in a very short time all Distempers relating to the Eyes, from whatever
Cause soever they proceed, even tho’ they have been of seven, eight,
nine, or ten Years’ continuance.... This excellent Water effectually
takes away all Rabies or Pimples in the face, or any Part of the Body;
it also dissolves any small, or new-come Wens or Bunches under the
Skin, so easily that it can hardly be perceived.’
One quack blossomed forth in verse, and thus describes himself: ‘_In_
Cripplegate Parish, _in_ Whitecross Street, _almost at the farther End,
near_ Old Street _(turning in by the sign of the_ Black Croe, _in_ Goat
Alley, _straightforward down three steps, at the sign of the_ Blew
Ball), _liveth one of above Forty Years’ Experience, who with God’s
Blessing performeth these cures following_:
‘To all that please to come, he will and can
Cure most Diseases incident to Man.
The Leprosie, the Cholic, and the Spleen,
And most Diseases common to be seen.
Although not cured by Quack Doctors’ proud,
And yet their Name doth ring and range aloud,
With Riches, and for Cures which others do,
Which they could not perform, and this is true.
This Doctor he performeth without doubt, }
The Ileak Passion, Scurvy, and the gout, }
Even to those the Hospitals turn out.’ }
Such ground as one did not cover, another did. Take, for instance, the
following: ‘In _Surry-Street_, in the _Strand_, at the Corner House
with a White-Balcony and Blue-Flower pots, liveth a Gentlewoman, who
‘Hath a most excellent Wash to beautifie the Face, which cures all
Redness, Flushings, or Pimples. Takes off any Yellowness, Morpheu,
Sunburn, or Spots on the Skin, and takes away Wrinckles and Driness,
caused too often by Mercurial Poysonous Washes, rendring the worst of
Faces fair and tender, and preserves ’em so. You may have from half a
Crown to five Pound a Bottle. You may also have Night Masks, Forehead
Pieces, incomparable whitepots, and Red Pomatum for the lips, which
keeps them all the Year plump and smooth, and of a delicate natural
colour. She has an admirable Paste to smooth and whiten the Hands, with
a very good Tooth powder, which cleanses and whitens the Teeth. And
a Water to wash the Mouth, which prevents the Scurvy in the Gums and
cures where ’tis already come.
‘You may have a Plaster and Water which takes off Hair from any part
of the Body, so that it shall never come again. She has also a most
excellent Secret to prevent the Hair from falling, causing it to grow
where it is wanting in any part of the Head. She also shapes the
Eye-brows, making them perfectly beautiful, without any pain, and
raises low Foreheads as high as you please. And colours Grey or Red
Hair to a lovely Brown, which never decays, changes, or smoots the
Linnen. She has excellent Cosmeticks to anoint the Face after the
_Small Pox_, which wears out any Scars, Marks, or Redness; and has
great skill in all manner of sore Eyes.
‘She has a most excellent Dyet Drink which cures the worst of
Consumptions, or any Impurity of the Blood: And an Antiscorbutick
spirit, which, being taken one spoonful in the Morning, and another
at Night, with moderate Exercise, cures the _Scurvy_, tho’ never so
far gone, and all broke out in Blotches: with many other Secrets in
Physick, which you may be satisfied in when you speak with her.... She
has an approved Remedy for Barrenness in Women.’
Very late in the preceding century (he died May 12, 1691), there was a
most famous quack, Dr. Thomas Saffold, one of whose handbills I give as
a curiosity:
‘Dear Friends, let your Disease be what God will,
Pray to Him for a Cure--try _Saffold’s_ Skill,
Who may be such a healing Instrument
As will Cure you to your own Heart’s Content.
His Medicines are Cheap, and truly Good,
Being full as safe as your daily Food.
Saffold he can do what may be done, by
Either Physick or true Astrology:
His Best Pills, Rare Elixirs, and Powder,
Do each Day Praise him Lowder and Lowder.
Dear Country-men, I pray be you so Wise, }
When Men Back-bite him, believe not their Lyes, }
But go see him and believe your own Eyes; }
Then he will say you are Honest and Kind,
Try before you Judge, and Speak as you Find.
‘By _Thomas Saffold_, an Approved and Licensed Physician and Student
in Astrology, who (through God’s Mercy), to do good, still liveth at
the _Black Ball_ and Old _Lilly’s Head_, next Door to the Feather-Shops
that are within _Black-fryers_ Gate-way, which is over against
_Ludgate_ Church, just by _Ludgate_ in _London_. Of him the Poor,
Sore, Sick, and Lame may have Advice for nothing, and proper Medicines
for every particular Distemper, at reasonable Rates ready prepared,
with plain Directions how to use them, to cure either Men, Women, or
Children of any Disease or Diseases afflicting any Body, whether inward
or outward, of what Name or Nature soever (if Curable); Also of this
you may be sure, he hath Medicines to prevent as well as Cure.
‘Lastly, He doth with great certainty and privacy: Resolve all manner
of Lawful Questions, according to the Rules of Christian Astrology, and
more than Twenty One Years’ Experience.’
Talk of modern quacks--they are but second-rate to Saffold! His
_Pillulæ Londinenses_, or London pills, were advertised that ‘not only
the meaner sort of all Ages and each Sex, but people of Eminence, both
for their Rank in the World and their parts, have found admirable
success in taking these Pills.’
This _panacea_ was warranted to cure ‘Gout, Dropsy, Coma, Lethargy,
Caries, Apoplexy, Palsy, Convulsions, Falling Sickness, Vertigo,
Madness, Catarrhs, Headache, Scald, and Sore Heads, sore Eyes,
Deafness, Toothache, sore Mouth, sore and swollen Throat, foul Stomach,
bad Digestion, Vomiting, Pain at the Stomach, sour Belching, Colic,
Twisting of the Guts, Looseness, Worms, all Obstructions of the
Pancreas, of the Mesaraic Veins, of the passages of the Chyle, and of
the Liver and Spleen, the Jaundice, Cachexy, Hypochondriac Melancholy,
Agues, Itch, Boils, Rheumatism, Pains and Aches, Surfeits by Eating and
Hard Drinking, or by Heats and Colds (as some call them).’
Then there comes a charming bit of candour almost sufficient to disarm
the unwary: ‘They are also good in taking the Waters. I would not
advise them by any means in the Bloody Flux, nor in continual Fevers,
but they are good to purge after either of those Diseases is over, or
to carry off the Humor aforehand. They must also be foreborn by Women
with Child. Otherwise they are good for any Constitution, and in any
Clime. They are Durable many years, and good at Sea as well as on Land.’
Thomas Saffold knew well the value of advertising, and scattered his
very varied handbills broadcast. Presumably, like modern quacks, he
made money. Of course he died, and his epitaph is as follows (he
originally was a weaver):
‘Here lies the Corpse of Thomas Saffold,
By Death, in spite of Physick, baffled;
Who, leaving off his working loom,
Did learned doctor soon become.
To poetry he made pretence,
Too plain to any man’s own sense;
But he when living thought it sin
To hide his talent in napkin;
Now Death does Doctor (poet) crowd
Within the limits of a shroud.’
There was a harmless remedy advertised, even though it was a fraud--and
this was the loan, or sale, of necklaces to be worn by children in
teething.
THE FAMOUS AND VIRTUOUS NECKLACES.
‘One of them being of no greater weight than a small _Nutmeg_,
absolutely easing Children in Breeding _Teeth_ without _Pain_; thereby
preventing _Feavers_, _Ruptures_, _Convulsions_, _Rickets_, and such
attendant Distempers, to the Admiration of thousands of the City of
_London_, and Counties adjoining, who have experienced the same, to
their great comfort and satisfaction of the Parents of the Children
who have used them. Besides the Decrease in the _Bills of Mortality_,
apparent (within this Year and a half) of above one half of what
formerly Dyed; and are now Exposed to sale for the Publick good, at
_five shillings_ each _Necklace_, &c.’
Then there was a far higher-priced necklace, but, as it also operated
on adults, it was perhaps stronger and more efficacious. ‘A necklace
that cures all sorts of fits in children, occasioned by Teeth or
any other Cause; as also Fits in Men and Women. To be had at Mr.
Larance’s in Somerset Court, near Northumberland House in the Strand;
price ten shillings for eight days, though the cure will be performed
immediately.’ And there was the famous ‘_Anodyne Necklace_.’
In the preceding century there were some famous quacks, notably Sir
Kenelm Digby, who, with his sympathetic powder, worked wonders,
especially one instance, an account of which he read to a learned
society at Montpellier. He recounted how a certain learned gentleman,
named Howell, found two of his friends engaged in a duel with swords,
how he rushed to part them, and catching hold of one of their blades,
his hand was severely cut, the other antagonist cutting him severely
on the back of his hand. Seeing the mischief they had done, they bound
up his hand with his garter, and took him home. Mr. Howell was of such
note that the King sent his own physician to him, but without avail;
and there was expectation that the hand would mortify and have to
be amputated. Here Sir Kenelm, who knew him, stepped in, and, being
applied to by his friend to try his remedies, consented. Let him tell
his own tale.
‘I asked him then for anything that had blood upon it; so he presently
sent for his garter, wherewith his hand was first bound, and as I
called for a basin of water, as if I would wash my hands, I took a
handful of powder of vitriol, which I had in my study, and presently
dissolved it. As soon as the bloody garter was brought me, I put it in
the basin, observing, in the interim, what Mr. Howell did, who stood
talking with a gentleman in a corner of my chamber, not regarding at
all what I was doing. He started suddenly, as if he had found some
strange alteration in himself. I asked him what he ailed.
‘“I know not what ails me; but I feel no more pain. Methinks that a
pleasing kind of freshness, as it were a wet cold napkin, did spread
over my hand, which hath taken away the inflammation that tormented me
before.”
‘I replied, “Since, then, you feel already so much good of my
medicament, I advise you to cast away all your plasters; only keep the
wound clean, and in a moderate temper, betwixt heat and cold.”
‘This was presently reported to the Duke of Buckingham, and, a
little after, to the King, who were both very curious to know the
circumstances of the business; which was, that after dinner, I took
the garter out of the water, and put it to dry before a great fire. It
was scarce dry before Mr. Howell’s servant came running, and saying
that his master felt as much burning as ever he had done, if not more;
for the heat was such as if his hand were betwixt coals of fire. I
answered that although that had happened at present, yet he should
find ease in a short time; for I knew the reason of this new accident,
and would provide accordingly; for his master should be free from that
inflammation, it might be, before he could possibly return to him; but,
in case he found no ease, I wished him to come presently back again; if
not, he might forbear coming. Thereupon he went; and, at the instant,
I did put the garter again into the water; thereupon he found his
master without any pain at all. To be brief, there was no sense of pain
afterwards; but within five or six days the wounds were cicatrized, and
entirely healed.’
Faith worked wonders, and a credulous imagination formed an excellent
foundation for healing. Take another instance in the same century--the
case of Valentine Greatraks (who cured by the imposition of hands),
who was nearly contemporary with Sir Kenelm. It would serve no good
purpose to go minutely into his history: suffice it to say that he was
an Irishman of good family, and, as a young man, served under Cromwell.
After the disbandment of the army he was made Clerk of the Peace for
the County of Cork, Registrar for Transplantation (ejection of Papists
who would not go to church) and Justice of the Peace, so that we see he
occupied a respectable position in society.
After Greatraks settled down in his civil capacity, he seems to have
been a blameless member of society; but his religious convictions
were extremely rabid, and strong on the Protestant side. Writing in
1668, he says: ‘About four years since I had an Impulse, or a strange
perswasion, in my own mind (of which I am not able to give any rational
account to another) which did very frequently suggest to me that there
was bestowed on me the gift of curing the King’s Evil: which, for the
extraordinariness of it, I thought fit to conceal for some time, but at
length I communicated this to my Wife, and told her, That I did verily
believe that God had given me the blessing of curing the King’s Evil;
for, whether I were in private or publick, sleeping or waking, still
I had the same Impulse; but her reply was to me, That she conceived
this was a strange imagination: but, to prove the contrary, a few daies
after there was one _William Maher_ of _Salterbridge_, in the Parish of
_Lissmore_, that brought his Son _William Maher_ to my house, desiring
my Wife to cure him, who was a person ready to afford her Charity to
her Neighbours, according to her small skill in Chirurgery; on which my
Wife told me there was one that had the King’s Evil very grievously in
the Eyes, Cheek, and Throat; whereupon I told her that she should now
see whether this were a bare fancy, or imagination, as she thought it,
or the Dictates of God’s Spirit on my heart; and thereupon I laid my
hands on the places affected, and prayed to God for Jesus’ sake to heal
him, and then I bid the Parent two or three days afterwards to bring
the Child to me again, which accordingly he did, and then I saw the
Eye was almost quite whole, and the Node, which was almost as big as a
Pullet’s Egg, was suppurated, and the throat strangely amended, and, to
be brief (to God’s glory I speak it), within a month discharged itself
quite, and was perfectly healed, and so continues, God be praised.’
This may be taken as a sample of his cures, albeit his first; and,
although he excited the enmity of the licensed medical profession, he
seems to have cured the Countess of Conway of an inveterate head-ache,
which greatly enhanced his reputation. He died no one knows when, but
some time early in the century.
And in our time, too, have been the quacks, the Zouave Jacob and Dr.
Newton, who pretended to have the miraculous gift of healing by the
imposition of hands, so that we can scarcely wonder that, in an age
when the dissemination of accurate and scientific knowledge as the
present is (imperfect though it be), a man like Valentine Greatraks
was believed in as of almost divine authority at the period at which
he lived. But it is a very curious thing that some men either imagine
that they have, or feign to have a miraculous gift of healing. Witness
in our own day the ‘Peculiar People,’ who base their peculiar gift of
healing on a text from the Epistle of St. James, chap. 5, v. 14--‘Is
any sick among you? let him call upon the elders of the Church; and let
them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.’
So also the _Catholic and Apostolic Church_ (Irvingites) teach this
practice as a dogma, vide their catechism,[100] ‘What are the benefits
to be derived from this rite?’ ‘St. James teaches us again that the
prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up;
and, if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.’ After
this, who can say that the age of faith is passed away?
With them, also, is a great function for the benediction of oil for
anointing the sick; the rubric for which is as follows:[101] ‘In the
Celebration of the Holy Eucharist on a Week-day, immediately before the
elements are brought up and placed on the Altar, the Elder or Elders
present shall bring the vessel containing the oil to the Angel, who
shall present it uncovered upon the Altar; and then kneeling down at
the Altar, and the Elders kneeling down at the access to the Sanctuary,
the Angel shall say this PRAYER OF BENEDICTION.’
Here follows a not very long prayer, in which the Almighty is intreated
to impart to the oil the virtue which is dogmatically asserted that it
possesses, in the catechism. The rubric then continues, ‘The oil which
has been blessed shall remain on the Altar until after the Service,
and shall then be delivered by the Angel to the senior Elder, that it
may be reverently carried to the Sacristy, and there deposited in the
proper place by the Angel.’
In the ‘Order for anointing the Sick’ (p. 602), the rubric says: ‘This
rite shall be administered only to such as have, in time past, received
the Holy Communion, or to whom it is intended presently to administer
the Communion; also, only in such cases of sickness as are of a
serious or dangerous character. In order to the receiving of the rite,
opportunity should, if possible, be previously given to the sick person
to make confession of his sins.
‘A table should be provided in the sick person’s room, with a clean
cloth thereon, upon which may be placed the vessel of holy oil....
The Elder in charge shall be accompanied, when possible, by the other
Elders, the Pastor, and the Deacon.’
A somewhat lengthy service follows, and in the middle is this rubric:
‘Then the Elders present shall anoint the sick person with the oil on
the head or forehead, and, if the sick person request it, also on any
part affected.’ And it winds up with the subjoined direction, ‘All
the holy oil that shall remain after the anointing shall be forthwith
consumed by Fire.’
I had intended to confine my subject entirely to English quacks, but
the name of Mesmer is so allied to quackery in England that I must
needs refer to him. He was born at Merseburg in Germany on May 23,
1733, and died at the same place March 5, 1815. He studied medicine,
and took a doctor’s degree in 1766. He started his extraordinary theory
in 1772 by publishing a tract entitled, ‘_De Planetarium_ _Influxu_,’
in which he upheld that tides exist in the air as in the sea, and were
similarly produced. He maintained that the sun and the moon acted
upon an etherial fluid which penetrated everything, and this force he
termed _Animal Magnetism_. But there is every reason to believe that
he was indebted for his discovery to a Jesuit father named Hel, who
was professor of astronomy at Vienna. Hel used peculiarly made steel
plates, which he applied to different portions of his patient’s body.
Hel and Mesmer subsequently quarrelling about the prior discovery of
each, the latter discontinued the use of the plates, and substituted
his fingers. Then he found it was unnecessary to touch his patient, but
that the same magnetic influence could be induced by waving his hands,
and making what are called _mesmeric passes_ at a distance.
But the Viennese are a practical race, and his failures to cure,
notably in one case, that of Mademoiselle Paradis (a singer), who was
blind, caused charges of deceit to be brought against him, and he was
told to leave Vienna at a day’s notice. He obeyed, and went to Paris,
where he set up a superb establishment, fitted up most luxuriously. The
novelty-loving Parisians soon visited him, and here, in a dimly lit
room, with pseudo-scientific apparatus to excite the imagination, and
a great deal of corporal manipulation, tending to the same purpose, to
the accompaniment of soft music or singing, hysterical women went into
convulsive fits, and laughed, sobbed, and shrieked, according to their
different temperaments.
Having reached this stage, Mesmer made his appearance, clad in a gold
embroidered robe of violet silk, holding in his hand a magnetic rod of
wondrous power. With slow and solemn steps he approached his patients,
and the exceeding gravity of his deportment, added to their ignorance
of what might be coming next, generally calmed and subdued those who
were not insensible. Those who had lost their senses he awoke by
stroking them, and tracing figures upon their bodies with his magnetic
wand, and, on their recovery, they used to testify to the great good
his treatment had done them.
A commission of scientific and medical men sat to make inquiry into
‘Animal Magnetism,’ and they reported adversely. He then endeavoured to
get a pecuniary recognition of his services from the French Government,
but this being declined, he retired to Spa, where, the bubble having
been pricked, he lived for some time in comparative obscurity.
Mesmerism was introduced into England in the year 1788, by a Dr. De
Mainauduc, who, on his arrival at Bristol, delivered lectures on
‘Animal Magnetism’; and, as his somewhat cautious biographer, Dr.
George Winter, observes, he ‘was reported to have cured diseased
persons, _even_ without the aid of medicines, and of his having
the power of treating and curing diseased persons at a distance.’
He found many dupes, for the said authority remarks, ‘On looking
over the lists of Students that had been, or then were under the
Doctor’s tuition, it appeared that there was 1 Duke--1 Duchess--1
Marchioness--2 Countesses--1 Earl--1 Lord--3 Ladies--1 Bishop--5 Right
Honourable Gentlemen and Ladies--2 Baronets--7 Members of Parliament--1
Clergyman--2 Physicians--7 Surgeons--exclusive of 92 Gentlemen and
Ladies of respectability, in the whole 127.
‘Naturally fond of study, and my thirst after knowledge being
insatiable, I also was allured to do myself the honour of adding my
name to the list; and to investigate this very extraordinary Science:
and, according to the general terms, I paid 25 Guineas to the Doctor,
and 5 Guineas for the use of the Room; I also signed a bond for
£10,000, and took an affidavit that I would not discover the secrets of
the Science _during the Doctor’s natural life_.’
So we see that this wonderful power had a market value of no mean
consideration, and, indeed, an anonymous authority, who wrote on
‘Animal Magnetism,’ states that Dr. Mainauduc realised £100,000. So
lucrative was its practice, that many pretenders sprung up, notable
one Holloway who gave lectures at the rate of five guineas the course,
besides Miss Prescott, Mrs. Pratt, Monsieur de Loutherbourg the
painter, Mr. Parker, and Dr. Yeldal; but the chief of these quacks was
Dr. Loutherbourg, who was assisted in his operations by his wife. A
book about his wonderful cures was written by one of his believers,
Mary Pratt, ‘A lover of the Lamb of God,’ in which he is described as
‘A Gentleman of superior abilities, well known in the scientific and
polite Assemblies for his brilliancy of talents as a Philosopher, and
Painter: this Gentleman is no other than Mr. De Loutherbourg, who with
his Lady, Mrs. De Loutherbourg, have been made by the Almighty power
of the Lord Jehovah, proper Recipients to receive divine Manuductions,
which heavenly and divine Influx coming from the Radix _God_, his
divine Majesty has most graciously condescended to bestow on them (_his
blessing_) to diffuse healing to _all_ who have faith in the Lord as
mediator, be they Deaf, Dumb, Lame, Halt, or Blind.’
That thousands flocked to these charlatans is undoubted, for Dr.
George Winter (above quoted) says, ‘It was credibly reported that
3,000 persons have attended at one time, to get admission at Mr.
Loutherbourg’s, at Hammersmith; and that some persons sold their
tickets for from One, to Three Guineas each.’ And this is corroborated
by crazy Mary Pratt. ‘Report says three Thousand People have waited
for Tickets at a time. For my own part, the Croud was so immense that
I could with difficulty gain the Door on Healing Days, and I suppose,
upon conviction, Report spoke Truth.’ De Loutherbourg charged nothing
for his cures, and Mary Pratt is extremely scandalized at those who,
having received a ticket gratis, sold them from two to five guineas.
Many cases are given in her book of the cures effected by this
benevolent couple; how the blind were made to see, the deaf to hear,
the lame to walk, or the dumb to speak--nay, could even cast out
devils--as the following testimonial will show.