Electropoise
The Electropoise was a contraption that was patented and marketed fraudulently as a medical device which was manufactured in Birmingham beginning in the late 1880s. It consisted of a hollow metal tube connected to a bracelet by a cloth-covered cord. The bracelet had a silver disc which was kept in contact with the wrist or ankle during sleep, while the tube was kept immersed in a basin of water. It was falsely claimed that the device worked by "introducing oxygen directly into the entire circulation." Early descriptions also suggested that it could be used to revive sickly animals and even plants.
The contraption, originally called an electrolibrator, was developed in 1887 by Hercules Sanche of Port Gibson, Mississippi. In exchange for operating capital a means of manufacturing and distributing the device, and a percentage of net revenues, he had contracted with John N. Webb of Birmingham in association with Timothy Moroney and Cornelius Duremus of New Orleans, Louisiana to transfer his right, title and interest in his patents and designs. By 1888 the device had reportedly been used to cure 43 cases of yellow fever in Jacksonville, Florida. Webb was confident that the machine would win him the $100,000 prize offered by the United States Congress for a "perfect microbe killer" to eradicate that disease. Webb incorporated the Electrolibration Company in Alabama in October 1888.
In 1889 the Electro Libration Co. was operating from Webb's residence in the Watts Building on 20th Street North. He served as president and secretary of the company while W. B. Richmond of New Orleans, Louisiana was vice-president. At that time, users of the device reported its efficacy in treating opium addiction, pulmonary phthisis, hemorrhage, rheumatism, diabetes, nervous exhaustion, dyspepsia, Bright's disease and blood poison. It was "particularly recommended for all forms of weakness and irregularities, especially of females." Among the notable Birminghamians said to have endorsed the device were Fred Sloss, Willis Milner, John E. Webb, Rev. Thomas Beard, George Morrow, Frank Nabers, T. M. Bradley, D. A. Childs, James McConnell, and J. H. Edwards.
An early agent in Memphis, Tennessee described the box he was responsible for selling as containing a rotary dial with an indicator by which one could select various conditions to be treated. Inside the box, the dial only wound up an inch or so of cord. At that time, the cylinder was to have been buried in earth near the home rather than immersed in water. Correspondence suggested that the company planned to market larger centralized devices with branching "circuits" for installation in homes and apartment buildings. Agents also marketed special electrodes adapted for application to male or female genitalia. The devices were accompanied with a small hardbound book entitled Plain Directions For The Use Of The Electropoise.
The Electrolibration Company opened sales offices in New York, and in London and Brighton, England. The company also began marketing a variation, called the Oxydonor. A rival company also sprang up, selling "Oxygenor" devices. Sanche sued to prevent their sale, but the courts held that his invention had not demonstrated a practical use meriting protection.
Advertisements for the Electropoise implied that the metal tube contained a proprietary substance which produced the device's miraculous effects. An 1893 examination of an Electropoise devise by the London-based periodical Science Siftings found that example to have been filled with "plumbago and sulfur." The article also quotes a an 1894 letter from Webb, postmarked from Washington D.C., in which he appears to offer a bribe for a positive review of the machine's effectiveness. The New York-based journal Electricity campaigned at length against the quack device, publishing opinions from scientists, exposés from former sales agents, and complaints from victims of the swindle. A December 1, 1900 report by N. C. Morse in The Journal of the American Medical Association, found that there was no substance in the hollow tube and the AMA began warning consumers about "mail-order medical fraud."
Nevertheless, in 1895 John DuBois from New York and Alvin Webb of Louisville, Kentucky, doing business as agents DuBois & Webb, advertised the sale of Electropoise devices from their offices at 223 21st Street North. In 1896 they were selling them from their new premises at 321 21st Street.
By 1909 Real estate investor Edward McCrossin had partnered with DuBois, who was then practicing in Tuscaloosa. Two sizes of Electropoise devices were being advertised by DuBois & McCrossin with offices in room 303 of the Woodward Building. The same company offered to repair old devices at the same address in 1911.
In 1921 a "Views and Interviews" entry attributed to C. B. Rencher recalled the fad: "It most assuredly seems that merit in any thing as well as in human nature loses prestige in the march of time. Some thirty years ago the electropoise was all the vogue for the curing of sciatica, lumbago and kindred rheumatic affections. It was invented by a Birmingham man... And it was very efficacious as I knew of many persons who claimed to be have been cured by the use of the electropoise. But where is it now?"
Nevertheless, the name of the company lingered in association with McCrossin. In 1926 the Electropoise Co. shared office space with the McCrossin Whole Grain Wheat Co. and the Beard Artz-McCrossin Coal Co. on the 4th floor of the Woodward Building. In 1932 the Electropoise Co. shared office space with McCrossin, then holding himself out as a physical culture professional, on the 5th floor of the Lincoln Life Building.
An example of an Electropoise is held in the collections of the Alabama Museum of the Health Sciences at UAB.
References
- "By "electro-libration... (September 29, 1888) The Evening News. p. 2
- "Electropoise Cures All" (October 7, 1890) The Evening News. p. 4
- "The Electropoise: Methods of the Promoters Abroad." Science Siftings London - reprinted September 4, 1895 in Electricity(New York), Vol. 9, No. 8, p. 99
- Randall, James D. (September 23, 1895) "How The Electropoise Was First Made." - published October 3, 1895 in Electricity(New York), Vol.12, No. 13, p. 172
- Morse, N. C. (December 1, 1900) "Modern Empirical Inventions." The Journal of the American Medical Association. Vol. 35, Part 2
- Medical Mail-Order Frauds. (1915) American Medical Association
- "Almost Ancient History" (April 4, 1921) The Birmingham News, p. 6
- Baumann, Rebecca (May 1, 2013) "The Curious Story of the Electropoise." Lilly LIbrary. Indiana University Bloomington