Doctor Franklin’s Medicine

The Electrical CureStanley Finger

Washington University

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

Born in Boston, January 17, 1706

Formal Schooling Ages 8-10

Printer’s Apprentice, 1717

Leaves for Philadelphia, 1723

England: 1757-1775

France: 1776-1785

United States: 1785-1790

Franklin’s ReputationAccording to the

USPS

Printer-Writer

Postmaster

Statesman-Diplomat

Scientist (Experimental Natural Philosopher)

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*This list should include Man of Medicine!

Franklin Stamps, 2006

Medical Interests Hospitals

Medical Schools

Hygiene

Exercise

Fresh Air

Smallpox Inoculation

Lead Poisoning

Malnutrition

Child-rearing

Mesmerism

Music Therapy

Prosthetics (e.g., bifocals, long-arm)

Medical electricity

Why Medicine?

From Poor Richard's Almanack:

“The noblest question in the world is, What

Good may I do in it?”

"What is Serving God?

'Tis doing Good to Man."

Some Landmarks in Electricity

William Gilbert coins word, 1600

Otto von Guericke’s sulphur globe, 1660s

Francis Hawksbee’s glass tubes, 1709

Pieter van Musschenbroek’s Leyden Jar, 1745

Early Electrical Machine

Leyden Jars

Franklin on Electricity

Spencer’s Electrical Demonstrations, 1743

Collinson’s Gift to Library Company, 1746(?)

Theory of Points, 1747

Plus-Minus Electricity Theory, 1747

Lightning Rod, 1750

Oneness of Lightning and Electricity, 1750-52

Experiments and Observations on Electricity, 1751

Depictions of the Kite Experiment1752

Electricity and the Palsies

Trials with the “Common

Paralytic Disorder”

The First Call for Medical Electricity:Johann Krüger of Halle, 1743

"But what is the usefulness of electricity? For all things must have a usefulness; that is certain. Since electricity must have a usefulness, and we have seen it cannot be looked for either in theology or in jurisprudence, there is obviously nothing is left but

medicine. . . .The best effect would be found in paralyzed limbs."

Medical Electricity Apparatus

James Logan (1674-1751)Came to PA as William Penn’s secretary in 1699.

Well known Pennsylvania businessman, public figure, book collector, and student of mathematics and natural philosophy.

“Common paralytick disorder” in 1750.

Franklin administered electrotherapy.

It did not have beneficial effects.

Jonathon Belcher (1682-1757)Governor of MA + NH, then NJ.Common Paralytic Disorder,

1750, age 69.Asks “my country man Franklin

… come and make the operation himself.”

Apparatus breaks in transit.“I have however made some use of the rest of the apparatus and with Mr. Burr’s assistance have been electrify’d several times but at present without any alternation in my nervous disorder.”

7 Craven St., London

John Pringle

Franklin’s 1757 Report to the Royal Society

“I never knew any Advantage from

Electricity in Palsies that was

permanent."

Deborah Read Franklin (1708-1774)

Franklin to Mather Byles, 1788

"I wish for your sake that Electricity had

really prov'd what at first it was

suppos'd to be, a Cure for the Palsy.”

On Deafness(Caused by Smallpox)

To Humphrey Stenhouse, 1765

"I wish I could give you any Encouragement to hope Relief in your Case by means of Electricity. NO instance of the kind has fallen within my Knowledge. On the contrary, I have try’d it on some Patients, but without the least Success."

A Tumor or Brain Abscess?

Lady Mary Catherine was the 12-yr.-old daughter of the Duke of Ancaster. Pringle to Franklin in March 1767:

“His Grace and the Duchess are in the greatest distress abouttheir daughter, who has been long in a most Miserable conditionwith spasms and convulsions. After all that we have done the distemper remains obstinate … the present spasm has shut the Young Lady's jaw and deprived Her both of speech and swallowing. … I ventured to name You as the person the most proper for directing the operation.”

The girl died in April, just before her thirteenth birthday.

“Poor Richard” (1732):

“He’s the best physician that knows the worthlessness of the most medicines.”

Q. Did Franklin draw this conclusion about medical electricity?

Ans. Not at all!

Hysteria

Just as a diseased body could affect the mind, a sick mind can wreck havoc with the body.

John Wesley: “The slow and lasting passions, such as grief and hopeless love,

bring on chronical diseases.”

Case C.B.

Franklin and Cadwalader Evans team up to treat C.B. in 1752

Probably Evan’s 24-year-old sister

Hysterical symptoms for 10+ years

Case Published in 1757

Evans on C.B.

“She was tortur'd almost to madness with a

cramp in different parts of the body; then with

more general convulsions of the extremities,

and a choaking deliquium; and, at times with

almost the whole train [of] hysteric

symptoms.”

C.B.’ Letter

"About this time there was a great talk of the

wonderful power of electricity. Accordingly I went

to Philadelphia, the beginning of September

1752, and apply'd to B. Franklin, who I thought

understood it best of any person here.” 

C.B.’ Letter

“I receiv'd four strokes morning and evening ... the

symptoms gradually decreased, till at length they

entirely left me. ... B. Franklin was so good as to

supply me with a globe and bottle, to electrify

myself everyday for three months. I now enjoy such

a state of health, as I wou'd have given all the world

for.”  

Why Did Franklin Think Electricity Worked?

As an 18th-Century Physician:

Tightened flaccid nerves

Increased the flow of the nerve juices

Removed obstructions

Why Did Franklin Think Electricity Worked?

As A Psychologist

“As Charms are nonsense, Nonsense is a Charm.”

(Poor Richard, 1734)

Why did Franklin Think Electricity Worked for

Hysteria?

As an Empiricist

Like most non-university trained “amateurs”in medicine, Franklin was not theory-driven.

He took a trial and error approach and was concerned only with whether something worked.

Melancholia

Franklin does not suggest treating melancholia with electricity because it is a stimulant.

It also had nothing to do with C.B.’s related condition, hysteria.

Instead, it stems from some electrical accidents.

Franklin and Melancholia

Franklin discovered that he and others could endure strong shocks to the head with only a small memory loss for the event.

And his friend Jan Ingenhousz felt better after an electrical accident involving his head!

Jan Ingenhousz (1730-1799)

Ingenhousz’s Joy

“My mental faculties were at that time not only

returned, but I felt the most lively joye in

finding, as I thought at the time, my judgment

infinitely more acute. ... I found moreover a

liveliness in my whole frame, which I never

had observed before.”

Ingenhousz’s Proposal

"This experiment ... has induced me to advise som[e] of the London mad-Doctors, as Dr Brook, to try a similar experiment o[n] mad men, thinking that, as I found my self, my mental faculties impro[ved] and as the world well knows, that your mental faculties, if not improved [by] the two strooks you received, were certainly not hurt, by them, it might perhaps be[?] a remedie to restore the mental faculties when lost."

Franklin’s Response

"I communicated that Part of your Letter to an

Operator, encourag'd by the Government here [in

Paris] to electrify epileptic and other poor Patients,

and advis'd his trying the Practice on Mad

People according to your opinion.

Word Spreads

Within a few years of the Ingenhousz and Franklin proposals, people begin applying shocks to the heads of “mad” patients:

John Birch in London, 1787

Giovanni Aldini in Bologna, 1801

T. Gale, New York State, 1802

Curing Melancholic Madness

Birch, Aldini, and Gale:

Used weaker shocks and did not produce unconsciousness or major convulsions.

But had significant successes.

And never mentioned the origins of the new therapeutic idea!

Dr. Franklin’s Reasoned Conclusions

Medicine must be based on experiments, not unsubstantiated opinions or theories

Generalizing without facts should be avoided.

Thus, medicine should follow the rules set for Baconian And good Enlightenment science.

Medical electricity is neither a panacea nor aquack remedy.

This is shown by clinical “Tryals” for various disorders.