Elisha Perkins (January 16, 1741September 6, 1799) was a United States physician who created a fraudulent medical device, the Perkins Patent Tractors. Although they were made of

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

and brass, Perkins claimed that they were made of unusual metal alloys. Perkins claimed his rods cured inflammation,

rheumatism Rheumatism or rheumatic disorders are conditions causing chronic, often intermittent pain affecting the joints or connective tissue. Rheumatism does not designate any specific disorder, but covers at least 200 different conditions, including art ...

and pain in the head and the face; he applied the points on the aching body part and passed them over the part for about 20 minutes. The device was later the subject of the first placebo research.

Biography

Elisha Perkins was born 1741 in

Norwich, Connecticut Norwich ( ) (also called "The Rose of New England") is a city in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The Yantic, Shetucket, and Quinebaug Rivers flow into the city and form its harbor, from which the Thames River flows south to Long ...

. He was educated by his father Joseph Perkins in Plainfield, Connecticut, where he later practiced medicine with success. When the American Revolutionary War broke out, Elisha Perkins served as a

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

for the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

during the

Battle of Bunker Hill The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on June 17, 1775, during the Siege of Boston in the first stage of the American Revolutionary War. The battle is named after Bunker Hill in Charlestown, Massachusetts, which was peripherally involved in ...

in the

Siege of Boston The siege of Boston (April 19, 1775 – March 17, 1776) was the opening phase of the American Revolutionary War. New England militiamen prevented the movement by land of the British Army, which was garrisoned in what was then the peninsular town ...

. During the late 18th century, the progression of medicine due to the

Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

increased the consumer demand for new therapies, such as therapeutic devices and inventions. Consequently, around 1795–96, Perkins invented his "Tractors", for which he took out a 14-year patent on February 19, 1796. The tractors consisted of two 3-inch metal rods with a pointed end; the term is from the old meaning of ''tractor'', "that which pulls", as in the term ' tractor beams'. Although they were made of

and brass, Perkins claimed that they were made of unusual metal alloys. Perkins claimed his rods cured inflammation,

and pain in the head and the face. He applied the points on the aching body part and passed them over the part for about 20 minutes. Perkins claimed they could "draw off the noxious electrical fluid that lay at the root of suffering". The Connecticut Medical Society condemned the tractors as "delusive quackery", and expelled Perkins from membership on the grounds that he was "a patentee and user of nostrums". Perkins nevertheless managed to convince three US medical faculties that his method worked. In Copenhagen, Denmark, twelve surgeons at the royal Frederiks Hospital also began to support the method. Even

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

bought a set. Other physicians' criticisms were met with charges of elitism and professional arrogance. Perkins boasted of 5,000 cured cases. The cures were certified to by eight professors, forty physicians, and thirty clergymen. Of the purchase made by Washington, Perkins' son, Benjamin Perkins, said that the "President of the United States, convinced of the importance of the discovery from experiments in his own family, availed himself of its advantages by purchasing a set of the Tractors for their use." Benjamin Perkins was a bookseller and introduced the tractors to London. There a Perkinsian Institution for the benefit of the poor was founded under the presidency of Lord Rivers. In 1798, Benjamin published ''The Influence of Metallic Tractors on the Human Body''. In October 1799, an advertisement in '' The Times'' said that "The tractors, with every necessary direction for using them in Families, may be had for 5 guineas the set, of Mr. Perkins, of Leicester Square; or of Mr. Frederic Smith, Chemist & Druggist, in the Haymarket".

Aylmer Bourke Lambert Aylmer Bourke Lambert (2 February 1761 – 10 January 1842) was a British botanist, one of the first fellows of the Linnean Society. Early life Aylmer Bourke Lambert was born at Bath, England on 2 February 1761, the son of Edmund Lambert ...

, a British botanist, is on record as having written in January 1800 to Richard Pulteney of Blandford (now

Blandford Forum Blandford Forum ( ), commonly Blandford, is a market town in Dorset, England, sited by the River Stour, Dorset, River Stour about northwest of Poole. It was the administrative headquarters of North Dorset District until April 2019, when this ...

), in the English county of Dorset, as follows:

"I breakfasted with Sir Joseph ankson Monday morning who is recovered from the Gout and in high Spirits. We had a good deal of laughing about the Tractors. Perkins has published several Cases communicated by my Father, and presented me with a copy of his Book."

Shortly before his death Elisha Perkins also invented purported antiseptic medicine and used it for dysentery and sore throat. Perkins also claimed to have discovered a cure for yellow fever. This consisted of vinegar with

muriate In chemistry, a hydrochloride is an acid salt resulting, or regarded as resulting, from the reaction of hydrochloric acid with an organic base (e.g. an amine). An alternative name is chlorhydrate, which comes from French. An archaic alternative na ...

of soda which he tested in New York City during an outbreak in 1799. The cure had no effect and Perkins contracted the fever and died. After Perkins' death, British physicians began to have doubts about his tractors. In 1799, Dr. John Haygarth conducted a test in which he treated five rheumatic patients with wooden tractors that were made to resemble the metallic ones. Four of them reported that the pain was relieved. The next day the patients were treated with metallic tractors with the same results. Dr. Haygarth reported on his findings in a publication entitled ''On the Imagination as a Cause & as a Cure of Disorders of the Body''. Attempts to use the tractors to cure animals proved futile. By this time, Perkins had numerous influential supporters and the sale of the tractors continued. In 1803, Thomas Green Fessenden published his poem "Terrible Tractoration" in favor of Perkins and as a satire on other physicians. Perkins' son died in 1810. After that the popularity of the tractors began to wane. In 1932, Morris Fishbein commented that " fortunately no one has yet been able to determine whether Elisha Perkins was merely a somewhat deluded physician or actually a great impostor." Perkins was the father of Sarah Bushnell Perkins, who is remembered for her

pastel A pastel () is an art medium in a variety of forms including a stick, a square a pebble or a pan of color; though other forms are possible; they consist of powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are similar to those use ...

s.Profile of Sarah Bushnell Perkins
in the ''Dictionary of Pastellists Before 1800''.

References

External links

Image of Perkin's metal "tractors"

James Lind Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perkins, Elisha 1741 births 1799 deaths People from Norwich, Connecticut People of colonial Connecticut 18th-century American physicians Deaths from yellow fever Infectious disease deaths in New York (state) Health fraud American fraudsters

Biography

Further reading

References

External links