
tradition , to allow for transmitted, dark-groun d, adjustment stated to be 7∞ times more sensitive
polarized, and slit illumination, with a monochro- tban the usual versions. It is further stated that it
matic source in addition.τbe lamp is said tO have could take any time up tO 90 rnÏn utes to focus the
been a rugh-intensity incandescent source, and we iroage!
must return to Rife's patented lamp of 1929 below.
There was a Risley prism and an achromatic Fig. 2 shows the instrument set up in Rife's
condenser of NA 1.4. Th e prism consisted of laboratory, with all the background equipment
two circu1ar rotatable quar也 wedges said to have apparencly being for providing the illumination.
bent the rays at variable angles of incidence and to Figs. 3, 4, and 5 are from the paper itse旺， showing
produce virtually monochromatic illuminarion of some of the resu1ts. Th e paper a1so provided a list
wavelength variable at will. It was further said in of references. Th ree were by Rife , and were stated
the Franklin Institute paper that the rays of light to have been "presented" on given dates, without
proceed up the body rube "through twenty-one funher details. Th e other by Rife & Kenda l1 is
light bends tO the ocu1ar", and we may investigate listed in my reference section [5], althougb 1 have
trus statement below when we consider Ri fe five. It not been able to 6nd a copy to read for myse!f.
was said 由at 出e effective tube length was 449 mm,
Sirnilarly, 1 have not seen the Rife 3 instrument
in a physical1ength of 229 mm.τhe eyepieces were
for myse!f, but 1 have seen an account of it from
said tO have focal lengtbs of 10 mm, 7 mm, and
someone who personally examined it in detail.
4 mm "which make possible not on1y the un-
Professor Ronald R Cowden, Emeritus Professor
usua l1y high magnification and resolution but
of Biophysics at East Tennessee State University
which serve to eliminate a11 distonion as well as
had been appointed in the later 1980 s to act as
chromatic and spberical aberratïon". Th e eye-
consu1 tant on the possibüity of restoring it it was
pieces would have had effective magnifications of then owned by Rife Laboratories l nc., of which
about 50x, 70x, and 125x under the conditions in
Mr Barry Lynes of Mission Viejo, C a1ifornia, was
wruch they were used, and as for eliminating president [see ref 2]. Professor Cowden saw the
aberrations, no more need be said.
instrument in August 1988. Mr Lynes had
The graduated circular rotating stage had a obtained Rife 3 from John Crane, who had been
mechanical stage attached with some kind of imprisoned for offering a bogus cancer cure

FIG. 2. Aphotograph made in Rife's laboratory about 1935, showing the Universal on a low bench in front, and what seems
tO be a high.tension apparatus providing current for the source suspended in mid.air at the side.
 464 BRIAN BRACEGIRDLE

FIG. 3. Plate on page 116 of the Franklin lnstitute Journal

paper.
刊e caption reads: CI巾rophyl Cell [algaeJ [币le Universal
Microscope]. 17,000x on 35 mm. fìlm.
[Height of plate as printed: 117 mrn].
FIG. 5. Plate from page 125 of the paper.
刀le caption reads: Typhoid Bacillus r刀le Universal
[the Rife machine], and who had removed it from Microscope]. 23,000X on 35 mrn 副m， enlarged 3∞，。∞χ
Rife's laboratory after Rife's death: he had been [Height of plate ωprm叫118 mrn].
c10sely associated with Rife during his lifetime.
Cowd en considered it to be an extensively
construction. The stage was similar to those found
modifìed American Optic al research microscope
on polarizing microscopes of the day, and almost
of about 1932 vintage. 1t had a me盯rcωury-ar.比
'c sour.
比
.c
巳.e
every part of the instru ment had some sort of
and a pa刽ir of slanted quar口tz 严 pri沁sms below the
minut e mechanical adjustment to allow tilting,
condenser, which itself was of stand ard glass Abbe
rotati on, centring, and/o r focussing: Cowd en
considered it to be a mechanical nightmare! Th e
objectives were conventiona1 AO or Le itz, and
there were no special inserts above them. The light
path led straight into a prism train inset into a
tube about 3∞ mm long, and which had con-
tained a central e1 emen t then missing: it is not
know n when it was removed or what it was.
Above the train was a right-angle prism and a
goniometer and a straight AO binocular tube.
The glass prisms above the Iight source port could
nOt have transmitted wavelengths below about
360 nm.

Cowd en also had oppo rtunit y about 1990 to

look at Ri fe 5 in the Museurn, and said that Rife 3
was simi1ar but more complex, to the extent of
appearing complex for the sake of complexity. His
FIG. 4. Plate on page 122 of the paper. final judgement was that Rife 3 was a flawed
Tb c caption reads: Tetanus Spores [Tbe Universal Micro- design at best. It is diffiαtlt for me tO dissent from
scope]. 25，0∞'X on 35 mrn film , enlarged 227，000χ that view, in the light of my findings from
[Height of plate as printed:118 mrn]. examining in full detai1 Rife 5.
 Ri斥 and his microscopes 465

Rife four anyone connected with either still in existence.

Further, with the possible exception of a photo-
Details on this stand are far from clear, but it
graph of phage, there is no actual proof that any
seems to have been brought over to England by a
photomicrographs were ever taken with any of
Henry Siner in or about 1937, to be looked over
the Rife microscopes.
by a Welbeck Street medical man, Dr Bertram
•
Winter Gonin [187 1957]: it seems that Gonin
was seeking tO buy the Rife instrument. Siner is
A number of qualifì. ed men seem to have seen
Rife use his Rife 3 stand, among them E C
said tO have stayed in England uot iJ about 1940, Rosenow, head of the Mayo Cünic research
when the microscope also went back to the US人 effort on micro-organisms, who in a letter dated
although not necessarily with Siner. Gonin's 11 July 1932 implored him to "take the necessary
daughter later said that her father was unable to time to describe how you obtain what physicists
obtain any results from the instrument, and consider the impossible as regards magni6cation,
neither could he from the ray apparatus he also and submit your paper to a suitable journal for
bought. As with virtually every matter connected publication." Rife never did any such thing, of
with Rife, half-truths and untruths abound! course. The usual explanation has been that he
was too busy in getting results to write them up,
but this has a very hollow ring to Ît. 1 personally
The background to Rife five
am beginning to be convinced that his results were
Al though the instrument itself is in the collec- obtained by fraud of some kind, when there
tions of the Science Museum, thus allowing its would be every incentive to avoid publishing
pbysical make-up tO be determined once for all, its anything, especially in a refereed journal.
histOry is mur均. Dr Gonin's daughter stated that
he collected the instrument from San Diego in Rife five: the lamp
1956, although it is signed as being designed and
built by Royal R Rife in 1938. Gonin cenainly Th e instrument is contained in a mahogany
paid over quite a lot of cash to Ri fe before WW2: case, in the form of a thick base and lift-off top,
see Figs. 6 and 7 for one example of a letter in this secured by four locking clips: dimensions
regard. However, the microscope which went to 315 x 295 x 558 mm. The instrument-base proper
Gonin in England [Rife 4] couldn't be made to sits on three feet within the wooden base, which
work by him, and this may be why he went in contains Rife's patent lamp [Fig. 8]. This requires
person to Rife eighteen years later to collect Rife 5 some description.
in lieu. The top rím is engraved: THE RIFE MICRO-
However, it was in July 1977 that Tony SCOPE LAMP PAT. NO. 1727618. And indeed
Duggan, director of the WeUcome Museum of US Patent 1727618 was issued to Rife in 1929,
Medical Science in the Euston Road, visited Miss covering this design. Th e patent specifì.cation
Gonin at her late fatber's home in Shortlands, states that the lamp was [1] to be put directly
Kent, in the company of Dr Bird of the London below the stage, [2] 且tting into the gimbal of the
School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. 1t was mirror, [3] to be of variable intensity, [4] of ample
during this visit that she offered them the micro- intensity for the highest powe邸， [5] to be -an
scope, partly on account, it may be, of some integral part of the instrument，间 to provide
pressure from one or more organisations in the superior uniform and flat illumination, [7] to be
USA, who were trying to get hold of it. Al though well ventilated, [8] to provide non-fluctuating
her father had worked in his medical practice in light, [9] to be simple, neat, easy to install, durable
Welbeck Street, he worked with the microscope and reliable.
only at Shortlands, in conditions of some secrecy. The result is seen in the fì. gure, and while one
古le instrument was actually given to the School might have supposed that such a specifìcation
of Hygiene, but was transferred by them to the would necessarily require an elaborate and inge-
Wellcome Collection at the Science Museum in nious device , such is not at all the case. What we
1990. have is a simple nickel-plated cylinder, perforated
It is of much interest to note that what bas also for ventilation, with a sleeve on the side to ca盯ya
emerged from the several visitors who have called slide-in socket in which is an ordinary 6v18w
on D r Duggan and others in regard to Rife from automobile lamp. ln use this fì.ts over a button
time to time, is that there is not a single micro- in the mahogany baseboard of the stand. ln fact,
scopical preparation worked on by Rife, Gonin or this lamp is so far short of satisfactory, and so
 466 BRIAN BRACEG IRDLE

M 阿 . 8 WINγtA GONIN.
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1 0 th Oc tob er , 193 8.
Hoy a1 Rnymon d Rl fe Esq .. ph . D. ,
708 , Ele ctr 1c Bu1 1d1 nge ,
Son D1e go ,
CA r. rFO RN IA. U. S. A.

My de El r Dr . Rl fe ,

It aec ms alr nos t an ete rn1 ty s1n ce 1 hea rd

fror n y ou , and a 10n g tirn e s inc e 1 se nt you any
th1 ng tow ard s
the M1 cro sco pe , 80 1 am sen din g you by tod ay ' s
pos t 500
Do 11A rs thr oug h the Ba 时( of Arn er1 ca , S r. n D1e go
no dou bt ndv 1se y ou ln due cou 1'se . , who w11 1
hy
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y quds
us - so
aIn
。

、A
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nh y hu
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lik e to kno w whe n you req u1r e
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aH n o not wa nt tile mic ros cop e tob e

e

f1n anc e .
Do you thi nk you wi ll be ab1 e to com e h e 1' e as
wes or1 g1n all y arr ang ed nbo u t the fir st wee k 1n
Decem ber ?
1 nce d no t t e1 1 y o u h o w 1m por t nnt thj 8 18 fro m
v lew , n o 1' how wel cor ne you wi1 1 be .
,
OU l ' po1 nt of

The ma ch1 nes fro m the 自eam llay Co. err ive d onl y
las t Mo nda y , And a re com p1e te1 y use les 8 AS far
as we are
concerned ~ - ns you w11 1 no dou bt
hav e h ear d f rom the m thro ugh
Dr . Fnr snn s. The und e rst e nd1 ng wes the t the y sho uld be d1s -
pat che d ln Jul y , 1n o l." der to 'arr 1ve her e 1n t 1me
for my ret u rn ,
The re ha s bee n the refúre an una cco unt abl e dela~'
will c h h0 8 ver y ser 10u s ly uns e ttl ed my p1a ns . of two mo nth s

1-I avi ng a r
l 'sng e d f, or 811 mo n1e s nec e ssa
ry 1n ord er
to fln onc e tJli s 9ch cme 1 日 rge1y ， 1 am qu1 te u l1l\ b1e
to acc ep t
eny ot t he rDo n1e s off ere d , sln ce we are n o t ye
t sa tls fle d w1 th
the mac hin p. s. No t onl y are the y f aul ty ln con st 1'uct 10n , bu t
the y g1v e oll t not hln g bu t hnr mò nlc 5 , eve n tho ugh
put tog~ th p. r. the y hav e bee l

In mll ny CtlG é: S the wi 1'e s we re n o t eve n ntt ech ed

sol de red , hu t 1 thl nlc our f rie l'id Dr. Pnr son s w11 or
1 hnv e exp 1a1 neò
t!ll s. No 1" hns Mr. !io yla nd 1n fac t , nen t us the ex 冉 c t
fre que nsj
FIG. 6. Page 1 of a lener from Gonin tO Rife dated 10 October 1938.
This shows that Gonin had orde red a microscope from Rife, and was sending
him $500.
[吼叫 s was the equivalent of about i:lO，5∞ in today'5 money].η时
was evidently not the entire sum due, either! We see also
that Rife was due (0 come tO England, but there is no record that he 凹er did. Furt
the Beam Ray Company, and they ha . arrived late, inco mplete. wrongly wired her, Gon in had ordered machines from
, and with the wrong frequencies , but
already paid for!
 Rt斥 and his m盯oscopes 467

and thoGe thnt hc has sent , 工 believ e d1ffer f l'O Ul youre .

1 have the!'cf ore , for these reason s , been unable

to do al~thing with your cultur es , beyond keep1n g them 1n an
l11cub ato l ' at 27 u centi grade .

1 thi nJc you w1l 1 under stand the exact pos 1t 10n
from th113 , for 1 am Gure you will agl'ce w1 th me that 1 t wou1d
not be r1ght to nccep t 1QO!>ey fro Ul anybod y for the purpos e of
pßying 1n mOlley to the Berun Ray Co. , until such tlme as the
machl nes they have sllppl ied carry out the work for wh1ch they
have been 1ntend ed. 1 must f:l ny 1 arn trcmen dously d1sapp 01nted
at a11 the titne and energy wasted by these delays ', for lt 1s
l) OW over 5 months since we set out fOl' San Dlego , and we are
h l'l rdly ln.)re advanc ed than we were then.

1 hnve nsked Dr. Purson :3 and lIi 1' . Blewe tt to glve the
Renm R Il Y Co. notlce that 1 wl11 not cnrlγout the t e l'lD ß of thc
contx' act owlng to the 1 1' se'r lo \l s delays , s nd' 1 th1 nk 1 t wl1 .l be
a t 1east one month before we should consid er any furthe r pllymer
to them at a1 1.

Have you ony news for me abou t the v1rus of

ar.tln、 it1s and lts freque ncy , O l' of measl es and lts freqllencies~

Wlth my very klnde st regard s t 。 .M rs . Rlfe and

yours clf , Anù to a11 my f量 1ends 1n San D1ego ,

工 am ,
Yours vei'y slncer ely ,

-
•
,

FIG. 7. Page 2 of the letter of 10 October 1938.

From this page it seems t.hat Gonin had been prepared to set up a company of some kind tO import the ray machines,
which seem tO have been intended to stim\山te growth of cultured [cancer?]αIls. Gonin actuaUy had some of Rife' s
cultures but could not progress with them as the ray machines didn't work. Clearly, Gopin had been out to San Diego, but
had very little to show for it.
Th e microscope, Rife 4, he was paying for was unsatisfactory tO him when it arrived, as shown in my text. It is known that
some of the Beam Ray macrunes were eventually installed at Gonin's home, for they were seen there by Dr Duggan when
he visited Miss Gonin in 1977.

unoriginal compare d with commercially-available 30 mm; and the body.tub e is 160 long x 72 mm
British designs of its day, that it is surprising that diamete r, and signed: DESIG NED AND BUILT/
it could answer in terms of its patent. It cenainly BY/R咿al R. R泸/1938
does not do so in cases [4] and [6] , and it is hardly
an original concept into the bargain. For the high. The base of the stand is a very heavy cast steel
power uses to which it was suppose d to have beeo plate to which are attached various piHars and wo
put, the intensity is so low as to be useless. levelling feet [Fig. 9]. At the rear is the heavy pillar
which carries the body-tube. In front are twO
Rife five: the stage fìxed pillars with dovetail s tO take two of the stage
points, and a third pillar with dovetail to take tbe !
币le beigbt overal1 of the assembled instrum ent is third stage point: this pillar adjus tS for beight by a
485 mm; the baseplate measures 223 x 255 mÎCrometer screw. A founh pillar, attached to the
 468 BRIAN BRACEGIRDLE

F1G. 8. Th e baseboard of Ri fe 5.
This shows the mahogany part holding the simple lamp-holder, and the suppor!s for the steel base. The scale is
in cm.

It is circular centring rotating with mechanical

movements in both axes, readable by vernier to
0.1 mm, and in degre es on the circurnference
readable by vernier to 0.1 0 • While the top plate
is quite ordinary, its metho d of attachment to the
base is not. It rests on three points, carried on the
baseplate pil1ars already described.
This is a quite extraordinary means of attach-
ing a stage in an instru ment claimed to be of the
highest precision: there is simply no guarantee
that the stage wil1 attach on a defined optical axis,
and it is very easy to jog it slightly at right angles
tO the axis when in use. It looks good when
attached, though, as shown in Fig. 11.
This fìgure shows the generally chrome-plated
appearance of the stand perfectly. Such a finish is
absolutely unhelpful in an optical instrurnen t,
思Jaranteeing as it does that any stray light will
be reflected all over the place! On the other hand,
if a stand was to be made tO impress in a Holly
wood movie, then it would be designed in just this
way.
FIG. 9. The base and columns of Ri fe 5.
Tbrec stage supporω， one main column, two leveUing
screws, and the substage suppoπare all attached to the Rife five: the subst age
heavy steel base by single bolts.
Figs. 11 and 12 show the deta i1s of the rack and
pinion focussing working the ordinary two-lens
baseplate by a single bolt as they all are, carries the Abbe illuminator in place. It has a swing-out iris
substage. The stage itse!f is strongly reminiscenc of worked by a wire from the side, and a rotating
designs of its day by Zeiss or Reichert, and polarizer wedge below. There is no kind of
certainly could be of their manufacture [Fig. 10]. alignment of parts, unless done again for each
 Ri斥 and his miCTOscOpes 469

FIG. 10. Th e stage of Ri.fe 5.

A perfectly ordinary seemingly commercially-made centring rotating mechanical stage with vemiers

set-up, which would be tedious in the doing, and one whlch 50 far as can be 5een i5 not at any
uncerta lO as to contillUlty_ particular conjugate plane, whatever might have
been fì. tted by Rife was nothing extraordinary.
There is, of course, no 思Jarantee of any kind This is di5appointing, for Rife seem5 to have
that the components now in place were those, or placed much empha5is on his sub5tage5, and
even of the kind of, originally 6.tted in 1938: it is claimed an ability tO secure monochromatic illu-
perhaps unlikely to be 50. However, from what mination at virtually any wavelength on demand.
seems tO be built-in, such as a decentrable iris, and He certainly didn't do 50 with this apparatus.

FIG. 11. Below the stage of Ri.fe 5.

Details of the stage supports are seen, with iris decemring knob and the chromium-plated partS of the stage.
 470 BRIAN B AACEGIRDLE

FJG . 12. 刀le substage of Ri fe 5.

In this picture the control for the rotating substage quartz wedge are
seen, with the wire to operate the iris, and further
details of the stage 5upporting points.

Rife five: the bod y O ptical stra ight binocu Jar tub e now hou sing
Fig. 13 sho ws the asse mbl ed inst rum ent, incl udi ng two Le itz 15x Per ipla n eyepieces, and hel d in a
the bod y-tu be assembly.τne rea r pül ar is atta che d furt her slid e.
in suc h a way, wit h one bol t, tha t it can rota te:
it has a key way alon g its length. I n this runs a Rife five: in use
clam p, and ano the r. To this is atta che d tbe bod y-
tube. A transverse slide moves the tub e sideways The stan d is unwield y in use, so far rem ove d from
[!] and a vertical one moves it up and dow n. pra ctic alit y as tO mak e one wo nde r if its mak er
Nei the r is slow in mo tion, as the y sho uld be if sim ply enj oye d mac hin e-sh op wo rk to mak e
for hig b-p owe r wo rk. Qu ite ext rao rdin arü y, the gad gets? It take s mu ch adju stin g to obt ain any
tub e a1 so rota tes pre tty free ly abo ut its ver tica l passable ü1 um ina tion, and in spit e of my con side r-
axis. Tbe tub e is of wid e diam eter, wit h an able person a1 exp erie nce in ben ch mic rosc opy, no
ord ina ry qua dru ple nos epie ce hol din g fou r objec- sati sfac tory image was obt ain ed in my seve r a1
tives: a11 have bee n chr omium plat e cL The y are atte mpt s. On ce set up as wel l as it co uld be, it
S严 ncer 10x!NA 025 [ser ia1 341039], S严n臼 r 62旷 was ver y easy at hig her pow ers to dislodge the
NAO乃 [seriaI50645]， Bausch & Lomb 1/18 in. oil stag e or bod y-tu be a frac tion, thu s Josi ng the
imm ersi on [ne ithe r ape rtur e nor seria1 engraved], optica1拙is. 1 can say wit h cer tain ty tha t no one
and Leitz 1/12in. oil cou ld use this inst rum ent to mak e a series of hig h-
让 immrπme
are a1l ord ina ry lenses wit h ord ina ry gJasses in pow er obs erv ations.
也em.

Tbe out er tub e fìts wit h win g-nu ts top and Rife five: opt ica l app rais al and con clu sio ns
bon om ove r two sho rter inn er tubes. τnese eac h On taki ng apa rt t be bod y-tu be, the onl y odd
con tain a trai n of fou r pris ms, whi ch have the asp ect is tha t it is fìlled wit h pris ms. Tbat is the
effe ct of increasing the opt ica1 tub e length. On top onl y odd opt ica1 aspect of the ent ire m icro sco pe,
is a furt her righ t-angJe pris m taki ng the ray s into al也ough the re are ple nty of odd mec han ic a1
an ord ina.ry [bu t chr omi um- plat ed] Americ an aspects. 1 con side r it to be fi1led wit h suc h
 Rt斥 and his microscopes 471

FIG. 13. Ri fc 5 complete

...."....
刊e whole stand wi出 an unusually-widc body.rube and a myriad of tilt and orher adjustment knobs and comrols, all being
ium-platcd

prisms o n1y to increase the delivered magnmca- leukaemic blood cells was finally obtain叫The image
tion, as the prisms have t he effect of increasing the was about 30 per cent larger than would have been
tube length to about 210mm. - expected with the use ofax6 eye piece and a x40
objective, and this was no doubt due to thc prismatic
1 arn not alone in thinking that the instrument
arrangement in the barrel of rhe microscope. The
could not have done what Rife c1 aimed sirnilar
resolution , however, was extremely poor.
stands did do. On 7 December t 978, Dr Duggan
took the instrurnent tO the Depanment of Physics Aftcrmo陀 than three hours work we concluded that it
at Imperial College, where it was examined m would havc been impossible to have produced the
detail by Professor Walter WeUord. Du e.e.an 's known photO micrographs with trus instrument and it
written repon includes the following: became clear to me that rhis explained the late Dr
Gonin's complaint that he could obtain no results....
τ毛cre seemed to be nothing particularly remarkable
about the instrumem except that it has bcen con- One of the original photographs which was labelled
structed in such a way [as] tO make the work of "virus of cancer" was identified by Professor Welford
microscopy tcdious and cumbersome, particularly in as a well known artefact of optical systems known as
respcct of focusing the instrument. Using aU the "coma". It is merely a pho tOgraphíc renderíng of an
original optics it was quite impossible tO obtain an anomaly produced by defects in the optical system.
image, but ωing a light source, eye-piece and objective
from a Reichert microscope, a very imperfect image of
Th us,1 personally have concluded that this
example of Rife's microscope could not do what
 472 BRIAN BRACEGIRDLE

he claimed it could啕 1 have also concluded that 1938. Rife 5 didn't do what Rife said it would,
his other stands did not do what he claimed either. This smacks of fraud on any reading.
出ey did, for the last three were all buiJ t in similar
Of course, in the c1 imate of today, conspiracy
ways. Even if he could have produced accurate
theories abound, and 1 do not for one moment
variabl e-wavelengths of illumination as he
suppose that the foregoing account will satis句r
claimed, and it would be a big "jf' sixty and
those who see Ri fe as a crusader who was crushed
more years ago, the capabilities of his stands were by an Establishm ent which actually did not want
such as to militate against their utilization. S山ûlar to see a cure for cancer found too quickly, thus
questions arise about the effectiveness of his beam threatening their vested interests!
ray machines.
1 am 10th tO state that he was simply a con- Ackn owledgmen ts
man, but it is abundantly clear that someone was
1 am very pleased to thank Neil Brown, a senior
up to something underhand. It is amazing that 50 curat or at the Science Museum, for talking over
very little actual evidence of effective functioning
the Rife fìle with me, and for updating me on
of any of his various devices is fonhcoming.
eventS since 1 catalogued the Rife stand at the
However, we do have some documentary evidence
Museum some years ago: it has inventory number
of thi5 in hi5 dealing5 with Gonin, which were far
1990-667.
from straightforw ard. This wealthy English med-
ical man wanted tO buy not only one of the This paper is based on my Sa叫le Bradbury
famous microscopes tO use in his own researches, Memorial Lectu re, delivered to Leeds Micro-
but also to set up a company to impo rt beam ray scopical Society on 20 March 2003.
devices. It is obvious from the letter included in
this paper that Gonin paid over a lot of money to Refer ences
Rife, and in return got nothing that worked. 1. Rife, R. R. [195司 - Histo吵。ithe de'Velopment 01
For a stan, the beam ray machines which were a succes功 l treatment for ca1附几 and other 'IIirus,
bacteria and 户ngi. A1lied lndustries, report D凹-
sent over were completely non-functionaL Now, it 1042. 5an Diego: R.i fe Virus Microscope lnstitut已
may be that this was accidental, but this would [刀山 is a very elusive publication, of which 1have
have been an amazing lapse if those in the USA seen onJy a few snippetsJ,
hoped to capture a market in England. It may be 2. Lynes, B. - The cancer cure thal workedl 只向，
that it was deliberate, possibly in the hope of years 01 suppressio凡 Queensville， Ontario:
extracting funhe r cash to make them work in due Marcus Books, 1987. 15BN 0.919951-30.9.
course. It may also be that they simply could This smaJl paperback was written within three
never have been made to work, and the sloppiness weeks by Lynes, who tenns himself an investiga.
of their manufacture tends to suppo n this suppo- tive reporter. He had been impressed by a number
of docurncnts tO which he had been given acεess，
sition. Clearly, if they didn't ever work, the cat and a selection is printed as a series of appendices
would be out of the bag! Someone was taking a tO the book.
considerable risk in letting such machines out of 3. "F Farly" [pseudonym of G F Foye] - Rη'al R
their hands, especially to go overseas where their Rife, humanitarian, betrayed and perse，ωted.
use could not be controlled. The situation may 5pring Valley, CA: R T Plasma Publishing,
2∞1. 15BN 0-%5961 3- 1-1.
have been saved only by the outbreak of WW2.
This small book gives an aαoum of J F Crane
Similarly, when Gorun tried to buy a micro- and others, who were convicted in 1961 of various
scope, delays were encountered. When one was offences in connection with selling unauthorized
brought over in about 1937, it could not be made medical devices - the frequency instrurnents
Crane set up 由 so<alled R.ife Virus Microscope
to work, in spite of having an expen from the lor Microscopialj Institute, to market these units.
company in England come with it. Apparently, 4. 5eidel, R. E. & Winter M. E. [1944] - The new
Goni n had also been provided with RUe's cul- rnicroscopes. A discussion, journal 01 the Frank.
tures, but in the absence of ÍUnctional beam ray lin lnstitute, 237, 103-130.
eq山pmen飞 he could n't grow them. The non- 5. R.ife，民R. & KendaU , A L [1931] - Observations
performing Rife 4 was taken back tO the USA on Bacillus Typhosus in its filterable state. Cali.
on the outbreak of war, and over 臼teen years fornia and Western Mediα 肘， 35，份字-4 1 1.

after paying a lot of cash for a microscope, Goni n 1 have not been able to find a copy of this very
had tO go tO San Oiego in person to get his hands short paper to read for myse旺" but it is listed here
as the only reference 1 know of Rife writing
on Rife 5 which had been made, so it seems, in anything in a scieminc journal.
 Rife and his miσoscopes 473

Internet sites Royal Rife Research Society: www.rrrs.com

Roben Cathey Research source:
These change rapidly, but the following provide a
good start for those wanting more about Rife: om/rv 内
www.e町opa.c∞
www.navi.net/rvrsc/index.html
Rife Technologies: W";VW.时6.com/rvrifetech/

BRlAN BRACEGIRDLE
22 Montpellier Spa Road
Cheltenham
GL501UL