Unveiling 20th Century Medical Device Oddities

From claims of restoring essential life energy to boosting digestive health, the more than 400 questionable medical devices at the Science Museum of Minnesota, in Saint Paul, are fraught with fraud and misinformation.

Laurie Kleinbaum Fink, PhD, senior director of the Center for Research and Collections at the science museum, will share lessons learned from the collection — dating mostly from the early 20th century — in the session, Questionable Medical Devices: Lessons Learned from a Collection of Oddities, at Medical Design & Manufacturing (MD&M) in Minneapolis from October 16 to 17. The session itself will take place from 3:30pm to 4:15pm local time at the Medtech Theater.

Is there a narrative thread to the oddities?

Fink: When museum founder Bob McCoy collected and displayed the objects, it was to entertain and amaze people, including the hilarious, horrifying, and preposterous medical devices that have been foisted upon the public in their quest for good health.  

The Science Museum of Minnesota currently displays objects to engage museum visitors in a conversation about how we make medical decisions. We offer three important take-away messages:

What medical device do you personally find most bizarre?

Fink: This is a very difficult question to answer as they all have bizarre aspects and claim to do a whole lot of things that they don’t do — even if sometimes they are built on a nugget of truth. 

One object worth highlighting is the Orgone Accumulator, whereby a patient would sit on a chair in an enclosed cabinet that was dark and very quiet. Supposedly, orgone was pulled from the air and accumulated in that space.

First of all, orgone is not real. Dr. Wilhelm Reich of Austria became obsessed with orgone, calling it an essential life energy. When that energy was in imbalance, it could supposedly induce nearly all illness, until it was restored by the machine that Reich invented. Reich convinced Albert Einstein to investigate the medical device and Einstein refuted all of Reich’s claims. But you can still purchase brand new orgone products today.

What is another medical device that intrigues you?

Fink: Radionics, which was invented by American physician Albert Abrams around 1909. The idea was that healthy people radiate healthy energy and sick people sick energy. Thus, you could re-tune someone’s sick energy back to health with the right frequencies. The electrometabograph is a complicated machine that claims to do this retuning. The problem is, all the dials, switches, and gauges are not even connected to much, just a few loose wires. Bob McCoy added some Christmas lights behind the display!

And a third oddity?

Fink: The Kellogg Vibratory Chair was invented by physician John Harvey Kellogg, brother to the breakfast cereal Kellogg. John started the Battle Creek Sanatorium in Battle Creek, Michigan, in the 1880s. He promoted healthy living, which included frequent enemas and time on the vibratory chair — up to 45 minutes a day. The goal was for people to regulate their bowel movements with squeaky clean intestines. 

What lessons can be gleaned by the collection?

Fink: This topic isn’t just for the history books. You can purchase many fake cures today. It is important to weigh the costs, risks, and benefits of any medical choice you make. If something seems like it is too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true.