The Wilmington morning star., 1947-12-22
HORSE COLLAR
AMONG EXHIBIT
Medical Display Holds
Many Strange Ex-
hibits
CLEVELAND, O., (NEA). =

CLEVELAND, w., \1>C<A,'
Among an exhibit Of medical ap-
nliances, being sent on a nation
wide tour by the American Med
;cal Association after its first
nublic display at the Cleveland
Health Museum, there Is trap.
a horsecollar, a necklace a n q
some tractors.
If YOU think these items aren't
IN the best medical tradition,
and have some doubts about the
ability of a horsecollar or neck
lace to cure anything, you're
absolutely right. The collection
is the AMA's prize congress Of
phonies and frauds.
Take the trap. Suppose you
had tapeworm. Would you go
out and buy a tapeworm trap?
Lots Of people did. The gadget
is a small, capsule-like affair
with a small opening in it and .
long string attached.
The idea was to bait the cap
sule with snip of salami or q
pinch of pomegra11ate, swallow
it-holding firmly to the string
and then stand there until you
felt a nibble. Then you reeled II
in, and, presumably, were rid Of
tapeworms. If you still had
trouble, you could always tell
your neighbors about the one
that got away.
Next, the horsecollar. A heavy
hunk of black tubing, with
maze of wires running through
it. Plug it in, and said the in
ventor, your blood would be
magnetized, and all sorts of won
derful things would happen tc
you.
The necklace, designed to cure
goiter, looks like something you
might pick up in the flve-and-ten
cents store. Bright orange beads
are separated by. discs of copper
and zinc. The victim first smear
ed some iodide ointment on his
neck, then donned the necklace.
An electrolytic action was sup
posed to result, thus curing the
goiter.
Perkins Tractors was the
name given by DR.. Elijah Per-
kins to some three-inch slivers
of metal he designed. Supposed
to cure everything from ath-
letes foot to itchy scalp, you
simply rubbed the tractors gent
ly over the area in question.
DR.. Jenkins used his tractors
on a patient with yellow fever.
He caught the disease and died,
probably the only man ever
plowed under by his own tract
or.
Prize exhibit in the collection
is the Radi-Endo- Cri-Nator, a lit
tie gaget three -eights of an inche
thick, two inches wide and three
inches long. 1t cost $1,000 in its
day. You were to slip it in your
pocket or strap it around your
tummy, and sit back while it
emanated gamma rays which
fixed up your acidosis, wrinkles,
galloping palsy, or housemaids
knee.
1t was also supposed to i'm
prove looks, character and
memory. Which would have
been a pretty good buy for $1,000
except all the thing cured was
an overweight wallet.
Another ingenious device
which bilked many a sucker was
the poison extractor Remove
your shoes, clamp some wires
from battery to your heels and
neck. Turn on the switch and all
the obedient poisons in your sys-
tenn slid down your back and
legs and out to the battery. 1t
even came equipped with sepa-
rate animal and vegetable
plates for the battery, so that
you could name your poison.
The exhibition, called "A Cen
tury Of Mechanical Quackery,
is designed to awaken the con-
sumer to the dangers of fraudu-
lent and, often, harmful devices
m squerading as scientific
cures. Legitimate scientific dis
coveries are still seized upon by
quacks who turn out gadgets
which have high-sounding
names, but nothing else.