THE ORIGINS OF THE ELECTRIC SHOCKER
by Ken Durham
As people became more familiar with electricity,
and electrical appliances became more common, the
magical health qualities of electricity disappeared. In
1938, legislation passed giving the FDA authority to
take legal action against fraudulent medical devices.
Throughout the heyday of electrical health cures,
manufacturers of coin operated machines did not want
to be left out of this money-making field. Elaborate
"electricity" machines were
common in the turn-of-the-cen-
tury arcade parlour. It is not
uncommon to see the marque on
the top of electricity machines
using popular slogans of the day
such as:
• Nature's Vitalizer
• Nature's Chief Restorer
• Electricity is Life
The marques promoted the
cures. Below are the statements from two early electric
machines:
• A Great Tonic Cures Rheumatism, Headaches,
Cures Nervousness, Neuralgia
• Great Remedy for Rheumatism, Gout, etc.
Later model electricity machines were more modest
in their claims:
• Electric cures many ills - or
Improves the Health
Increases the Circulation
Purifies the Blood
As effective as these slogans were many people did-
n't like the "shock" that the machine gave them. The
batteries on some of the early electric machines were
very variable and some people got a greater "charge"
than others. Some people are also more affected by the
electric current than others. Over the years the electric
machines started getting a bad reputation. To counter
this trend, the marque slogans started to include such
statements as:
•No Shock and No Danger
Coin operated electric machines were popular until
the 1950's. In these later years, people didn't use them
for their medical benefits but as a competitive game to
see who could hold on to the knobs the longest as the
electrical current was increased by the turning of the
knobs.
For centuries people were intrigued by the magical
qualities of electricity. We have all heard of Benjamin
Franklin's dramatic demonstration that lighting pro-
duced electricity when he flew his kite in a thunder-
storm.
The medical uses of electricity were popularized as
early as the middle of the 18th century when Christian
A. Kratzenstein gave electrical charges to patients to
increase a person's pulse and accelerate the circulation
of blood.
During the late 1700's, Franz Anton Mesmer pro-
moted the magnetic properties of electricity to heal
groups of people simultaneously. This use of magnet-
ism became known as Mesmerism. It wasn't long
before entrepreneurs developed gadgets that allowed
people to receive the "benefits" of electricity in their
own home.
In the mid-19th century, the Dr. Huber's Dry Cell
Pocket Medical Battery advertised that electricity could
"Cure Disease without Drugs or Medicines." By the
turn of the century electric gadg-
ets were widespread. The Addison
Galvanic Electric Belt was widely
promoted as "Nature's Vitalizer."
Also widely promoted was
Professor J. L. Pulvermacher's
devices, which he promoted with
such slogans as "Nature's Chief
Restorer" and "Electricity is
Life."
The dean of the "electrical"
health promoters, however, was
Albert Abrams. He was so successful in his promotion
effort that his theories were almost legitimized when a
San Francisco judge accepted his theories in 1920. His
popularity came to an end in 1923 when a year long
investigation by the Scientific American magazines
exposed him as a sham. In its expose the magazine said:
"Thousands of doctors and near-doctors
have entered the electronic fold .... many a
small manufacturer has found a profitable
field in turning out all manner of pseudo-
radio devices called electronic diagnosis and
treatment apparatus. And all of this actually
comes right down to the so-called electronic
reactions to Abrams, which according to this
committee, do not exist.
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