New cases, not before in this journal. ... The present representation of Perkins's patent metallic tractors, is given through this medium with a view to satisfy the daily applications made to the patentee by his numerous correspondents ...
Michael Laird (bookseller) description: Rare promotional pamphlet for Perkins's metallic tractors, one of the most extraordinary quack remedies for Man and Beast. Dr. Elisha Perkins (1741-1799), of Connecticut, had in 1795 introduced the use of "Metallic Tractors" for the treatment of...
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| Language: | English |
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| Summary: | Michael Laird (bookseller) description: Rare promotional pamphlet for Perkins's metallic tractors, one of the most extraordinary quack remedies for Man and Beast. Dr. Elisha Perkins (1741-1799), of Connecticut, had in 1795 introduced the use of "Metallic Tractors" for the treatment of a wide range of disorders, including pains in the head, face, teeth, breast, side, stomach, back, rheumatism and gout. During the next decade the devices were the subject of intense controversy in America and Europe. The Tractors measured about 3" long and were sold in pairs; they were supposedly made up of certain metals (their precise composition was kept secret) that worked through the agency of "animal magnetism." Millions of ailing consumers paid huge prices for Perkins's Metallic Tractors (George Washington bought several sets). The Perkins name was perhsps the first truly successful international "name branding" campaign in history, medical or otherwise. It is a remarkable fact that in 1796 Elisha Perkins received the first medical patent issued under the Constitution of the United States; his device was specifically designed to "draw off the noxious electrical fluid that lay at the root of suffering." All promotional materials for the Metallic Tractors are now rare, having had no value whatsoever after the fraud was exposed more than 200 years ago. Concerning the present promotional pamphlet, the publication date is derived from testimonies dated between April and August [actually October] 1801. Issued by Benjamin Douglas Perkins, son of inventor Dr. Elisha Perkins. Contains a number of testimonies to the efficacy of the device. The remedy was invented by Elisha Perkins around 1795-1796, and consisted of two metal rods, intended to cure rheumatism, inflammation and pain in the head and face by being rubbed over the affected area; even at the time, the Connecticut Medical Society condemned the tractors as "delusive quackery" (DAB". Copies located: Dartmouth, Wellcome. This pamphlet is not to be confused with the later, but nearly identical example (at Wellcome only) in which the last testimony is dated "January 11th, 1802." Literature: James Delbourgo, "A Most Amazing Scene of Wonders: Electricity and the Enlightenment in Early America", 239-277. William Snow Miller, "Elisha Perkins and His Metallic Tractors", in Yale Journal of Biology and Science, Oct. 1935, 8(1): 41-57. |
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| Item Description: | Caption title. Latest testimonial dated October 27, 1801. Foot of page [4]: "The tractors ... may be had ... of Benjamin Douglas Perkins, A.M. the patentee, in the house of the late John Hunter, Surgeon, Leicester Square." Illustration of Perkins's metallic tractors around text on page [1], with caption: "A. a neat morocco case, containing a set of the tractors; B.B. a tractor, in a back and front view . - Two of these instruments, one of which is yellow and the other of a whitish colour, constitute the set." |
| Physical Description: | 4 unnumbered pages : illustrations ; 21 cm |