handle for giving electric shocks
Date: circa 1850
Inventory Number: 0117
Classification: Medical Electrical Device
Subject:
Attributed to: Daniel Davis, Jr. (1813 - 1887)
Cultural Region:
Place of Origin:
Dimensions:
2.1 × 16 × 2.1 cm (13/16 × 6 5/16 × 13/16 in.)
Bibliography:
Daniel Davis, Jr. and the Elecromagnetic Instrument Industry: A Field with Great Potential in the Early 19th Century
Davis's Manual of Magnetism
A Manual of Magnetism
Catalogue of apparatus to illustrate magnetism, galvanism, electrodynamics, electromagnetism, magneto-electricity, and thermo-electricity, manufactured and sold by Daniel Davis, magnetical instrument maker
Description:
This is probably one of a pair of handles (other missing). Made of wood, the bottom half is covered with silver. The binding post appears to be of the same metallic material. This type of handle was used with a variety of Davis's electrical machines (see for instance 0118).
Davis sold a pair of these handles $2 in 1848.
Davis sold a pair of these handles $2 in 1848.
Signedunsigned
FunctionUsually used in pair with electrical apparatus, this handle was used to give electric shocks to medical patients.
Here is how Davis described this sort of handle in 1848: "the metallic handles are represented in connection with the screw-cups, for the purpose of giving shocks. When these are held in the hands, the arm connected with the negative cup will be found most affected by the shocks. This is a physiological phenomenon, the current producing a greater effect upon the arm in which it flows downwards, in the direction of the ramification of the nerves, than upon the one in which it ascends... The handles represented in Fig. 173 are of German silver. Between the metallic part of each handle and the screw-cup attached to it, is interposed a cylinder of wood. No shock is felt when one or both are held by the wooden portions."
Here is how Davis described this sort of handle in 1848: "the metallic handles are represented in connection with the screw-cups, for the purpose of giving shocks. When these are held in the hands, the arm connected with the negative cup will be found most affected by the shocks. This is a physiological phenomenon, the current producing a greater effect upon the arm in which it flows downwards, in the direction of the ramification of the nerves, than upon the one in which it ascends... The handles represented in Fig. 173 are of German silver. Between the metallic part of each handle and the screw-cup attached to it, is interposed a cylinder of wood. No shock is felt when one or both are held by the wooden portions."
Primary SourcesDaniel Davis, Jr., Catalogue of Apparatus, to Illustrate Magnetism, Galvanism, Electrodynamics, Electro-Magnetism, Magneto-Electricity, and Thermo-Electricity (Boston: Daniel Davis, Jr., 1848), 38, fig. H.
Daniel Davis, Jr., A Manual of Magnetism, 2nd ed. (Boston: Daniel Davis, Jr., 1848), 272-273.
Daniel Davis, Jr., Davis's Manual of Magnetism, 7th ed. (Boston: Palmer and Hall, 1855), 272-273.
Daniel Davis, Jr., A Manual of Magnetism, 2nd ed. (Boston: Daniel Davis, Jr., 1848), 272-273.
Daniel Davis, Jr., Davis's Manual of Magnetism, 7th ed. (Boston: Palmer and Hall, 1855), 272-273.
ProvenanceFrom the Department of Physics, Harvard University.