The Lysha Perkins was born in Connecticut back in 1741 and trained as a physician before

opening his own practice.

He happily carried on the family business for years until in the 1790s he struck upon

a new idea.

You see, he had discovered a new tool of medicine and he was ready to let the world come

and benefit from its powers.

He called them Perkins tractors and they were a pair of metal pins, maybe three inches

long, that were fat at one end and pointed at the other, sort of like two long elegant

nails, and their power was quite extraordinary.

All a person had to do was stand over a patient who was battling some painful ailments and

use these Perkins tractors to trace the area in question and like magic, their troubles

would go away.

In a world of bloodletting in Lysha's, these tools were different, no skin was broken

and no blood was drawn.

The sick person never even felt a twinge of pain and for the modern equivalent of about

$900, anyone could buy a pair from him.

Here John Hagarth, a British physician who was a little bit skeptical about the claims

that Perkins was making.

So in 1799 he gathered together a bunch of patients and split them into two groups.

One received treatment with real metal Perkins tractors while he used wooden versions on

the others.

And guess what?

...