He gets credit for it, but Ben Franklin was not the first guy to discover electricity. It goes back thousands of years. But how was it used? We tapped into those jolts for everything from feeling better to feeling REALLY good. It's a shocking story!
Here's a little quiz for you. Was it Ben Franklin who discovered electricity? Nope, Before him, we were using electricity for thousands of years, including strapping on a battery powered belt almost two hundred years ago, which made folks feel really, really good. I'm Patty Steele. That shocking backstory is next. We're back with the backstory. So when something feels fabulous, we call it electrifying. Right, Well, there was a time when folks regularly wrapped these big belts around their bodies, which were loaded with early batteries, to pleasurably shocked themselves. Back in the day when upscale ladies and guys had a long, hard day of socializing and roaring industry, followed by a slew of late evening dinners and soirees, they would get ready for a night out by strapping on pulver mockers galvanic hydro electric chain belt. Wow, is that a sexy name? Or what? Made of copper, zinc, wood, and of course leather. The belt came with two sponges, thirty two pages of instructions complete with testimonials from delighted customers. The two and a half pound belt had like a chain of batteries that sort of looked like a cowboy's bullet belt, which you strapped around whatever area needed a good jolt. It apparently sent an enjoyable and titillating electric current coursing through your body. Pulver Mocker claimed it would cure everything and including headaches, anxiety, depression, as well as poor digestion, constipation, gout, and interestingly, even a lack of confidence and sexual desire. In fact, men and women were equally entranced. Electric belts were made for every conceivable part of the human body limbs, tummy, chest, neck, sometimes worn all at the same time. That's a look I'd go for. Pulvermacher even had a model designed to attach to the male genitals in a special little sack, which was claimed to cure impotence and directile dysfunction. Okay, raise your hand if you want to sign up to give that one a go. Hugely popular in big cities like Paris, London, New York, and Washington, DC. All the society women would spend their days visiting each other, going to charity events at luncheons. Then they would go home, take a nice long sleep, then wake up strap on the belt. And give themselves some refreshing jilts. Then they were ready for the next round of late night festivities, no doubt, with beautiful pink cheeks from their adventures with electricity. Men, of course, would do the same and apparently feel once again like masters of the universe. Isaac Pulvermacher, the Austrian inventor of this crazy belt, showed it off at the eighteen fifty one World's Fair. He promised it would penetrate every nerve in the body with an eighty gage current, making it, as he called it, the most powerful self electrocuting belt of its time. Wow, there's a sales pitch. Just want to electrocute myself? He said? Are you tired, plagued by migraines or anxiety? Then the answer is the hydro electric belt. Well, guess what people went nuts for it? Now here's the thing. Turning on the lights and plugging stuff in only started less than about, I don't know, one hundred and fifty years ago. I mean, the very first building to be lit by electricity in the US was in New York City, where they flipped on the lights in eighteen eighty three, but much earlier, in the late seventeen hundreds. You knew this one, Ben Franklin, and flew a kite with a metal key attached during a lightning storm. To of course, he was lucky he didn't get electrocuted like other early scientists, including this German guy who tried the same key and kite thing in seventeen fifty three and did not survive the experiment. Here's a key takeaway in case you're wondering, Ben Franklin did not discover electricity. I'm going to say that again for you. Ben Franklin did not discover electricity. Ancient scientists had been fooling with it for more than one thousand years, maybe a couple thousand years, especially with static electricity. Ben just showed the connection between lightning and electricity. He felt a spark from that key, and eventually he was able to collect and store what he called electric fire in a thing called a lighton jar that was basically like an early battery. Now, what do we do with electricity? In between Ben's batteries and actually plugging stuff in well. In addition to the electric belt, there were some unique devices that became pretty popular among folks who could afford them or needed them some would put their achy hands, feet and legs into a wooden barrel filled with water. An electrical charge from a leyden jar would run through the water, giving the patient a little tingly jolt. Wouldn't want any more than that. Charles Dickens, who apparently had a problem with arthritis in his knees, was a fan both of the electric barrel and also the hydro electric belt. In fact, one of the very last letters he ever wrote was to the Pulvermacher Company thanking them for the arrival of that belt. Hope that's not what did him in. The batteries were also used in the brand new telegraph and eventually telephone industries too, But electricity has been used for all sorts of things going back to ancient Roman Greece. The doctor to the Roman Emperor Claudius was just one of the folks who actually used the electrical discharges given off by electric rays and eels to treat everything from migraines to gout to anal problems dm I. Ancient Egyptian doctors use the electric nile catfish to also treat gout, headaches, arthritis, depression, and nerve pain. They'd have patients either stand on the live electric fish, or if they had a headache, they would wrap the fish around the patient's head and the shock would actually often do the trick. Pretty crazy, right, But what about electricity that didn't come from fish. Well, the ancient Greeks messed with that too, discovering that amber, when rubbed, attracted particles. In fact, the Greek word for amber is electron, which is how we got the word electricity. Does it all sound a little bit weird, Well, think about this. Today, we still use electric shop for all kinds of mental health issues like bipolar disorder depression. It's also still used to treat pain by stimulating the nerves that send pain signals to your brain, and it's even used by some physical therapists to strengthen muscles and improve blood circulation. So it turns out we actually have a lot in common with folks who lived hundreds or even thousands of years ago. Whether you get your feel better jolt while standing on a slimy fish, wrapping a weird looking belt around your body, or hooked up to fancy modern day electrodes, it seems the motivation is really the same. We all just want to feel good, now, how shocking is that I'm Patty Steele. The Backstory is a production of iHeartMedia and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our executive producer is Steve Goldstein of Amplified Media. We're out with new episodes twice a week. Thanks for listening to the Backstory, the pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know.