The vogue of quackery / Arthur William Meyer.

  • Arthur William Meyer
Date:
1927
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The vogue of quackery / Arthur William Meyer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    from Cromwell’s bladder, he too might have changed the course of history! And since Luther too suf¬ fered from calculi, the influence of urinary calculi on history might serve as a topic for some aspirant to the doctorate. Some quacks have been immortalized in literature. Katerfelto by Cowper, Cagliostro by Carlisle, Gall and Spurtzheim by Hood, and many others. The scourge of quackery was prevalent enough in the past to attract the attention of the best writers. Some of the most marvelous of quack cures are said to have been recorded on the Epidaurean tablets. One of these is said to record the case of a woman, Arista- gora, who sought relief from a tapeworm at an Askle- pieion at Troezen. The god being absent from the temple the priests undertook the cure. It is recorded that they cut off the woman’s head, thrust their hands to withdraw the offending worm, “as large as an ani¬ mal,” from the bowels of the woman, but, being novices at healing, the priests were unable to restore the head to its correct position; hence upon the re¬ turn of the god, they were roundly berated for their lack of skill, and he “with a certain ease and divine power restored the head to its proper position.” The woman is said to have left healed, a living and undy¬ ing witness to the power of quackery. One must ad¬ mire not only the audacity of this cure, but the hardi¬ hood of recording it in stone. Nevertheless, the opinion which these priests had regarding the cred¬ ulity of mankind was amply justified, for the truth of this marvelous operation was vouched for, accord¬ ing to McMurrich, by two Roman historians two cen¬ turies later. Although such crude performances as these would no longer pass muster, one hears of al¬ most as impossible cured in these socalled enlightened days. It is well to remember that modern sectarians had early prototypes. Osteopaths and chiropractors should know that Hippocrates wrote: “In cases of displacement backward along the vertebrae, it does