Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 2246

PERRY LEWIS NICHOLS (1863-1925) The value of escharotics. The Dr. Nichols Sanatorium 1939 382 [2] pp., front. (port.), plates (1 double), ports., map. 23.8 cm.

During the first half of the twentieth century there existed many hospitals and sanatoriums in the United States devoted to the cure of cancer. Their success in satisfying thousands of patients is testimony to the wishful thinking and credulity of those with real or imagined illnesses. Fortunately these institutions have now been banished, but they are a part of our medical heritage. The Doctor Nichols Sanatorium in Savannah, Missouri, a small town a few miles north of St. Joseph, was one of these institutions, operating from 1906 until about 1960. Set in a grove of old trees on a gently rising knoll, the large red brick building admitted many credulous patients, some of whom actually suffered from cancer. Treatment for the patient involved topical or intraoral applications of liquid or paste escharotic concoctions which literally burned away the afflicted tissue. Benign lesions of the skin such as warts, bruises, and sebacious cysts were commonly treated as malignant growths because they responded to the therapy. Deeper lesions and tumors could not be treated and morbidity, disfigurement, and mortality were the results. The discussion of the nature of cancer and the triumph of escharotics over such treatments as radium, X-ray, and surgery is very limited. By far the majority of the book is devoted to testimonial letters from former patients and lists of cured patients. The many photographs of the staff reveal that the practitioners all possessed M.D. degrees.

Gift of John Martin, M.D.