The Keeley Institute, known for its Keeley Cure or Gold Cure, was a commercial medical operation that offered treatment to
alcoholic
Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomin ...
s from 1879 to 1965. Though at one time there were more than 200 branches in the United States and Europe, the original institute was founded by
Leslie Keeley
Leslie Enraught Keeley (June 10, 1836 – February 21, 1900) was an American physician, originator of the Keeley Cure.
Biography
He was born in Potsdam, New York, on June 10, 1836.
Keeley graduated at the Rush Medical College, Chicago, in 1863, ...
in
Dwight, Illinois
Dwight is a village located mainly in Livingston County, Illinois, with a small portion in Grundy County. The population was 4,032 at the 2020 census. Dwight contains an original stretch of U.S. Route 66, and from 1892 until 2016 continuously us ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. The Keeley Institute's location in Dwight, Illinois, had a major influence on the development of Dwight as a village, though only a few indications of its significance remain in the village.
After Keeley's death the institute began a slow decline but remained in operation under
John R. Oughton, and, later, his son. The Institute offered the internationally known Keeley Cure, a cure which drew sharp criticism from those in the mainstream medical profession. It was wildly popular in the late 1890s.
Thousands of people came to Dwight to be cured of alcoholism; thousands more sent for the mail-order oral liquid form which they took in the privacy of their homes.
[
]
History
In 1879, Dr. Leslie Keeley
Leslie Enraught Keeley (June 10, 1836 – February 21, 1900) was an American physician, originator of the Keeley Cure.
Biography
He was born in Potsdam, New York, on June 10, 1836.
Keeley graduated at the Rush Medical College, Chicago, in 1863, ...
announced the result of a collaboration with John R. Oughton, an Irish chemist
A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...
, which was heralded as a "major discovery" by Keeley.[Lion, Jean Pierre. ''Bix: The Definitive Biography of a Jazz Legend'',]
Google Books
, Continuum International Publishing Group: 2005, p. 231, (). Retrieved 30 September 2007. The discovery, a new treatment for alcoholism
Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol (drug), alcohol that results in significant Mental health, mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognize ...
, resulted in the founding of the Keeley Institute.[ The treatment was developed from a partnership with John Oughton, an Irish chemist, and a merchant named Curtis Judd.("Fargo, N.D., History Exhibition") The institute attempted to treat alcoholism as a disease. Patients who were cured using this treatment were honored as "graduates" and asked to promote the cure. (Tracy) Keeley became wealthy through the popularity of the institute and its well-known slogan, "Drunkenness is a disease and I can cure it." His work foreshadowed later work that would attribute a ]physiological
Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...
nature to alcoholism.
The Dwight, Illinois location was the original institute founded by Leslie Keeley that treated alcoholics with the infamous Keeley Cure, which was criticized by the medical profession.(Lender, and Martin) This cure, which later became known as the "gold cure", expanded to over 200 locations in the United States and Europe.(Keeley Cure)
The Keeley Institute eventually had over 200 branches throughout the United States and Europe, and by 1900 the so-called Keeley Cure, injections of bichloride of gold
Gold(III) chloride, traditionally called auric chloride, is a compound of gold and chlorine with the molecular formula . The "III" in the name indicates that the gold has an oxidation state of +3, typical for many gold compounds. Gold(III) c ...
, had been administered to more than 300,000 people.[ The reputation of the Keeley Cure was largely enhanced by positive coverage from the '']Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
''.[ '']The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' also featured coverage on the Keeley Institute as early as 1891, and in 1893 a Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
man's drunken rabble-rousing received coverage which noted he was a Keeley Institute graduate. ''The Times'' said "it is not everyday that a man from the Keeley Institute for the cure of drunkenness comes to New-York and gets into such a predicament."[Anonymous.]
The Parent Institute; Experiences of the drunkards who go to Dwight to be cured
" ''The New York Times'', 18 October 1891. Retrieved 30 September 2007.[Anonymous.]
" ''The New York Times'', 14 May 1893. Retrieved 30 September 2007.
In the June 10, 1894 edition of the ''New York World'', Nellie Bly
Elizabeth Cochran Seaman (born Elizabeth Jane Cochran; May 5, 1864 – January 27, 1922), better known by her pen name Nellie Bly, was an American journalist, industrialist, inventor, and charity worker who was widely known for her record-breaki ...
's undercover report on the Keeley Institute in White Plains, New York
(Always Faithful)
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, was published as "Nellie Bly Takes The Keeley Cure." A subheadline described the story as Bly’s account of "A Week’s Experience and Odd Talks with the Queer Little Family of Hopeful Inebriates."
After Keeley died in 1900, the patient numbers lowered; 100,000 additional people took the cure between 1900 and 1939.[Keeley Cure]
" ''Time Magazine'', 25 September 1939. Retrieved 30 September 2007. Oughton and Judd took over the company following Keeley's death, and continued to operate the institute. But without Keeley, its primary spokesman and defender, the organization, which had always drawn some criticism, faded into national oblivion. By the late 1930s most physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
s believed that "drunkards are neurotics 'sic''.html"_;"title="sic.html"_;"title="'sic">'sic''">sic.html"_;"title="'sic">'sic''and_cannot_be_cured_by_injections."_Keeley_Institute_director_Oughton,_Jr._said_in_a_1939_'''sic''.html"_;"title="sic.html"_;"title="'sic">'sic''">sic.html"_;"title="'sic">'sic''and_cannot_be_cured_by_injections."
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_
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''_magazine_article_that_the_treatment_program_had_cured_"17,000_drunken_doctors".
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Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...]
'' magazine article that the treatment program had cured "17,000 drunken doctors".