 Many of the images in the book would have been familiar to persons involved in the movement, but the book exposed several "underground" practices to a vastly greater public, including graphic images of genital piercing and genital bisection and scarification.The book also advanced numerous urban legends regarding the history and origin of body piercing, which remain widespread to this day, most notably Doug Malloy (Richard Simonton)'s invented origins of various piercings.Thomas Henry (Pennsylvania)

Thomas Henry (1779 – July 20, 1849) was an Anti-Masonic and Whig member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.