Electropathy

When electricity was new, people had high hopes that it had curative powers.  Unlike other "magical" cures, electricity could be felt.  Electropathy, very popular from 1850-1900, promised to cure most diseases and conditions including mental illness. The patient held a metal cylinder, a hand electrode, while the healer applied a second electrode to the ailing body part.   Electrode attachments were manufactured in a variety of shapes. The electrodes connected to an electrical source such as a magneto, chemical battery or battery box.

Back left:  1854 Davis Kidder Magneto, 4 3/4" x 10" x 4 7/8". Brass hand electrode shown center back. Front: Early Chemical Battery Generator.  Top, front left, 4 7/8" x 4 7/8". Case, front right, 5 3/8" x 5 3/8" x 6" [Large image, 428 x 596, 21K]Photos by B. and J. Gaukel.

Early Chemical Battery Generator

The battery was made by the Nonpareil Co. founded in 1855.  The instructions were:

Add 8 oz Sulphuric acid,
5 pints water
and disolve 7 1/2 oz of Pulverized
Bichromite Potassa in mixture.

The Davis Kidder Magneto

The Davis Kidder Magneto, patented in 1854, is a simple machine which generates electricity using a magnet.  A hand-turned crank operates gears (connected by a thin leather belt) which spin a velvet-covered armature.  This generates an electric flow conducted over cloth-insulated wires to the 2 inch brass electrodes.  The current produced is low voltage - using the machine briefly is not unpleasant. Use causes involuntary muscle contractions.

Links

See also our Violet Ray Generators page.

History through Today

• "Quackery" in From Quackery to Bacteriology
• Galvanic Spectacles: Electricity in Medicine, Part 1.
• Electric Dumbbells: Electricity in Medicine, Part 2.

Medical Magnetos

• Bob Sokol's medical quackery and curio page
• Electrotherapy Museum Quackery

Batteries and Motors

• Click on links to see Battery Science and Battery History at The Fun and Learning Page at Energizer
• What is a Battery Nasa
• How Batteries Work (plus experiments) from How Stuff Works
• How Electric Motors Work - armatures
• How Things Work by Louis A. Bloomfield, Professor of Physics, The University of Virginia
• What to Do With a Lemon Besides Making Lemonade - Project to Make a Battery From a Lemon

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Museum of Questionable Medical Devices
http://www.museumofquackery.com/devices/magneto.htm
updated 4/13/2013