The Risqué Revelation of the Wayward Waxworks

n                         In the world of Victoriannquackery, no name looms so large as that of Dr Joseph Kahn. According to somencontemporaries, ‘Dr’ Kahn was not so much a doctor as an immigrant Germannbarber, who advertised his ‘services’ in the newspapers and who came to the attentionnof assorted commentators and authorities for a number of odd reasons. 

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nWhen Kahnnarrived in London from Alsace with his pregnant wife and mother-in-law in 1851,nhe opened his primary business, the Anatomical and Pathological Museum, at 315nOxford St where he exhibited anatomical exhibits, both real and modelled innwax, and microscopical specimens to paying customers. 

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nWaxwork anatomical modelsnwere a great phenomenon in Victorian England, and were used as an alternativento the dissection of corpses in medical schools. But whereas the medicalnschools were closed to the public, anatomical museums were open to all and,nparticularly, to women. Kahn had a ‘special’ room, ostensibly only open tonmedical men but in reality open to anyone who paid, where he showed those bitsnof human anatomy not normally seen in polite society. His ‘excuse’ was that henwas providing information for doctors, nurses, midwives – who probably sawnenough examples in their professional lives that they didn’t need Kahn’s modelsntoo. 

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nHe also had examples of the effects of ‘secret diseases’ modelled in wax,nand it was in the treatment of these afflictions were the real money was made.nLadies and Gentlemen who found themselves suffering from such maladies couldnconsult Dr Kahn in a confidential fashion, and would invariably be found to bensuffering from diseases that were pretty pricey to treat. One of his favouritendiagnoses was ‘spermatorrhoea’ which afflicted large numbers of young men, allnof whom needed expensive treatments. 

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nVisitors to Kahn’s museum were alsonpresented with a booklet, or ‘catalogue’, which contained information about then‘truth’ of married life, complete with woodcuts and diagrams, at the back ofnwhich was a section on ‘self-diagnosis’. 

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nThere is a list of ‘symptoms’, which covernjust about anything and everything, from shortness of breath and loss of hair,nblushing to sighing. Tick off enough symptoms and recourse to Dr Kahn wasnrecommended, and that’s when your troubles really started. The ‘cures’ were notncheap (about £500), didn’t work, and opened the users up to claims ofn‘unnatural vices’ if they sought recourse to law. He also went into businessnwith Parry and Co (a cover name for the Jordan family), who advertised onnfly-posters pasted in public urinals and supplied ‘medicines’ by mail order,nunder plain cover, for Gentlemen who might be in need of such supplies. He alsonrepublished, under his own name, various booklets and pamphlets by the Jordans,nparticularly The Silent Friend, a lurid work describing in terrifyingndetails the awful effects on the mind and body of certain amatory complaints. 

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nPanicked by these details, ‘green young men’ would send off their money andnreceive Kahn’s quack medicines in return, quite often to treat non-existent,nself-diagnosed ailments. These businesses did not really bring in all that muchnmoney, and Kahn suspected his rivals of skulduggery, particularly when, inn1853, he was accused of ‘interfering’ with the fourteen year old John Youard. 

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nThe case went to the Old Bailey on September 19^th, where ‘Thenparticulars of this case were unfit for publication,’ although they werendeemed ‘abominable’; Kahn was found not guilty and the boy Youard was deportednfor life as a punishment for attempted extortion. Strangely, Kahn receivednsupport from Thomas Wakley’s The Lancet, the leading anti-quackerynperiodical of the day, who called the whole thing a ‘foul conspiracy’.nThe collaboration with the Jordans and Wakley’s endorsement brought about anchange of fortune, quite literally, and the Museum moved, first to Piccadillynand later to Tichborne St, Haymarket. 

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nThe Kahns moved into a large rented housenon Harley St, where they had a carriage and pair and several riding horses. Thenfinancial success brought Kahn to the attention of the medical authorities, whonbegan to question his credibility. In 1857, a country court action was broughtnagainst him for extortion, which he lost, and during which it was discoverednthat ‘Dr’ Kahn lacked any medical qualifications that were recognized innEngland. 

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nPunch quipped that maybe he should change his name to ‘Can’t’, andnwhen his association with the quack Jordans was revealed, it damaged hisnreputation further. Wakley withdrew his support and The Lancet launchedninto Kahn with a vengeance. Eventually, he left the country, presumably back tonGermany, and more or less disappeared from history. His name, however, was keptnalive by several quacks, who traded under the pseudonym, and confederatesncontinued to run the museum. 

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nIn September 1873, a case was heard at the OldnBailey which reported that a raid had taken place on the Kahn premises, wherenover 8,000 ‘obscene’ books had been seized. An evangelical Protestant group,nThe Society for the Suppression of Vice, called for raids on the museum andnwaxworks were seized and destroyed, on the grounds that they were obscene. Thenmuseum eventually fell foul of the 1857 Obscene Publications Act, and wasnclosed down, as were other provincial museums of the same sort. A Kahn museumn(with links to the Jordans) was opened in New York in 1870, and books bearingnthe name Kahn continued to be published into the early twentieth century.

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