In a message dated 4/1/2004 11:29:39 AM Eastern Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
Glad to hear that PETA and all those jerks are worried about dogs in cafes.
What about the non-laptop users in cafes?  Do they get fried if they're not
grounded?
   In 1902 the house [28 West 126th Street]  was purchased by Joseph G.
Robin, a banker. Robin sold the house to his sister, Dr. Louise Robinovitch --
reports indicated that he had changed his name. Directory and census records are
not complete, but it appears that the two occupied the house. After 1905 Dr.
Robinovitch became widely known for experiments with electricity and anesthesia.

   In 1908 The New York Times said she had received her medical degree at 20
and
described her as a small and retiring person who "lives only for her work."
Dr.
Robinovitch believed that a direct current of about 35 volts was far better
for
surgical procedures than were chloroform or cocaine.  [Ken disagrees, of
course.]

   In 1909 she resuscitated a dead rabbit in the offices of the New York
Edison
Company on Duane Street; company officials were trying to find ways to revive
employees electrocuted while on duty. In 1910 The Times reported that she had
served as the electro-anesthesiologist at the amputation of a man's frozen
toes
at Saint Francis Hospital in Hartford.

   Her medical career was cut short in 1910 when the Northern Bank of New
York,
at 215 West 125th Street, which was controlled by her brother, ran short of
funds because of his misdeeds. He was also responsible for the failure of two
other banks.

   In January 1911, two aged, impoverished Brooklyn residents, Herman
Robinovitch and his wife -- she was unnamed in news accounts -- showed up at a
hearing for Robin offering to help.

   According to the news accounts, the Robinovitches convincingly claimed to
be
the parents of Joseph and Louise -- Mrs. Robinovitch cried out, "Meine kinder,
meine kinder" -- but the brother and sister denied the relationship, without
explanation. "I do not know these old people," Robin said, while his sister
kissed him and sobbed hysterically on his shoulder.

   Three days later Dr. Robinovitch was indicted for perjury on her brother's
behalf. Robin was convicted of larceny and spent 10 months in prison, but the
disposition of Dr. Robinovitch's case was not reported, and the pair dropped
from view after 1915, when she sold the house.

   According to Dr. Alan Van Poznak, professor of anesthesiology at Cornell
University Medical College, electro-anesthesia comes and goes as a research
idea
but has never fulfilled its promise. A successful amputation of frozen toes is
not a fair test, he said, because the freezing would have already damaged or
destroyed nerves.

   In 1922 the Finnish Progressive Society built Finnish Hall at 15 West 126th
Street, and the 1925 census shows 28 West 126th Street as a boardinghouse with
eight residents, most of them Finnish-born carpenters.