The WOMB BATTERY
An Incredibly Bad Idea

Item #118 - Womb Battery, Health Battery Company, Oakland California; c. 1895; Bimetallic silver-zinc uterine pessary with applicator wire; About 1.2" x 1.5" in size, 6" applicator; Custom plexiglass display holder.

Comes with a 4-page and 2-page instruction leaflet with a reprint from 'Clinical Electrotheraputics', 1873. Reproduced below.

Several devices of this kind were patented at the end of the 1800's. No patents are mentioned in the device's literature. The device seems to be a combination of Keller's and Petit's design: Martha Keller's Patent Dr. Julius Petit's Patent

Some uterine electrification ideas went to truly bizarre extremes: Mohn's Electric Uterine Support

$225 Sold

The insertion end showing the silver cup and center electrode surrounded by a copper collar.

The effect of the decomposing copper and silver at the entrance to the uterus can only be imagined. However, metal salts do have bactericidal properties and so the device may have had some beneficial effects, but not through any 'electrical action.'

The applicator wire pulls away after the device has been inserted. To remove the pessary the applicator is reversed and the hook is used to prise the device from uterus.