The idea that high-frequency electromagnetic currents might have therapeutic effects was explored independently in 1890–1891 by Jacques Arsene d'Arsonval, a French physician and biophysicist, and by Nikola Tesla, a Serbian American engineer. German physician Karl Franz Nagelschmidt coined the term diathermy in 1908 and performed the first extensive experiments on patients.
An inscription in the lid of this machine reads “HOME DIATHERMY CO. INC. / NEW YORK, N.Y. / SERIAL NO. 26142.” This firm registered a trademark in 1940. Arnold Steindler was president.
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