From: eastin@locus.com (Dick Eastin)
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
Subject: Re: Scientology questions
Message-ID: <1991Jul25.043119.2479087@locus.com>
Date: 25 Jul 91 04:31:19 GMT
References: <1991Jul24.021125.714438@locus.com> <1991Jul24.060051.23070@Csli.Stanford.EDU>
Distribution: alt.religion.scientology
Organization: Locus Computing Corp, Los Angeles
Lines: 53

More on the E-meter:
Yes, the Wheatstone bridge is the basis for electrical measurement.
One arm of the bridge contains the "subject" and the balancing arm
contains a gross adjustment potentiometer.  The bridge output is
fed to a high-gain, temperature compensated amplifier, with a
gain (sensitivity) control and a taut band microampmeter on the
output.  The book, "Understanding the E-meter" covers theory of
operation from the thetan, mind, physical universe point of
view.  The book, "The Book of E-Meter Drills" covers the operator
training for use in monitoring thought and change of mental state.

I doubt if the specification is available.  For the cost of an older
used E-meter to experiment with it wouldn't be worth the time to
build one yourself.  There are three current versions, called the
Mark V, VI, and VII.  The V would be the cheapest.  This would also
allow verification of the inards, taking into account a steady
increase in quality since 1953.

The general specification, recalled from a time when I made a crude
facsimile of the even older Mark IV, is as follows:  The gross
adjustment pot. refered to above is called the Tone Arm, for
historical reasons, which needn't be explained now.  The adjustment
range is 0 to infinity ohms.  It is an approximate straight line
on a log-linear plot, with some curve at both ends, making the plot
look like a flattened S.  The very rough values of the curve are:
 .5     1     2     3     4     5     6     6.5      Tone Arm scale
  0   ~.5K    5K   12.5K ~.1M  ~1M   ~50M    open    ohms
The values for 2 and for 3 are exact, for .5 and 6.5, almost exact and
the others I guessed at from memory.

The sensitivity scale is 1 to 128.  One represents one
full dial width on the meter for 1 whole division of the tone arm.
Thus 128 would be 1/128th of a division of tone arm for one full
meter dial width of needle motion.

How the body surface resistance, or galvanic skin effect is
dealt with is too much to cover here.  If you experiment around
you will see the differences between thought/mental factors
and body factors.  In training counselors to use E-meters
properly there is a reference called High-Lo Tone Arm Checklist,
covering how to deal with wet, dry, dirty, calloused, etc. hands.

Dick

Two descriptive definitions for the E-meter: "The E-meter is a religious
artifact used as a spiritual guide in the church confessional.  It is an
aid to the auditor (minister, student, pastoral counselor) in two-way
communication locating areas of spiritual travail and indicating
spiritual well-being in an area.  An electronic instrument for measuring
mental state and change of state in individuals, as an aid to precision
and speed in auditing (counseling). The E-meter is not intended or
effective for the diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of any disease."
(Def 1 & 2 from the Dianetics and Scientology Technical Dictionary.)