6 In the 1850s, Ari Davis invented a therapy using electricity to treat a variety of ailments including “female hysteria.” He was neither a doctor nor researcher in the electromagnetic field but claimed he could cure even a toothache. It is still unknown as to whether it was a pioneering invention or just quackery due to the lack of medical records.
Image credit: The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum via sciencemuseum
Many scientists over history have vouched for electricity for treating ailments. These tools, without a second look, you can tell are quackery. Ineffective and weird practices were quite common during the 19th century. Leading scientists and medical professionals in the 1950s endorsed a patent on a magneto-electric machine for nervous diseases.
Davis built several machines and patented them. Electrotherapy medical devices were one of the common inventions. It was durable, portable, and cheap. Late scientists found muscle contractions are possible through electricity and can help in treating several ailments. You can easily find records of a myriad of applications of this weird practice.
These included treatment for nervous systems and claimed to help with “female hysteria.” These utterly weird practices of early ages make us thank modern medicine and many trial methods that medicine or practice goes through before releasing it to the public. (source)
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7 Asthma cigarettes were widely popular during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The harmful effects of nicotine were only under research then. Smoking was not just for recreational purposes but also was thought to have a capacity for curing ailments.
Medicated cigarettes or powders were common in asthma treatments throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.
The inhalation of fumes from lobelia, tobacco, and potash were popular methods to help with the lung issues of patients and were widely approved by physicians throughout the world. This is one of the weird practices that totally opposes modern medicine but eventually led to a spike in individuals smoking cannabis, tobacco, pipes, and cigars.
By the mid-twentieth century, four-fifths of adult men and two-fifths of women started smoking. Doctors promised temporary relief from asthma, fever, and simple nasal infections. (source)
8 In the 1950s, people affected by polio used the “iron lung: treatment. When the outbreak was at its peak, this method saved thousands and helped them in breathing properly. The machine looked like a coffin, and the patients were put in it for weeks and sometimes their whole life.
Image credit: CDC/GHO/Mary Hilpertshauser via Wikimedia
The machine, known as “Drinker Respirator” or “iron lung,” provides permanent or sometimes temporary breathing support to people suffering from paralytic polio. Paralysis of intercostal muscles and diaphragm prompted the invention and use of this machine for breathing assistance.
It is a sealed structure in the shape of a tube run on electricity. The patient had to lay flat in the encased metal cylinder from neck down. A motor to suck out air is attached to the setup.
The vacuum made from the negative pressure helped the person breathe. When the patient needed a wash or to manage bodily functions, they have to hold their breath. (source)
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9 Another well-known example of quackery is the “Radithor.” It contained radioactive radium 226 and 228 isotopes and promised to protect you against diseases. This patented medicine was later discontinued as the users started dying prematurely. It also made authorities start asserting controls over using radioactive products for pharmaceutical uses.
In Pittsburgh, a sportsman fell from the upper berth and hurt his arm. His then physiotherapist prescribed the Radithor drink. It was a combination of distilled water with radium and mesothorium. Even though the pain eased and he felt more enthusiastic than before, he soon died due to radium poisoning.
A Manhattan x-ray specialist who has seen several young women poisoned in the Radium Corp factory in 1928 identified the sportsman’s condition, and a sudden investigation started against Radithor made by Bailey Radium Laboratories.
The body of the sportsperson was disintegrating even after several surgeries. His autopsy showed 36 micrograms of radium. Regulations on such weird practices have been put into place since then. (source)
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10 Sitting inside a rotten whale carcass was a common medical practice for healing joint pains for up to 12 months. This weird treatment was popular during the 19th century, and people were willing to spend more than 30 hours doing this procedure. This cutting-edge treatment was famous on the southern coast of Australia.
A rheumatism sufferer sits inside the carcass of a whale in Eden. Image credit: National Library of Australia via bbc.com
People who suffer from rheumatism started to follow the weird practice of climbing into a whale carcass. A picture from the Australian National Maritime Museum Exhibit shows people flocking to the whaling town of Eden in the southern parts of Australia.
The patient had to sit in a carcass of a recently slaughtered whale leaving just their head poking out. The origin of the practice goes back to the 19th century. There are several stories of the origin in which a drunk man jumped into a carcass and later emerged out of it free of his rheumatism. (source)
