198a 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



231 



KOBBING SICK PEOPLE. 



STATEMENT OF THE UNITED STATES CHEMIST 



IN REGARD TO THE CLAIMS OF 



ELECTROPOISE. 



Notwithstanding the plain and clear expose 

 that has been given for months past in these 

 pages, there are quite a few who continue to in- 

 sist that the Electropoise people, and others of 

 the same stripe, ha%'e made a scientific discov- 

 ery. They admit that physicans do not accept 

 it, but give, as a reason, that they are jealous, 

 because " it will spoil their business," etc. Now. 

 I felt almost ashamed to refer any thing so 

 ridiculously and plainly a sham to such an 

 authority as the United States Chemist; but I 

 finally decided to do so; but in order to have 

 the matter perfectly fair and clear, I give you 

 my letter to Prof. Wiley first: 



Prof. H. ir. Wiley.— Dear Sir;— We come to you 

 this time with something' that may not be altogether 

 in your line; but even if this is true, you could do 

 us and the people at large just now a great service 

 by even a couple of Ihies with your signature at- 

 tached. Very likely you are acquainted with the 

 humbug mentioned and described in the little pam- 

 phlet inclosed. If you are not, please turn to page 

 6 and read the paragrapli around which I have 

 penciled a line. Now, if you can give us permis- 

 sion to say that vou pronounce this neither sense 

 nor science, it will be all we ask. Should you care 

 to say more, however, it will be more acceptable 

 to us than you can imagine. 



Tlie inclosed galley-proof of an article that ap- 

 peared recently in our journal will give you some 

 idea of the periodicals that have been helping in 

 the e.r po.se. 



Your in the cause of fruc scioicc, and especially 

 medical science. A. I. Root. 



Medina, O., March 27. 



The pamphlet mentioned above was, of 

 course, the Electropoise company's circular. 



Well, here is his answer in plain black and 

 white: 



U. S. Department of Agkicultube, 

 Division of Chemistry, 

 Washington, D. C. 

 Mr. A. I. Root, Medina. Ohio: 



Dear Sir— I was mucli interested in reading your 

 letter of the 27tli ultimo, and also in looking over 

 the enclosures which you sent. You ask my opin- 

 ion of the marked part of page 5 of the circular 

 which you enclose. From a scientific point of view 

 it is rank charlatanry. I should want to go no fur- 

 ther than such a sentence to form an opinion of the 

 merits of the invention. 1 do not think, however, 

 that I could properly give an opinion on the inven- 

 tion itself, as I do not claim to he- an expert on 

 electrical matters. I fully agree with you, howev- 

 er, that it is a humbug, pure and simple. 



I am, respectfully, H. W. Wiley, 



April 1. 189.5. Chemist. 



You will see that I expressly asked his opin- 

 ion in shape so that I might make it public. I 

 liope the above may settle the matter in regard 

 to the scientific part of their invention. In re- 

 gard to the electrical part of the discovery, all 

 electricians have pronounced it a fraud so far 

 as that goes; and, in fact, the Electropoise 

 people themselves now admit that it is 7iot elec- 

 tricity, though they did not at first. 



To meet the charge that 1 have not made an 

 actual test myself, let me say that I have now 

 in my possession one of these instruments; and, 

 after testing it thoroughly, I can say conscien- 

 tiously that it amounts to nothing more than 

 would a brass button dropped into a bowl of 

 water, a piece of wire being attached to the 

 button, and the other end connected with the 

 ankle of the patient. It is true, the metal case 

 contains sulphur, carbon, etc.; but as the 

 case is perfectly tight, and none of the water 

 in the bowl touches the chemicals, the said 

 chemicals have absolutely nothing to do with 

 the instrument. There is nothing at all about 



the arrangement to make it worthy of the 

 name of apparatus ; and if it does perform 

 cures, it is, as I have said before, exactly in line 

 with the idea that a horseshoe nailed over a 

 door wards off disease. 



Pardon me for saying once more that this 

 revelation of fraud that has been practiced up- 

 on intelligent people forces us to the conclusion 

 that Tammany Ring, of New York, was not 

 the only place that needed ventilating and 

 holding up to the public gaze. The saddest 

 part of the whole matter is, that it is a great 

 part of the religious papers of our land that 

 need the e.rpose. It pains one to the bottom of 

 his heart to see the excuses the managers have 

 made, for continuing to accept such an adver- 

 tisement. When summed up it amounts to but 

 little less than that there is " big money " in it, 

 and that they need money, and viust have it. 



If there are among our readers those who 

 would like to help in ferreting out and exposing 

 this fraud, I would ask them to examine the 

 advertising department of their family papers; 

 and whenever any thing of this sort is found, 

 write at once to the publisher, with a protest. 

 Mail them this number of Gleanings, or clip 

 out this article, and we will send you as many 

 copies of Gleanings as you can use for the 

 purpose. We will have some extra slips pre- 

 served containing this item. Any one can 

 have as many of these slips as he can make use 

 of. They will be a little handier to put in a 

 letter instead of taking the trouble to mail the 

 journal. A. I. Root. 



What therefore God hath joined together, let not 

 man put asunder.— Mark 10:9. 



There was once a schoolboy whom we will 

 call John ; and there was also in the same 

 neighborhood a schoolgirl whom we will call 

 Mary. Mary was a professor of religion: John 

 may have been, but I do not exactly remember 

 now. At any rate, they were very good people, 

 and, I believe, they stood well in the communi- 

 ty round about them. By accident, perhaps it 

 was, these two became somewhat intimate in 

 their schooldays. John, however, decided, be- 

 fore the intimacy had gone so far as to attract 

 attention, that she was not exactly the woman 

 he would choose for a wife. This may not have 

 been through any fault of the young lady, but 

 simply because he judged their dispositions 

 were not exactly congenial. Some time passed ; 

 and as he gave her no more attention than he 

 did the other girls of the school, a third party 

 — a young man whom we will call Henry — began 

 to ioe somewhat intimate with Mary. Of 

 course, this was nothing to John, until finally 

 Henry made some disrespectful remarks about 

 the young lady, in John's hearing. Perhaps 

 Henry did it on purpose to see whether John 

 still felt any particular interest in her. John, 

 of course, felt pained. He studied the matter 

 over, and decided that some one ought to tell 

 Mary what Henry had been saying, for she 

 would most assuredly cut his acquaintance if 

 she knew it. For reasons that may be guessed, 

 John thought he was hardly the one to give her 

 a warning; but as things went on, and they 

 seemed to be getting still more intimate, Henry 

 at the same time continuing to show a low and 

 depraved tendency, John finally decided it his 

 duty as a friend toMary to suggest to her she 

 had better cut Henry's acquaintance. Mary, 



