The promulgation of Dr. Perkins’ ‘discovery,’ which occurred in 1796, was preceded, it is said, by a long series of experiments, which were suggested by the supposition, that metallic substances might remove disease by some electrical or galvanic power. The Tractors, which were the final result of these experiments, are two pieces of metal about three inches long, blunt at one end, and running to a point at the other. One of them appears to be brass, and the other steel, but what their real composition is, is not known, as the invention was patented. The fame of the Tractors spread with unaccountable rapidity, and marvelous cures were everywhere reported. Certificates came in from all quarters, and from all kinds of dignitaries. Not only captains, and colonels, and generals, and ’squires sounded the praises of the Tractors, but clergymen and senators and doctors and professors. And their fame was not confined to this country. Benjamin Douglass Perkins, a son of the inventor, went to London to obtain the patronage of the British public for the Tractors. Great cures were forthwith effected all over the kingdom, of which there were multitudes of certificates from the wise and good, and, what is better, from the titled and wealthy. Similar cures were also reported from other countries in Europe, especially from Denmark. To prove that imagination had nothing to do with these results, there were related many instances of cure in infants and in horses. It was found by some sage observer that, though horses could be cured by the Tractors, they had no influence at all upon sheep. He supposes that this is owing to the unctuous matter in the wool, and he remarks that “even pomatum, it is well ascertained, prevents the Tractors from relieving pains in that part of the head over which the pomatum is used.” A lame crow, supposed to have the cramp, was operated upon so successfully by the Tractors, that though he had not been able to put his foot to the ground for a week, he walked perfectly well the next morning after the application.[12] The multitude of cases which were collected from every quarter were occasionally published. I have in my possession a volume of nearly two hundred pages published in London, containing a great number of these cases. The testimony is of the most decisive character. Pain was relieved in a trice by a few strokes of the Tractors; inflammations were drawn out; swellings were dispersed, and, in some cases, with such rapidity that they were _seen_ to lessen during the application; rheumatism, which had baffled the best medical skill was removed; the paralytic was made to walk—such were the reports which were constantly put forth.