(QUACKERY). BAUNSCHEIDT, Carl. Le Baunscheidtisme.

With an Original Ebony "Life Awakener"

(QUACKERY). BAUNSCHEIDT, Carl. Le Baunscheidtisme. (Bonn: Chez F. Schulten, 1871) xvi, 205, [1] pp. (222 x 142 mm.) Third French Edition. Recent quarter red morocco over marbled paper boards. Original printed wrappers bound in. With frontispiece portrait and three illustrations. With an original Lebenswecker made of ebony, in working condition, but with a crack and repair to the removable cap. Wrappers a bit browned, upper corner of text block slightly bumped, but in excellent condition.

[with] LINDEN, John. Manual of the Exanthematic Method of Cure, Also Known as Baunscheidtism. (Cleveland, OH: John Linden, 1884). xvi, 315, [49], 317-332, [2] pp. (200 x 335 mm.) Fifteenth Edition. Publisher's rust-colored pebbled cloth. With frontispiece portrait and a couple of in-text illustrations. Covers with small stains, corners and edges rubbed, a few small spots of loss on spine; frontispiece foxed, a couple folded corners and other small imperfections internally. A very good, clean copy.

[and] LIPKAU, [Théodore]. Notice Scientifique sur Le Révulseur. (Paris: Dépot Général, [1862]). 7, [1] pp. (180 x 110 mm.) Original printed wrappers, with illustrations on the interior sides. Small stain on upper cover, with a faint crease and a little wrinkled throughout.

A trio of publications extolling the virtues of a rather painful patent medicine cure that created "artificial pores" on the skin.

Named for its inventor, Carl Baunscheidt (1809-73), Baunscheidtism was a type of homeopathic cure that relied on a tool known as the "Lebenswecker," or "Life Awakener." The instrument consisted of a hollow body with a number of sharp needles clustered on a steel plate at one end, connected via a taut string to a handle on the other end. The needles would be dipped into a proprietary oil and then used to puncture and irritate the skin in order to produce "artificial pores"--a process that was said to relieve the patient of any number of conditions.

One of the most enthusiastic exponents of Baunscheidtism (or the "Exanthematic Method," as it was also called) was John Linden, whose book on the subject details some 116 uses for the technique, from acne and baldness, to cancer, diabetes, syphilis, and even somnambulism. Linden invented his own "improved" version of the Lebesnswecker, which he dubbed the "Resuscitator"; and the French booklet included here advertises yet another imitation called "Le Revulseur"--a testament to the popularity of this instrument in the second half of the 19th century. (1072)