They Did No Harm: Alternative Medicine in Niagara Falls, NY, 1830-1930

In the 1800s medicine was primitive. Physicians often were untrained, and licensing was not yet organized. Many died because of this care, and people had little confidence in doctors. In the same period, healing facilities and health products ranging from medicinal mineral water, patent medicine, food, and devices were developing in Niagara Falls as alternatives to traditional medicine. Established treatments for people with disabilities were crude and seldom effective, so the sanitariums and alternative methods and products were also used to treat diseases of the nervous system and physical and mental disabilities. With good marketing and common wisdom, these enterprises used a variety of colorful methods, mostly harmless, to help their customers. Mainstream medicine at the time was far more dangerous.