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Medical Museum: Perkins Tractors

by Sean Ruck, Contributing Editor | December 19, 2011
Perkins Tractor
From the December 2011 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine

The following picture and description appear courtesy of Dr. M. Donald Blaufox, M.D., Ph.D, from his medical historic website: www.mohma.org.

Each month we visit Dr. Blaufox's Museum of Historical Medical Artifacts to take a look back at the medical equipment that cleared the way for what patients encounter in the doctor offices and operating rooms of today. Some equipment may be recognizable, while other inventions featured here have since become obsolete or have had their usefulness discredited.

Category: Pre 19th Century Instruments Quackery

Estimated Date: 1800

Name: Perkins Tractors

Description: Two 3” long needle like pieces taper from about .25” to a point. Contained in a red case 3.5×0.75×0.25”. One is made of brass, the other of steel. Each is inscribed “Perkins Patent Tractors”. The story of Perkins is a remarkable one. He was a surgeon from Conecticut. He claimed that his tractors could heal infection and inflammation by stroking the affected part of the body. He invented them in 1796. In an effort to prove his invention he traveled to New York City in 1799 during a yellow fever epidemic and died shortly after of the disease. His son introduced the tractors to London and founded the Perkinian Society. He made a fortune from the device.

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