JF Ptak Science Books
I'm stepping right into the middle of this one--there's a ton of material before and after this ad appeared in 1885 on the invention of the idea of curative factors of applying electricity in medical pursuits. It goes on to day of course but now the electrical stimulation will actually help rather than just simply electrically remove the money from your wallet. This ad happened to catch my eye while looking for telephone ads in the 1885 volume (#4) of Electrical World, mainly because of the graphics of the inventor, Dr. Kidder, happily satisfied and nonchalantly controlling a lightning bolt ignite the charge of a mortar--why a mortar, I don't know. (There's a slim chance for mortar-and-pestle, the mortar here being a siege weapon and the pestle being lightning issuing some sort of electrical wonder "pharmaceutical", but I think that's overthinking the image.) In any event the electric charge to the mortar spears various diseases and complains (including neuralgia, gout, paralysis, debility, dyspepsia, and headache) with electrical bolts/something, offering a cure to the afflicted with lightning speed.
I'm not sure of Jerome Kidder's background as there are at least two I've found online that could be him, so I'll just continue on personal history in ignorance. Seems to me though that he must've known that whatever it was he was peddling just didn't work.
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