Seattle Patient Praises Dr. Jordan's Histogenetic Treatment
A local man claims that after years of suffering and failed medical treatment, a 'Histogenetic' system cured his long-standing wounds and broken health.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
P. McNatt, of Seattle, W.T., writes: 'I had been down with illness for many years and tried everything the medical aid of Seattle could provide. I was shipped to San Francisco and stayed there three months for expert medical care, but received only slight benefit. All that time I suffered excruciatingly in my kidneys and my right leg, which was almost the size of two legs and as hard as a rock. I could hardly eat anything and was fast failing. I gave myself up to die. About that time, all the country round me rang with the praises of Dr. J. Eugene Jordan and his new Histogenetic system. I had myself conveyed to him at the Brunswick Hotel, where his office is. In one day after taking his medicine, the terrible pains in my stomach vanished. My bodily health came back to me. I threw away my crutches, and if it were not for a remaining stiffness of my knee, I would be a young man again. This transformation to health has now been a year, and I have no recurrence of the trouble. I am 55 years old, have lived 20 years near Seattle, and my many friends never expected to see me about again.'
“I gave myself up to die. About that time, all the country round me rang with the praises of Dr. J. Eugene Jordan.”
This advertisement for a 'miracle' cure captures the desperate, unregulated frontier medical marketplace of 19th-century Seattle. While the 'Histogenetic system' was clearly snake oil, it mirrors the modern proliferation of unverified health trends and online wellness influencers targeting those suffering from chronic pain.
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