|
Charles L. Blood (born ca. 1834; alias C. H. Lewis ''et al.'') was an American con artist and self-styled physician who operated in Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago. He produced a patent medicine treatment known as "oxygenized air", which he promoted as a cure for catarrh, scrofula, consumption, and diseases of the respiratory tract.〔〔 == Career == Blood was born around 1834 in Ayer, Massachusetts; he claimed to be the son of Dr. Louis Blood, a physician, though this is believed to be a fabrication.〔 His own medical credentials were likewise in question—though he styled himself "Dr. C. L. Blood" or "C. L. Blood, M.D." and authored a book on medicine, he was widely supposed to be a con artist with no legitimate claim to any medical degree.〔〔〔 His notoriety was said to be national, albeit distributed among a variety of aliases.〔 Around 1865, Blood came from Philadelphia to Boston, where he established an office in the old Congregational Library building at 12 Chauncy Street. He began promoting his medical services via full-page newspaper advertisements, as well as advertising sheets which he distributed to the surrounding country. Around this time he also developed an interest in Gardner Quincy Colton's use of "laughing gas", or nitrous oxide.〔〔 Blood learned the manner of its manufacture and thereafter claimed the invention as his own, rebranding it as "oxygenized air" and touting it as a cure for diseases of the throat and lungs.〔〔 Blood's business flourished, which enabled him to move into better quarters at 119 Harrison Avenue. He extensively advertised his ability to cure all diseases of the blood and lungs by means of his "air", which he administered at his practice.〔〔 A page would answer the calls of visitors at his door and usher them into elegantly furnished reception areas to await the appearance of Blood from his consultation room. Blood employed numerous shills to maintain the appearance of doing an immense business, which artifice he used to lure investors. To these he offered contracts securing the exclusive right to resell his "air" in various states and territories.〔〔〔 Blood left Boston some time after 1867, shifting his activities to various cities in the Northeast and Midwest. He was known to maintain practices in New York City around 1875,〔 in Chicago from 1875 to 1876,〔 in Philadelphia in 1883,〔 and again in Boston in the late 1880s.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「C. L. Blood」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|