Metallic-Tractors, 1801, by James Gillray. A physician deploys a device invented by Dr. Elisha Perkins of Connecticut and claimed to cure disease through electric force. Gillray was skeptical. The newspaper on the table reads in part: "Just arrived from America, the Rod of AEsculapios, Perkinism in all its Glory being a certain Cure for all Disorders: Red Noses, Gouty Toes, Windy Bowels, Broken Legs, Hump Backs."
Metallic-Tractors courtesy of the Boston Medical Library/Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine