Elisha Perkins
American physician
Elisha Perkins (January 16, 1741 – September 6, 1799) was an American physician who created a fraudulent medical device, the Perkins Patent Tractors. Although they were made of steel and brass, Perkins claimed that they were made of unusual metal alloys. Perkins claimed his rods cured inflammation, rheumatism and pain in the head and the face; he applied the points on the aching body part and passed them over the part for about 20 minutes. The device was later the subject of the first placebo research.
Early life and military service
Elisha Perkins was born in 1741 in Norwich, Connecticut. He was educated by his father, Joseph Perkins, in Plainfield, Connecticut, where he later practiced medicine with success. When the American Revolutionary War broke out, Perkins served as a surgeon for the Continental Army during the Battle of Bunker Hill in the Siege of Boston.
Career
During the late 18th century, the progression of medicine due to the Enlightenment increased the consumer demand for new therapies, such as therapeutic devices and inventions. Consequently, around 1795–96, Perkins invented his "Tractors", for which he took out a 14-year patent on February 19, 1796. The tractors consisted of two 3-inch metal rods with a pointed end; the term is from the old meaning of tractor, "that which pulls", as in the term 'tractor beams'.
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This entry incorporates text from “Elisha Perkins” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.