On a trans-continental road trip I spent three nights in Goodland, Kansas, sleeping late and re-building stamina. One afternoon I visited in that provincial, high-plains town a museum of local history; there I came upon this equipment from a distant century. The profusion of wires unnerved me momentarily. Those cables might carry powerful surges of electrons — that fact brought to mind early medical treatments using repeated electro-shocks to the brain, which in retrospect seem so barbaric and perhaps cruel. Spring-loaded clamps dangling from each cord make this seem an instrument of torture more suited to a dungeon than a beauty parlor. The drawing accompanying the exhibit reinforces the frightful impression.