Titania by John Simmons

Photo Album:

Museum of Questionable Medical Devices

7 September 2001

Pictures by Andrew and me

During our day with Sweetie, Andrew and I went to the Museum of Questionable Medical Devices in Minneapolis. Andrew has more pictures from the museum here (though I did steal a couple pictures from his page, so they will look familiar). Much of the information I've written here about these devices is from the curator's book, Quack! Tales of Medical Fraud by Bob McCoy.

The sign out front of the museum.
This sign was on a counter across from the entrance.

Andrew gets his posture corrected. The table on which he is laying is broken in the middle with a vibrating slab under his hips - the vibrations were thought to improve the user's posture.

This is the Battle Creek Vibratory Chair. The vibrations experienced while in the chair were said to increase blood volume, cure constipation, tone muscles, and improve metabolism among many other claims.

This is the Auto Sweep Resonator Model 526A Sweep III. This miraculous device could work on a patient anywhere in the world. The owner of this device would take a picture of the person they wished to cure and place it in the holder, the round cup-holder-looking thing on the left-hand side toward the back of the box. Next pick up a subliminal affirmation cassette tape from a health food store, plug the tape player into the Resonator and put the antenna up (you can see how powerful the antenna is - my cheap stereo at home has a better antenna). Then press play on the tape recorder and the subliminal message from the tape will be piped directly to the person in the photograph...anywhere in the world.
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this device is that it was sold until the mid 1990s with a price tag of $1,500!

Here Andrew is looking into the Spectro-Chrome, a device which returns the body to health by restoring the balance of the four elements. Those four elements are oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and carbon, with colors corresponding to blue, red, green and yellow, respectively.

William Reich spent the first half of his career as a groundbreaking psychiatrist. The second half, however, he spent trying to harness life energies to cure disease (as well as ward off UFOs and government conspiracies).
Reich claimed to have discovered "orgone", a form of energy linking humans to the physical universe (Reich also claimed that orgone influenced the weather and was responsible for making the sky and ocean blue). According to Reich, orgone is released during orgasm.
The box in the picture to the left is an Orgone Energy Accumulator. A person could be treated for life threatening illnesses and psychological problems by sitting in the box.

This is one of many types of "bust developers" at the museum.

These are those "weigh loss" belts that supposedly jiggle the fat off a person.

In the early 1900s, doctors would cure women afflicted with "hysteria" by massaging them to orgasm. Doctors saw this as a time consuming practice and were quite happy when electric vibrators came along.
I innocently tried to take a picture of the vibrator display when the curator came along and said, "No, no. You can't just take a picture of the vibrators. You need to have someone holding them. Here, hold this one." So Sweetie and Andrew snapped pictures as I giggled, wishing I'd just walked on.

While at the museum, I decided to have my head examined. A phrenology reading uses the shape of the head to gauge a person's moral constitution. In the pictures to the left, I am sitting at a Psychograph, a machine invented by Henry C. Lavery in 1905, which measures the shape of a person's head and gives a lengthy assessment of personality. (The museum's curator, Bob McCoy, is the person administering the exam.)
You can read my results and see what vocations I am most suited for based on my phrenology reading.

Created: 16 September 2001

The sign out front of the museum.	This sign was on a counter across from the entrance.
	Andrew gets his posture corrected. The table on which he is laying is broken in the middle with a vibrating slab under his hips - the vibrations were thought to improve the user's posture.
This is the Battle Creek Vibratory Chair. The vibrations experienced while in the chair were said to increase blood volume, cure constipation, tone muscles, and improve metabolism among many other claims.
	This is the Auto Sweep Resonator Model 526A Sweep III. This miraculous device could work on a patient anywhere in the world. The owner of this device would take a picture of the person they wished to cure and place it in the holder, the round cup-holder-looking thing on the left-hand side toward the back of the box. Next pick up a subliminal affirmation cassette tape from a health food store, plug the tape player into the Resonator and put the antenna up (you can see how powerful the antenna is - my cheap stereo at home has a better antenna). Then press play on the tape recorder and the subliminal message from the tape will be piped directly to the person in the photograph...anywhere in the world. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this device is that it was sold until the mid 1990s with a price tag of $1,500!
Here Andrew is looking into the Spectro-Chrome, a device which returns the body to health by restoring the balance of the four elements. Those four elements are oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and carbon, with colors corresponding to blue, red, green and yellow, respectively.
	William Reich spent the first half of his career as a groundbreaking psychiatrist. The second half, however, he spent trying to harness life energies to cure disease (as well as ward off UFOs and government conspiracies). Reich claimed to have discovered "orgone", a form of energy linking humans to the physical universe (Reich also claimed that orgone influenced the weather and was responsible for making the sky and ocean blue). According to Reich, orgone is released during orgasm. The box in the picture to the left is an Orgone Energy Accumulator. A person could be treated for life threatening illnesses and psychological problems by sitting in the box.
This is one of many types of "bust developers" at the museum.
	These are those "weigh loss" belts that supposedly jiggle the fat off a person.
In the early 1900s, doctors would cure women afflicted with "hysteria" by massaging them to orgasm. Doctors saw this as a time consuming practice and were quite happy when electric vibrators came along. I innocently tried to take a picture of the vibrator display when the curator came along and said, "No, no. You can't just take a picture of the vibrators. You need to have someone holding them. Here, hold this one." So Sweetie and Andrew snapped pictures as I giggled, wishing I'd just walked on.

	While at the museum, I decided to have my head examined. A phrenology reading uses the shape of the head to gauge a person's moral constitution. In the pictures to the left, I am sitting at a Psychograph, a machine invented by Henry C. Lavery in 1905, which measures the shape of a person's head and gives a lengthy assessment of personality. (The museum's curator, Bob McCoy, is the person administering the exam.) You can read my results and see what vocations I am most suited for based on my phrenology reading.