Prof. Poe's Traveling Medicine Show
In the Spring of 1907, George Poe’s Pulmotor was complete and operational. He had tested the device on his pet rabbit, “Socrates” several times, and was able to demonstrate it to several local medical professionals at what was then Norfolk Protestant Hospital (now Sentara Norfolk General). There was a lot of interest, but the device was still a local phenomenon. Then, George Poe and his team got a break. In April 1907, the entire world came to town.
April 26, 1907 marked the opening of the 1907 World’s Fair, officially called “The Jamestown Tercentennial Exposition”, and it happened at what was then called “Mr. Sewell’s Point”, at the northern edge of the city of Norfolk, along the historic James River. President Theodore Roosevelt presided over the opening ceremonies, and a naval review of 51 ships of the navies of the world paraded past up the James, and into the Elizabeth River, led by the battleships of the “Great White Fleet”, under the command of Admiral Robley D. “Fighting Bob” Evans, USN. Little Norfolk had never seen such crowds or such a variety of nationalities visit the then very small city. Norfolk was officially “on the map”, and George Poe found a way to get his Pulmotor on display at the international event.
The Exposition had great halls showcasing various aspects of world progress, and Poe arranged to have his device displayed temporarily in the Hall of Mines and Manufacture. Poe and Arthur Ostrander demonstrated the device several times there, and it caught the attention of various medical societies, and most importantly, the press. Poe found himself invited to demonstrate the device in many places up and down the east coast; Washington, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston soon became regular stops.
Poe always had been sort of a “showman” at heart; he quickly devised a standard script they followed. While it was a serious scientific procedure, it had a bit of the air of a carnival sideshow. Arthur managed Socrates, or if the rabbit did not make the trip, found a rat, or squirrel, or a stray dog or cat to use for the demonstration. Poe always spoke and worked the handles of the Pulmotor, and medical consultants Drs. Morgan and Jackson worked the oxygen generator and the oxygen/air tubing. It went off nearly perfectly every time; there are no known press reports of an animal not being successfully resuscitated. Poe always spoke in a booming voice and held the lifeless animal up for the crowd, and said “Ladies and Gentlemen! Observe now, as I bring this poor creature back from the dead”. Crowds cheered, the press couldn’t get enough of it, and George Poe was once again famous. The man who gave up fame and fortune to tinker in the country was now a famous scientist on the world stage.
Poe obtained a US Patent on the device July 1907, and a Canadian International Patent in September the same year. He was even mentioned for a Nobel Prize, but the nomination never went forward. Poe did, however, keep working; while his health was still very poor overall, he lived to make the Pulmotor a success. That success came to a peak in 1909, when the medical staff back at Norfolk Protestant decided to use the device on an asphyxiated Norfolk man named Moses Goodman. They had tried everything else they could think of, and remembered the Pulmotor demonstration. They had a copy of the device there for testing, and gave it a try. Moses Goodman was revived, and the Pulmotor had its first save.
George Poe then continued his demonstrations, and eventually more people were revived. By 1911, the device was being used as an acceptable medical treatment for lifeless/breathless victims. It was in that year that fate dealt Poe another bad hand; he had another stroke, followed by a heart attack. Like his cousin before him, he just couldn’t catch a break for long. So, at his peak, his decline began anew.
Sixth in a series on the history of “The Machine for Inducing Artificial Respiration”.