The Midwest pioneer, his ills, cures, & doctors - University Library ...

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of the spine, hip complaint, diseases of the kidneys, deficiency
of nervous and physical energy and all nervous diseases.
60,000 persons in the last three years have been
entirely and permanently cured. "^'*
In Cincinnati in 1829 Dr. L. M. Johnson advertised "A
powerful Electro-Galvanic Resuscitating Battery which
will be free for the Humane Society and the faculty for
restoring suspended animation." Dr. T. J. Gazley of
Lebanon, Illinois, invented an "Electerizing Machine,"
purchasable for $7, which was supposed to be of use
in reviving persons apparently dead from drowning. Galvanic
belts and such appliances did not, of course, go out
with the pioneer period, nor was their use confined to the
West, as a perusal of the pages of some of the slick-paper
periodicals of the early 1900's would confirm.
A Dr. Williams of Cincinnati had a rather unfortunate
experience. His specialty was the treatment of the eyes.
He kept one bottle of "eye-water" with which he created
new eyes for man, and another for a similar purpose for
horses. Accidentally he got the bottles changed. "He found
it prudent to quit forthwith."^* A Negro practitioner of
the Queen City catered to some of the wealthiest people.
He diagnosed diseases by analyzing a tumbler of water into
which the patient had dipped one finger. A young lady
was told that a male had also dipped his finger in the water.
When she denied this the quack told her she was pregnant
with male child. She confessed to being pregnant and later
had a male baby. A man was told that a dead person's finger
had been placed in the water; on his way to consult his
regular doctor he died. Perhaps the regular doctors knew
more than they cared to tell concerning the considerable
haste with which this quack left the city.^^
Cancer doctors enjoyed a thriving business. Nor were
they the least bit modest in their claims: "Dr. Floyd
vouches to remove and extirpate the most obstinate and
difficult case of cancer in the short space of from three to
forty-eight hours." Dr. Balthasar Beckar guaranteed "Cancers
cured by inspection. "^^