The cult of dianetics, which was going strong a year ago (TIME, July 24, 1950), has some of the features of a new religion. Its founder, 'Science-Fictioneer L. Ron Hubbard, claimed that his "science of the mind" could cure all mental and most bodily ills, make supermen of truly devoted converts. Today, dianetics is suffering the standard fate of the cult: one of its earliest adherents has broken away and is accusing Hubbard of having strayed from the true faith. ...

In May of last year, from the modest little town of Elizabeth, New Jersey, came a voice that promised complete salvation for mankind on this earth. That in itself is nothing new, but this particular voice was a powerful roar, worth at least a footnote in any account of our troubled age. It was the voice of a man by the name of L. Ron Hubbard. Until this moment, Hubbard had been known as a writer of science fiction fantasies. But ...

Dianetics is the title of a book (and a "science") which, for many months, held its place as a best seller in the non-fiction field. According to its originator and to thousands of dianetics adherents, it is "the new Modern Science of Mental Health." Dianetic research institutes have been founded in many cities, with the dual purpose of studying mental and psychosomatic ills in the light of dianetic theories, and of training potential practitioners or "auditors" to treat sick people by ...

[...] Divorced. Sara Northrup Hubbard, 25; by L. Ron (Dianetics) Hubbard, 40, science fictioneer turned mental healer; after five years of marriage, one daughter; in Wichita, Kans. [...]

ELIZABETH — Barton Press, Inc., of Newark held a new writ of attachment today against the Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation after being edged out recently by other legal claims on the foundation's property. Matthew Grayson, attorney here for the Newark firm, said the new writ was against $5,000 cash security left by the foundation for lease of several offices here when it moved to Wichita, Kan., in May. The newly discovered funds, Grayson said, are being held by the Caldwell Place ...

WICHITA, Kan., June 12 (AP) — L. Ron Hubbard, founder of dianetics, was awarded an emergency divorce from his wife, Sara Northrup Hubbard, today. The divorce was without alimony but provided that Mrs. Hubbard is to have custody of their 14-month old child Alexis and $200 a month to support Alexis.

[...] In a Los Angeles court, his wife charged L. Ron Hubbard, 40, disciple and founder of dianetics, "the modern science of mental health," with bigamy, cruelty and "systematic torture." He is also a paranoid schizophrenic, she added, and she wants a divorce. [...]

LOS ANGELES, April 23 (UPI) — The wife of L. Ron Hubbard, 40, founder of the Dianetics Mental Health Movement, filed suit for divorce today, charging he is suffering from a mental ailment. Mrs. Sara Northrup Hubbard, 25, said "competent medical advisers" had examined her 40-year-old husband and concluded he was "hopelessly insane" and should be placed in a private sanitarium for "psychiatric observation." She said doctors told her her husband was suffering from a mental ailment "known as paranoid schizophrenia." ...

WARNER & JACKSON 639 South Spring Street Los Angeles 14, California Tucker 9171 Attorneys for Plaintiff [Stamped: FILED Apr 23 1951, Harold Cecily, County Clerk] IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES SARA NORTHRUP HUBBARD, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) vs. ) ) L. RON HUBBARD, also known as ) LAFAYETTE RONALD HUBBARD; Los ) Angeles Department HUBBARD DIANETIC ) No. D RESEARCH FOUNDATION, a partnership; ) COMPLAINT FOR DIVORCE THE ...

L. Ron Hubbard, 40, founder of dianetics, yesterday was said to have his small daughter, Alexis Valorie, 13 months, with him in New Jersey, while his estranged wife Sara searched for the child here. In court of Superior Judge Mildred Lillie, testimony of Vincent J. McGonigle, operator of a West Los Angeles nurses' agency, was that he had taken the infant to the father in the East, March 5. Mrs. Hubbard, 25, had said the child was secreted with McGonigle under ...

Mrs. Sara N. Hubbard, 26, suing L. Ron Hubbard, 40, inventor of dianetics, for divorce or annulment, disclosed yesterday that she has received a letter from him mailed in Cuba which assures her that her 13-month-old daughter Alexis Valorie, "is getting excellent care." The letter was filed in Superior Court with a request for permission to serve Hubbard by publication and by registered mail in the proceeding wherein Mrs. Hubbard charges that he kidnaped their child. In Cuban Hospital Hubbard, whose ...

L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Dianetics, and two men yesterday were accused by his wife, Sara, of having conspired to kidnap her and to conceal their 13-month-old daughter, Alexis. The complaint was made in a writ filed by Mrs. Hubbard and signed by Superior Judge Mildred L. Lillie, ordering one of the men, Frank B. Dessler, to produce the child by next Monday. Mrs. Hubbard, 25, charged her husband and Dessler took Alexis from the Hubbard Dianetics Research Foundation, 2600 South ...

Mrs. Sara Northrup Hubbard, 25, yesterday charged that her husband, L. Ron Hubbard, 40, inventor of "dianetics," a new brand of psychology, had conspired to hide her baby from her. In a nine-page petition for a writ of habeas corpus she stated she had not seen the child Alexis Valorie, 13 months old, since Feb. 23 when the child was taken from her nursery and she herself was "kidnaped" and taken to Yuma, Ariz. The document was set for hearing next ...

L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the dianetics movement, was accused today in a court action of kidnaping his young wife by force and "imprisoning" their 13-month-old daughter. The charge was made in a petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed by Hubbard's wife, Mrs. Sara Northrup Hubbard, 25, to regain possession of the child, Alexis Valorie. Superior Jude Mildred L. Lillie issued the writ. Sheriff's deputies were directed to serve it on Frank Dessler, identified as one of Hubbard s ...

DIANETICS. L. Ron Hubbard, 452 pages. Hermitage House, New York, 1950, $4.-00. Because a considerable mass of non-medical people have been puzzled by this book, and some of them seek the opinion of physicians with respect to its value, it might be an advantage if the physician could have it appraised without being forced to read it. This review, made for that purpose, takes the attitude that Hubbard has not produced any scientific proof to support his theories, and consequently "dianetics ...

ELIZABETH — The Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation, Inc., will go on trial in part one of Union County District Court February 19 to answer charges by the State Board of Medical Examiners that it operated a medical school without a license. L. Ron Hubbard, author of "Dianetics," a book that explains his "new science of the mind," set up headquarters of the foundation at 275 Morris avenue last July. At that time, Hubbard announced his organization would train "auditors" to administer ...

The first book since Thomas Merton's "The Seven Storey Mountain" to show signs of becoming a runaway best seller is a 452-page work, published May 15 by Hermitage House, that projects a new science of mental health. Called "Dianetics," it is the work of L. (for Lafayette) Ron Hubbard, a 39-year-old civil engineer, radio and film writer, veteran of the armed services, and successful author of scientific fiction. According to Hubbard, memory is not a faculty of the mind alone, but ...

[...] Sir: We think, even though your description of the mechanics of Ron Hubbard's Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health [TIME, July 24] is fair and accurate enough, that as a whole your treatment is . . . unduly derisive. While it is probable that there are people who make a cult of dianetics, that fact is irrelevant. The only issue is whether or not it works toward making people more happy and more sane . . . Sane ...

It is not so much the content of this book which deserves analysis as its effect on the average reader's mind. Dianetics has been steadily climbing on the best-seller list since its publication, and, next to the spectacular success of the Velikovsky book, its popularity is the most frightening proof of the confusion of the contemporary mind and its tendency to fall prey to pseudo-scientific concepts. The book opens with the statement: "The creation of dianetics is a milestone for Man ...

A new cult is smoldering through the U.S. underbrush. Its name: dianetics. Last week its bible, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, was steadily climbing the U.S. bestseller lists. Demand was especially heavy on the West Coast. Bookstores in Los Angeles were selling Dianetics on an under-the-counter basis. Armed with the manual, which they called simply "The Book," fanatical converts overflowed Saturday night meetings in Hollywood, held dianetics parties, formed clubs, and "audited" (treated) each other. In many ways, dianetics-("the ...