1894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



<>27 



ROBBING SICK PEOPLE. 



SflPINCE AND SUrKKSTITION. 



By A. I. Roi,t. 



It is bad enough to take money from people in 

 health and well to do: but it is a shameful thing 

 to rob the sick and the suffering, and the poor 

 and destitute. Those who are engaged in the 

 business claim that they do not take anybody's 

 money without their consent and approval. 

 But I do not think this makes very much dif- 

 ference. Obtaining money under false pre- 

 tenses is recognized as a crime by the laws of 

 our land; and if you think I am too severe in 

 the matter, let me explain to you the way in 

 which money is obtained by false claims and 

 misrepresentations. 



Most of you recollect about how long ago it 

 was that we commenced tinding articles in the 

 reading-matter of our home journals and 

 papers, said articles being only an advertise- 

 ment, for which the editors are exceedingly 

 well paid. It has been urged that nobody is 

 deceived, because every one understands that 

 it is an advertisement, even if the head-lines do 

 read, "Almost a Miracle,*' and "Snatched 

 from the Brink of the Grave," and such like 

 expressions. If nobody is deceived, let me ask 

 you why the proprietor pays the editor such a 

 big sum of money for inserting things of this 

 kind. Ask the editor of your home paper how 

 much he receives for these things; and if he is 

 honest his reply will astonish you. You may 

 insist, however, that the medicines do do ftome 

 good: and I confess that, for a time, I thought 

 there must be some real vii'tue, or else men and 

 women standing high in society, and often- 

 times those who are widely known throughout 

 our land, would not lend their names to such 

 schemes. But an experience that I have had 

 of late has been giving me a glimnse of the 

 truth. I am .sure T am right, dear friends: and 

 every year T live, the testimony comes home to 

 me stronger and stronger that few of the medi- 

 cines so largely and widely advertised have any 

 effect whatever on the one who buys and takes 

 them. Now for the proof. 



Many of you have doubtless seen an adver- 

 tisement headed "Electrnpoise." The thing 

 emanates from the Electrnlibration Co.. New 

 York. Thev profess to cure disease without 

 medicine. Some of you may have had some 

 exnerience with the thing, and may insist that 

 it has virtue. To which I reply that, if there is 

 really any virtue in it. it is exactly of the kind 

 that belongs to an old horseshoe. You have 

 heard in childhood, if not later, that finding a 

 horseshoe would bring good luck; and you 

 have doubtless seen horseshoe« nailed over the 

 door of the superstitious or ignorant. They 

 claim that the horseshoe brings good luck, 

 wards off disease, etc. Well, let us suppose 

 there is virtue in an old ru«ty horseshoe; and 

 suppose somebody discovers that, if he attaches 

 a wire or string to the horseshoe, and then ties 

 it around the patient's ankle, virtue will ema- 

 nate from the horseshoe, proceed to the patient, 

 and cure him of various bodily ills. Suppose, 

 too. the inventor should tell you he has discov- 

 ered that, to have the thing work to the best 

 advantage, the horseshoe must be placed in a 

 bowl of ice water, or hung out of the window 

 on a cold day, etc. Perhaps there are people 

 who might he made to believe this: and if the 

 belief were strong enough they would doubtless 

 fepi better, and may be get well, and perhaps 

 give testimonials to the inventor of the appa- 

 ratus. Now. Electropoise has just as much 

 virtue, and is just as scientific, as the arrange- 

 ment I liave mentioned, and no more. And yet 



scores of testimonials are given, and a great 

 part of them from prominent men or women. 

 Some may occupy important positions in our 

 nation, some with "Rev." attached to their 

 name, and a few who have been entitled " pro- 

 fessor." More of this anon. 



One of the first indications you have of a 

 downright humbug and swindle is the price 

 charged. The proprietor of a patent medicine 

 that costs him but little if any more than sugar 

 and water, wants $-LM a bottle; and he tries to 

 make people believe that a dollar would not 

 pay cost. 



A few years ago a company started out mak- 

 ing a patent fire-annihilator. It was some sort 

 of liquid in fancy-shaped green or blue bottles. 

 We wanted some for our factory, so we might 

 put out a fire very quickly by simply smashing 

 one of the bottles in the midst of the conflagra- 

 tion. The agent said the price was $34.00 a 

 dozen; but in order that he might have our 

 name to help him make sales he would furnish 

 them to us for $18.00 per dozen, which was 

 "only a little above cost." When our ware- 

 house was burning I tested some of the bottles, 

 and they we're of no use whatever — that is. they 

 were of no more use than a pint of salt water 

 would have been under the circumstances. I 

 tested the water, and pronounced it simply 

 salty water. Then I compared its effects on 

 blazing embers, with salt and water. It behav- 

 ed exactly the same. Now, these fellows went 

 to the trouble of making a public exhibition of 

 their "discovery" for putting out fires. The 

 whole thing was a put-up job and a fraud; and 

 they managed it so well that even great rail- 

 way companies equipped their offices with these 

 cheap glass bottles, hanging conspicuously in 

 sight. Two dollars apiece was the price charg- 

 ed for a five-cent bottle filled with salt water — 

 one fourth off where prominent individuals 

 purchased considerable quantities. 



Well, the above is the way these swindlers 

 manage right straight through. The big price 

 is one of tihe features of the advertisements. 

 The large size of Electropoise costs only $50.00. 

 On tlie front there are some levers and buttons, 

 probably to make people think there is some 

 sort of current or virtue emanating from the 

 thing. The pocket instrument costs only -52.1.00. 

 It is about as large as the nickel-plated handle 

 of an ordinary bicycle. The machinery inside 

 is probably about as complicated. Ernest suc- 

 ceeded in getting the agent to let him take the 

 thing in his hand. He soon discovered where 

 there was a screw on one part of the machine, 

 and was about to take the thing apart to see 

 what furnished the 625 worth of "virtue." 

 The agent became alarmed at once, and declar- 

 ed that the instrument would be spoiled (?) if it 

 were opened. 



The makers declare distinctly that the influ- 

 ence that comes from this thing is not electricity, 

 but that it is " something " they have discover- 

 ed themselves. Let us look at tin's a minute. 

 There are at present known to science three 

 imponderable agents — heat, light, and elec- 

 tricity. Only electricity passes along a wire — 

 that is, any considerable length of it. If they 

 have got something else that will run thi-ough 

 a wire, or on a wire, like electricity, then they 

 have discovered a new imponderable agent. If 

 this be true, how does it come that the whole 

 scientific world has never yet heard of it? and 

 vet the thing was patented as long ago as 1S91. 

 By the wav, I wish to call the Patent Office 

 to order. One of the readers of (tI.eanings, 

 about a year ago. wanted to get a rtatent on a 

 living-machine. He went to Washington, but 

 they told him that he must make his machine 

 /?)/. before he could have a patent. They ad- 

 mitted that they used to grant patents on 



