Leslie Enraught Keeley (June 10, 1836 – February 21, 1900) was an American physician, originator of the

Keeley Cure The Keeley Institute, known for its Keeley Cure or Gold Cure, was a commercial medical operation that offered treatment to alcoholics from 1879 to 1965. Though at one time there were more than 200 branches in the United States and Europe, the ori ...

Biography

He was born in

Potsdam, New York Potsdam ( moh, Tsi tewate’nehtararénies) is a town in St. Lawrence County, New York, United States. The town population was 14,901 at the 2020 census. The ZIP Code is 13676. When SUNY Potsdam and Clarkson University are in session, the popul ...

, on June 10, 1836. Keeley graduated at the

Rush Medical College Rush Medical College is the medical school of Rush University, located in the Illinois Medical District, about 3 km (2 miles) west of the Loop in Chicago. Offering a full-time Doctor of Medicine program, the school was chartered in 1837, and ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, in 1863, and later entered the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

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 ...

. At the end of the war he moved to

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 ...

, where he began his private medical practice. There, in 1880, he opened a

sanatorium A sanatorium (from Latin '' sānāre'' 'to heal, make healthy'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, are antiquated names for specialised hospitals, for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments and convalescence. Sanatoriums are often ...

for persons addicted to the immoderate use of

alcohol Alcohol most commonly refers to: * Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom * Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks Alcohol may also refer to: Chemicals * Ethanol, one of sev ...

and

opium Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which i ...

. He asserted that "Alcoholism is a disease and I can cure it." His treatment, referred to as "Double Chloride of Gold", centered on a secret preparation that he said contained

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 ...

. However, chemical analysis revealed that the proprietary tonic contained 27.55% alcohol plus ammonium chloride,

aloin Aloin, also known as barbaloin, is a bitter, yellow-brown colored compound noted in the exudate of at least 68 ''Aloe'' species at levels from 0.1 to 6.6% of leaf dry weight (making between 3% and 35% of the total exudate), and in another 17 spec ...

and tincture of

cinchona ''Cinchona'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae containing at least 23 species of trees and shrubs. All are native to the Tropical Andes, tropical Andean forests of western South America. A few species are ...

but no gold. His hypodermic injections contained sulfate of

strychnine Strychnine (, , US chiefly ) is a highly toxic, colorless, bitter, crystalline alkaloid used as a pesticide, particularly for killing small vertebrates such as birds and rodents. Strychnine, when inhaled, swallowed, or absorbed through the eye ...

atropine Atropine is a tropane alkaloid and anticholinergic medication used to treat certain types of nerve agent and pesticide poisonings as well as some types of slow heart rate, and to decrease saliva production during surgery. It is typically given i ...

and

boracic acid Boric acid, more specifically orthoboric acid, is a compound of boron, oxygen, and hydrogen with formula . It may also be called hydrogen borate or boracic acid. It is usually encountered as colorless crystals or a white powder, that dissolves ...

. In 1890, Keeley began selling franchises and by 1893 there were 92

Keeley Institute The Keeley Institute, known for its Keeley Cure or Gold Cure, was a commercial medical operation that offered treatment to alcoholics from 1879 to 1965. Though at one time there were more than 200 branches in the United States and Europe, the ori ...

s in the US, Canada, and Mexico and that number grew to over 200 and expanded to Europe. In 1939, ''Time'' magazine reported that "Unvarying is the traditional Keeley routine. An incoming inebriate pays $160, plus room and board, must stay for 31 days. His weekly whiskey ration is gradually tapered off: eight ounces the first day, six ounces the second, four ounces the third, none from there on. Four times a day he gets gold chloride injections; every two hours he takes a tonic." At its height, the clinic in Dwight treated 700 patients per day. Keeley claimed that when his medicine was administered according to his directions, it had no injurious effects and that 95 per cent of the patients were permanently cured. If they did return to drinking, he insisted that they were cured but that they drank because they choose to do so, not because they were still addicted. However, it was later noted that a "high percentage of those "cured" had relapsed."Reznicek, Michael J. (2012). ''Blowing Smoke: Rethinking the War on Drugs Without Prohibition and Rehab''. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. p. 11. Keeley published numerous articles in the popular press in addition to pamphlets promoting his therapy, and wrote ''The Morphine Eater, or From Bondage to Freedom'' (1881) and the ''Non-Heredity of Inebriety'' (1896). He died on February 21, 1900, in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Legacy

The Keeley Institute in

, was the last to close, doing so in 1966. Despite his therapy being described by medical experts as an example of

quackery Quackery, often synonymous with health fraud, is the promotion of fraudulent or ignorant medical practices. A quack is a "fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill" or "a person who pretends, professionally or publicly, to have skill, ...

, Keeley is remembered as one of the first to treat alcoholism as a medical problem. The ''Keeley cure'' is defined in the

American Illustrated Medical Dictionary ''Dorland's'' is the brand name of a family of medical reference works (including dictionaries, spellers and word books, and spell-check software) in various media spanning printed books, CD-ROMs, and online content. The flagship products are ''Do ...

in the 1938 edition as "a proprietary method of treatment for the alcohol and opium habits by means of gold chloride." Keeley was widely cited as a quack. A 1908 article in the ''Illinois Medical Journal'' stated that "Leslie Keeley was a common, ordinary quack with a useless remedy which made good by advertising and catching suckers."The Illinois Medical Journal, Volume 14. Illinois State Medical Society. p. 14

Publications

''Opium: Its Use, Abuse and Cure''
(1892)
''The Keeley Treatment''
(1892)
''The Non-Heredity Of Inebriety''
(1896)

References

Sources

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keeley, Leslie 1836 births 1900 deaths Physicians from Illinois American science writers Alcohol abuse counselors People from Potsdam, New York People from Dwight, Illinois People of Illinois in the American Civil War Rush Medical College alumni Union Army surgeons Writers from Illinois Writers from New York (state)