Joseph Mortimer Granville (4 May 1833, Devonport – 23 November 1900,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

) was an English physician, author and inventor known for having first patented the electromechanical vibrator for relief of male muscle aches. It was also claimed by Rachel Maines that the device was used to treat hysteria, by bringing women to orgasm, but her work is not historically accurate.

Biography

Granville qualified M.R.C.S.Eng. in 1856 and L.R.C.P.Lond. in 1861. He attained the higher medical degree M.D. in 1876 from the

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

. In addition to his famous invention of an electric vibrator, he also invented a

sphygmograph The sphygmograph ( ) was a mechanical device used to measure blood pressure in the mid-19th century. It was developed in 1854 by German physiologist Karl von Vierordt (1818–1884). It is considered the first external, non-intrusive device used ...

and a differential thermometer. On 1 December 1858 he married Mary Ellen Ormerud in Bristol.

Electric vibrator

In the late 1880s Granville invented the electric vibrator, a handheld electric operated device designed to relieve male muscle aches and pains. Originally called a percusser or more colloquially "Granville's hammer", the machine was manufactured and sold to physicians. Rachel Mains claimed that many used the equipment to create "hysterical paroxysm" in their patients with

female hysteria Female hysteria was once a common medical diagnosis for women, which was described as exhibiting a wide array of symptoms, including anxiety, shortness of breath, fainting, nervousness, sexual desire, insomnia, fluid retention, heaviness in the ...

. However, the publication of this theory has been described as representing "a failure in academic quality control" by academic researchers who, on reviewing the primary sources from Maines' book, "found no evidence in these sources that physicians ever used electromechanical vibrators to induce orgasms in female patients as a medical treatment". Granville "argued specifically that it shouldn’t be used on hysterical women" In his 1883 book, ''Nerve-Vibration and Excitation as Agents in the Treatment of Functional Disorder and Organic Disease'', he wrote, "I have never yet percussed a female patient ... I have avoided, and shall continue to avoid the treatment of women by percussion, simply because I do not wish to be hoodwinked, and help to mislead others, by the vagaries of the hysterical state ..."Granville, J. M. (1883)
''Nerve-Vibration and Excitation as Agents in the Treatment of Functional Disorder and Organic Disease''
London: Churchill. p. 57. Granville was portrayed by actor

Hugh Dancy Hugh Michael Horace Dancy (born 19 June 1975) is an English actor who rose to prominence for his role as the titular character in the television film adaptation of ''David Copperfield'' (2000) as well as for roles in feature films as Kurt Schmid ...

in the 2011 film '' Hysteria''.

Selected publications

''The Borderlands of Insanity''
(1877)
''Sleep and Sleeplessness''
(1879)
''The Secret of a Clear Head''
(1879)
''Common Mind-Troubles''
(1880)
''How to Make the Best of Life''
(1881)
''Nerve-Vibration and Excitation''
(1883)
''Gout in its Clinical Aspects''
(1885)
''The Secret of a Good Memory''
(1885)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Granville, Joseph Mortimer 1833 births 1900 deaths 19th-century English medical doctors Alumni of the University of St Andrews English inventors English medical researchers English medical writers Gout researchers People from Devonport, Plymouth