METALLIC TRACTORS—1802.
The truth is, that, at the end of the eighteenth century, Galvani and Volta, Sir Joseph Banks, in connection with the Royal Society, and all the scientific men of the day, were deeply interested in solving the mysteries of electricity; and, as nobody, as yet, knew much about it, the public were liable to be gulled by any empiric, and Benjamin Douglas Perkins was the very man to do it. He, and others, wrote several pamphlets on “The Influence of Metallic Tractors on the Human Body, in removing various Inflammatory Diseases,” and such like, and opened a Perkinean Institution in London. He must have been fairly successful, for his advertisements lasted some years. His published cures were miraculous: “A Lady was afflicted with an Erysipelas in her face.... In a few minutes she cheerfully acknowledged that she was quite well.” “A man aged 37 had, for several years, been subject to the Gout. I found him in bed, and very much distressed with the disease in one of his feet. After I had operated upon it with the Tractors he said the pain was entirely gone.” “A Lady burned her hand. I, happily, called at the house immediately after the accident, and applied the Tractors. In about ten minutes, the inflammation disappeared, the vesication was prevented, and she said the pain was gone.” The price of these “blessings to men” was five guineas a set; and he explains them in the specification of the patent granted him on the 10th March, 1798, where, speaking of Galvanism, he says, “Among the metals that may be thus characterised, I have found none more eminently efficacious in removing diseases than the combinations of copper, zinc, and a small proportion of gold: a precise quantity of each is not necessary: also iron united to a very small proportion of silver and platina; an exact proportion of these also not necessary. These are constructed with points, and of such dimensions as convenience shall dictate. They may be formed with one point, or pointed at each end, or with two or more points. The point of the instrument thus formed I apply to those parts of the body which are affected with diseases, and draw them off on the skin, to a distance from the complaint, and usually towards the extremities.”
Electricity was then a new toy, of which no one, as yet, knew the use, and they amused themselves with it in various ways, one of which must serve as an example. Times, January 22, 1803: “The body of Forster, who was executed on Monday last for murder, was conveyed to a house not far distant, where it was subjected to the Galvanic process by Professor Aldini, under the inspection of Mr. Keate, Mr. Carpue, and several other professional gentlemen. M. Aldini, who is the nephew of the discoverer of this most interesting science, showed the eminent and superior powers of Galvanism to be far beyond any other stimulant in nature. On the first application of the process to the face, the jaw of the deceased criminal began to quiver, and the adjoining muscles were horribly contorted, and one eye was actually opened. In the subsequent part of the process, the right hand was raised and clenched, and the legs and thighs set in motion. It appeared to the uninformed part of the bystanders as if the wretched man was on the eve of being restored to life. This, however, was impossible, as several of his friends who were under the scaffold had violently pulled his legs, in order to put a more speedy termination to his sufferings. The experiment, in fact, was of a better use, and tendency. Its object was to show the excitability of the human frame, when this animal electricity is duly applied. In cases of drowning or suffocation, it promises to be of the utmost use, by reviving the action of the lungs, and, thereby, rekindling the expiring spark of vitality. In cases of apoplexy, or disorders of the head, it offers, also, most encouraging prospects for the benefit of mankind. The professor, we understand, has made use of Galvanism, also, in several cases of insanity, and with complete success.”
This latter part—the cure of the insane by means of electricity—has not been verified by practice. Their treatment was very inefficient, although, even then, whips and chains were disappearing—especially in the public madhouses, which were at that time Bethlehem, and St. Luke’s Hospitals. Bethlehem Hospital was then situated in Moorfields, and the major part of it had been built in 1675. Over the entrance gates were two sculptured representations of Raving and Melancholy madness, by Cibber; these are now in the hall of the present hospital. Patients remained until they were cured, or for twelve months if not cured. In the latter case if it was thought that a further sojourn might be of use, they were re-admitted, and they also were permanently kept, were they hopelessly incurable, and dangerous to society. There were then about 260 patients who might be visited by their friends every Monday and Wednesday, from 10 to 12 a.m. Visitors were only admitted by an order from a governor—a vast improvement on the old plan, when a visitor could always obtain admission by payment of a small fee. In fact, in Queen Anne’s reign, and later, it formed, with the lions at the Tower, and the wax figures at Westminster Abbey, one of the chief sights in London, thus causing a scandal to the institution, and, without doubt, injuring the patients.
WOMEN’S WARD, ST. LUKE’S—1808.
St. Luke’s Hospital for the insane was in Old Street, City Road, and was built because Bethlehem was inadequate to the relief of all indigent lunatics; and their treatment was fairly rational, even those who were obliged to wear straight jackets having their meals together, so as to afford some little break in the monotony of their miserable lives. Each patient had a separate sleeping apartment, and there were two large gardens, one for men, the other for women, where pleasant recreation could be taken in fine weather.
The other medical hospitals were—Bartholomew’s, St. Thomas’s, Guy’s, St. George’s, the London, Middlesex, the Westminster Infirmary, and the Lock Hospital, in Grosvenor Place. The majority of these had regular medical schools, as now, but there were, also, many private lecturers and demonstrators of anatomy, as also professors of natural and experimental philosophy, and chemistry.
