Electric Shock Therapy for impotence
During the Gilded Age electricity was in vogue, described as a panacea for a great many ills when applied directly to the body. The surge of electricity, in varying degrees of current, was believed to stimulate additional energy within the body. It was considered beneficial in a variety of applications and for men, in two areas which, then and now, a cure was highly desirable. These were male pattern baldness and impotence.
The continued application of “mild” electric shocks were advocated by medical practitioners and manufacturers of the equipment, which could be applied with or without the supervision of a doctor. Newspapers, magazines, and the catalogs of manufacturers and retailers contained all sorts of devices which would stimulate hair growth, many of them in the form of a skull cap to be worn for prescribed periods of time, often to be used along with lotions or other nostrums.
For the problem of impotence, a visit to the doctor would lead to electrodes being placed directly on the dysfunctional body part, and the doctor would apply a series of shocks until a response was observed. It was believed that continued treatments of this nature would re-establish in the unfortunate patient’s body the desired physical response – a form of teaching muscle memory.
One particular vendor marketed a belt which employed a battery and what its advertisements referred to as “suspensory parts” which when worn, could be used to apply a steady current which would induce in the wearer the desired result. The advertisements promised that if the belt failed to deliver the promised results the seller would “forfeit” $5,000, though it did not say to whom the amount would be forfeited. It was manufactured by the Sanden Electric Company of Portland, Oregon.
The use of electrical devices to stimulate the male sexual organ may sound bizarre, but it was actually an improvement over that recommended by French doctors earlier in the nineteenth century. Their prescription was the use of flagellation with a small whip designed for the purpose, of the entire male organ and the surrounding area until the skin overall was red and nearly raw. It was believed that the blood flowing to the area which caused the reddening would also stimulate the desired response.