What does "perkinism" mean?

A pseudoscientific treatment in which two pointed metal rods ("tractors") were waved over the body, supposed to cure inflammation, rheumatism, etc. by drawing off an electrical fluid.

What is a synonym for "perkinism"?

Common synonyms include: tractoration, tractoration, tractorism.

Perkinism

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
A pseudoscientific treatment in which two pointed metal rods ("tractors") were waved over the body, supposed to cure inflammation, rheumatism, etc. by drawing off an electrical fluid. archaic, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms

tractoration tractoration tractorism

Etymology

From Perkins + -ism, after inventor Elisha Perkins (1741–1799).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.