Every Man His Own Electric Physician: T. Gale and the History of Do-it-yourself Neurology？ - Every Man His Own Electric Physician: T. Gale and the History of Do-it-yourself Neurology？ - Open Access Pub

We review the promotion of electrical treatments by laypeople for neurological and other conditions in a largely rural period of United States history. DOI10.14302/issn.2470-5020.jnrt-15-910 Self-Treatment: In early American, the public had long practiced medicine with home remedies and medical manuals. Before the medical field was professionalized, healing was commonly a family or community activity.1, 2 People relied on self-care for many reasons, including money, convenience, personal beliefs, and the distance and difficulty of reaching the nearest doctor, which was often a serious consideration on the American frontier.3 Books for the public brought simplified versions of treatments to common people. Do-it-yourself books and medical almanacs abounded in the United States, containing everything from recipes and common remedies, to popular herbal concoctions, patent medicines, and astrological advice. Englishman William Buchan’s Domestic Medicine, first published in 1769, ran in more than 100 editions and several languages, and was intended for general household practice, carrying the radical message that medical practice should be open to all. John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, believed strongly in the democratization of medicine, and in 1747 published a low-cost medical book called Primitive Physick: An Easy and Natural Method of Curing Most Diseases. He instructed readers on how to treat illnesses with simple kitchen ingredients. His book went through twenty-four American editions.2, 4 Into this environment of innovative individualism and self-determination, these guides found a welcome audience. They both promised cures and advocated healing thyself, physician or not. Electricity could end human suffering of all kinds and so should be embraced without delay, declared Gale. If used correctly, he proclaimed that electricity could cure anything, including palsies, epilepsy, St Vitus’s Dance, and headaches. Electricity as Medicine: The idea of using electricity, generated by torpedo fish, to treat neurological and other medical disorders dates back to the Roman Empire, though it was not until the 1770s that the numbness and cramping induced by the fish were understood to be caused by electricity.5 By the late 18th century, advances in the understanding of electricity, combined with technological advances in electrical devices, made electrotherapy a real possibility. One of the new theories to gain a widespread following was that of “animal electricity,” a term coined by Luigi Galvani to mean the electricity inherent in the nervous