Carlyle's savage description of the people of England--"Eighteen millions
of inhabitants, mostly fools"--is not applicable to his countrymen alone.
It may be regarded as descriptive of the world at large, if the
credulity, or to use a more expressive term, "the gullibility" of men is
to be taken as a proof that they are "fools." Many years ago a
sharp-witted scamp appeared in one of the European countries, and offered
for sale a pill which he declared to be a sure protection _against
earthquakes_. Absurd as was the assertion, he sold large quantities of
his nostrum and grew rich upon the proceeds. The credulity which
enriched this man is still a marked characteristic of the human race, and
often strikingly exhibits itself in this country. During the present
winter a rumor went out that a certain holy woman, highly venerated by
the Roman Catholic Church, had predicted on her death-bed, that during
the month of February, 1872, there would be three days of intense
darkness over the world, in which many persons would perish, and that
this darkness would be so intense that no light but that of a candle
blessed by the Church could penetrate it. A Roman Catholic newspaper in
Philadelphia ventured to print this prophecy, and immediately the rush
for consecrated candles was so great on the part of the more ignorant
members of that Church, that the Bishop of the Diocese felt himself
obliged to publicly rebuke the superstition. This credulity manifests
itself in nearly every form of life. The quack doctors or medical
impostors, to whom we shall devote this chapter, live upon it, and do all
in their power to encourage it.
There are quite a number of these men in New York. They offer to cure
all manner of diseases, some for a small and others for a large sum. It
has been discovered that some of these men carry on their business under
two or three different names, often thus securing a double or triple
share of their wretched business. The newspapers are full of their
advertisements, many of which are unfit for the columns of a reputable
journal. They cover the dead walls of the city with hideous pictures of
disease and suffering, and flood the country with circulars and pamphlets
setting forth the horrors of certain diseases, and giving an elaborate
description of the symptoms by which they may be recognized. A clever
physician has said that no man ever undertakes to look for defects in his
physical system without finding them. The truth of the remark is proven
by the fact that a very large number of persons, reading these
descriptions of symptoms, many of which symptoms are common to a number
of ills, come to the conclusion that they are affected in the manner
stated by the quack. Great is the power of the imagination! so great,
indeed, that many sound, healthy men are thus led to fancy themselves in
need of medical attention. A short interview with some reputable
physician would soon undeceive them, but they lay aside their good sense,
and fall victims to their credulity. They think that as the quack has
shown them where their trouble lies, he must needs have the power of
curing them. They send their money to the author of the circular in
question, and request a quantity of his medicine for the purpose of
trying it. The nostrum is received in due time, and is accompanied by a
second circular, in which the patient is coolly informed that he must not
expect to be cured by one bottle, box, or package, as the case may be,
but that five or six, or sometimes a dozen will be necessary to complete
the cure, especially if the case is as desperate and stubborn as the
letter applying for the medicine seems to indicate. Many are foolish
enough to take the whole half dozen bottles or packages, and in the end
are no better in health than they were at first. Indeed they are
fortunate if they are not seriously injured by the doses they have taken.
They are disheartened in nine cases out of ten, and are, at length,
really in need of good medical advice. They have paid the quack more
money than a good practitioner would demand for his services, and have
only been injured by their folly.
It may be safely said that no honest and competent physician will
undertake to treat cases by letter. _No one worthy of patronage will
guarantee a cure in any case_, for an educated practitioner understands
that cases are many and frequent where the best human skill may be
exerted in vain. Further than this, a physician of merit will not
advertise himself in the newspapers, except to announce the location of
his office or residence. Such physicians are jealous of their personal
and professional reputations, and are proud of their calling, which is
justly esteemed one of the noblest on earth. They are men of humanity,
and learning, and they take more pleasure in relieving suffering than in
making money. To those who have no money they give their services in the
name of the Great Healer of all ills. They have no private remedies.
Their knowledge is freely given to the scientific world that all men may
be benefited by it, contenting themselves with the enjoyments of the fame
of their discoveries.
The quack, however, is a different being. In some cases he has medical
knowledge, in the majority of instances he is an ignoramus. His sole
object is to make money, and he sells remedies which he knows to be
worthless, and even vends drugs which he is sure will do positive harm in
the majority of cases.
The best plan is never to answer a medical advertisement. There are
regular physicians enough in the land, and if one is influenced by
motives of economy, he is pursuing a mistaken course in dealing with the
advertising quack doctors of New York. If there is real trouble, so much
the greater is the need of the advice of an educated and conscientious
physician. If concealment is desired, the patient is safe in the
confidential relations which every honest physician observes towards
those under his care. A man is simply a fool to swallow drugs or
compounds of whose nature he is ignorant, or to subject himself to
treatment at the hands of one who has no personal knowledge of his case.
The same credulity which makes the fortunes of quack doctors, enriches
the vendors of "Patent Medicines." The majority of the "specifics,"
"panaceas," etc., advertised in the newspapers are humbugs. They are
generally made of drugs which can do no good, even if they do no harm.
Some are made of dangerous chemical substances, and nearly all contain
articles which the majority of people are apt to abuse. The remedies
advertised as cures for "private diseases" generally do nothing but keep
the complaint at a fixed stage, and give it an opportunity to become
chronic. The "Elixirs of Life," "Life Rejuvenators," "Vital Fluids," and
other compounds sold to "revive worn out constitutions" are either
dangerous poisons or worthless draughts. A prominent dealer in drugs
once said to the writer that the progress of a certain "Bitters" could be
traced across the continent, from Chicago to California "by the graves it
had made." Bitters, "medicinal wines" and such liquors have no virtues
worth speaking of. They either ruin the tone of the stomach, or produce
habits of intemperance.
The "washes," "lotions," "toilet fluids," etc., are generally apt to
produce skin diseases. They contain, in almost every instance,
substances which are either directly or indirectly poisonous to the skin.
The "tooth washes," "powders," and "dentifrices," are hurtful. They
crack or wear away the enamel of the teeth, leave the nerve exposed, and
cause the teeth to decay. If you are wise, dear reader, you will never
use a dentifrice, unless you know what it is made of. The principal
constituent of these dentifrices is a powerful acid, and there are some
which contain large quantities of sulphuric acid, one single application
of which will destroy the best teeth in the world. The "hair dyes,"
advertised under so many different names, contain such poisons as nitrate
of silver, oxide of lead, acetate of lead, and sulphate of copper. These
are fatal to the hair, and generally injure the scalp. The "ointments"
and "unguents," for promoting the growth of whiskers and moustaches, are
either perfumed and colored lard, or poisonous compounds, which contain
quick lime, or corrosive sublimate, or some kindred substance. If you
have any acquaintance who has ever used this means of covering his face
with a manly down, ask him which came first, the beard, or a troublesome
eruption on the face.
Dr. Harris, the recent Superintendent of the Board of Health of New York,
has frequently pointed out the evils resulting from the use of these
compounds. Dr. Sayre mentions several cases of fatal poisoning by the
use of hair dye, which came under his notice.
The newspapers frequently contain such advertisements as the following:
A RETIRED PHYSICIAN, OF FORTY YEARS' practice, discovered, while in
India, a sure remedy for consumption, bronchitis, colds, etc. Having
relinquished his practice, he has no further use for the remedy, and
will send it free on receipt of a three cent stamp to pay return
postage.
Sometimes the advertiser is "A lady who has been cured of great nervous
debility after many years of misery." Again, the advertiser is a
"Retired clergyman," or a "Sufferer restored to health, and anxious to
benefit his fellow men." In whatever form the announcement is made, the
advertiser is usually one and the same person--an ignorant knave, who
lives by his wits. He advertises largely in all parts of the land,
spending thousands of dollars annually, and it would seem that even an
idiot could understand that the most benevolent person could not afford
so expensive a method of "benefiting his fellow men." Letters come to
him by the hundred, from simpletons who have "taken his bait," asking for
his valuable recipe. He sends the prescription, and notifies the party
asking for it, that if the articles named in it cannot be procured by him
at any drug store convenient to him, he, the "retired physician,"
"clergyman," or "nervous lady," will furnish them, upon application, at a
certain sum (generally averaging five dollars), which he assures him is
very cheap, as the drugs are rare and expensive. The articles named in
the prescription are utterly unknown to any druggist in the world, and
the names are the production of the quack's own brains, and, as a matter
of course, the patient is unable to procure them at home, and sends an
order for them with the price, to the "retired physician," "clergyman,"
or "nervous lady," and in return receives a nostrum compounded of drugs,
which any apothecary could have furnished at one half the expense. In
this way the "benevolence" of the quack is very profitable. Men have
grown rich in this business, and it is carried on to an amazing extent in
this city. It is done in violation of the law, and the benevolent
individual not unfrequently falls into the hands of the police, but, as
soon as released, he opens his business under a new name. As long as
there are fools and dupes in the world, so long will the "retired
physician" find an extensive practice.