Jul 07 2009
Everything Old Is New Again
The Welcome Collection in central London is holding an exhibit and show of “Quacks and Cures” – exploring quaint quack remedies of the past. You can watch a slideshow presentation here.
I find discussions of curious cures from the past particularly interesting these days as it always strikes me how little has changed. This show is another example of how people can marvel at the naivete of the public a century or more ago in the face of obvious patent medicine scams or bizarre medical treatments – and yet they are really no different than many alternative medicine and supplement industry claims of today.
The only thing that has changed, slightly, is the particulars of the marketing – the slogans and catch-phrases that were common. The advertisement for Parker’s Tonic asks, “Are you weary in brain and body?” and claims to work by “rejuvenating the blood.” This is actually less bizarre than therapeutic touch practitioners claiming to strengthen your human energy field.
Many remedies were sold through testimonials, especially from famous people or royalty. In the UK there is actually a continuous tradition of royalty lending their prestige to dubious remedies. Prince Charles is hawking his Duchy Original Detox Tincture - you can’t get more of a vibe of old patent medicine than that.
And of course the use of testimonials is key – you can find testimonials to support any product or claim that you wish. They are useful only for marketing.
The slide show depicts, “Baldwin’s Herbal Tonic Mixture, Nature’s general restorer of the system and purifier of the blood.” That is just slightly off of modern herbal products claiming to naturally detoxify the body. And yet it is acceptable to call Baldwin’s Tonic an example of a quack patent remedy, while modern hawkers of the same con have managed to convince much of the public that it is closed-minded and impolite to do so regarding it’s contemporary equivalent.
We also see electrical and magnetic quack devices – another theme that seems to recur with regularity in the quack medical device industry. Harness’ Electropathic Belts are “scientifically constructed,” and you can have a free consultation at the “Electropathic and Zander Institute” to treat your weakness. Wow – that can pass for an absolutely contemporary CAM clinic.
We also see a practitioner of “metallic tractors” which drew out “noxious substances” by “magnetic means.” This is a sort of combination of detox pads and magnetic bracelets. Very nice.
The exhibit will feature on this Friday, July 10th, not only shows (including a patent medicine show) but also lectures. Ben Goldacre will be lecturing on the placebo effect. This is awesome, and makes me wonder if the exhibiters get it – do they appreciate the fact that by showing quack remedies from the past and exposing how they were marketed, they are taking a swipe at their modern equivalent?
Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it – this is true enough in this case. There is much to learn from dubious remedies of the past. They teach us that millions can swear by treatments that we now know to be fraudulent and worthless, even harmful. We can see how such remedies are marketed with vague but pleasing slogans, how testimonials are used to deceive, and see that the themes which may seem new today (natural, detox, etc.) were old a century ago.
17 Responses to “Everything Old Is New Again”
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I should make a note to find a detailed overview of this exhibit so that I can demonstrate to the alties what I mean when I talk about their “crushing sameness.”
Motorcyclists claim that their hobby is therapeutic. I believe it is. Everyone needs a real life, lest a CAM proponent intrude and attempt to take over your control board. A camel will hump any fixed object if it is bored, and zookeepers must plan a life for their charges lest the public object to the display. Thus, the wisdom of the ages can be summed up in three words: “Get a life.”
YOUR cage door has been left open for you by the staff of this here blog. Go!
My cage has WiFi. Close the door, there’s a draft.
It’s the same kind of thing with mythology and extant religions…
On Monday’s BBC World News, the British news reporter spoke about how in the U.S. surgeries account for more deaths than car accidents. Chilling statistic… makes you want to hug a CAM-el?
[img]http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/4640/magnet.png[/img]
anyone else see the ad for magnetic bracelet to the right of this post? XD
A while back some of the medical blogs had a sort of contest, and asked “If you could ask alties one question, what would it be?” One of the most popular responses was something to this effect:
“Can you please give specific examples of alternative medicine theories and modalities that have been abandoned because they have been found to be ineffective?”
So I’m curious. Would CAM practitioners look at these ‘quack’ remedies and devices and call them alternative practices which failed>/i>? There were sincere testimonials, but they were worthless.
Or would they claim that no, none of these are anything like alternative medicine: these are failures from science, and the responsibility of the medical establishment. Or would they begin to hem and haw on the jury still being out for these things?
I’m not sure.
HHC – Please. How many times do we have to deal with that deceptive claim. You have to consider risk vs benefit for any medical intervention.
This is a very timely article for me, as just last night at a cancer support group, a member handed out some copies of information that he had pulled off the internet about something called the “rife machine”. I did a little research on it today, and boy does this thing practically define quack medicine! I won’t go into a lot of detail on it, but if you want a laugh look here:
http://www.bioelectricsforhealth.com/
hey hcc, if you think that is scary, check out how many people with ALS die after treatment!
If you’re interested in the history of these quack cures I’d recommend ‘Secret Remedies: What they cost and what they contain’. It was published by the British Medical Association in 1909. (I have the revised edition, ‘More Secret Remedies’). Copies can be found on Abebooks. Secret Remedies features the popular nostrums of the time, detailing how they are packaged, what claims are made for them and what was actually in them. According to the book, the active incredient in most of the fluid remedies was alchohol, replacing the previous most popular ‘active’ ingredients (laudenum, cocaine etc) after they were banned by law.
superdave, OK, I read about the Motor Neuron Disease on Yale University’s School of Medicine Neurology site. I’ll use the descriptive information when I weekly visit the rehabilitation and nursing facility and work with mom’s friends.
Reviewed Lateline, July 6, 2009 with Singh. Nice presentation of information and reporting. His concern has a focus on British consumers. But, American professionals do have problems with this applied science for kids. Some refuse to work with kids.
In Dr. Reitan’s book, Neuropsychological Evaluation of Children, testing is not recommended until five years old.
HHC
The odds a doctor will make a mistake treating you for a burst appendix and you’ll die due to his mistake: 3%
The odds you’ll die from a burst appendix seeking no medical treatment: 99.9%
The odds you’ll die from a burst appendix after receiving CAM only treatment: 99.9%
Hmmmm. Do CAM people even have to keep these stats?
mindme, Its always fun to talk about the burst appendix. I just happen to recall a discussion that I had with my favorite late barrister who practiced into his 90′s. When I first became acquainted with the personal injury law firm, we talked about natural healing done by the body. This old WWII Navy man informed me that the body can readily absorb the fluids from the burst appendix without further treatment. He knew several healthy persons who experienced this anomaly.
Furthermore, I personally knew a man who had an appendix operation, and he developed post-operative infections which required additional surgical intervention. It left him with a huge Frankenstein scar. I believe this scarred him emotionally.
HHC’s daily wellness advisory: Before taking advice from your doctor, always get a second opinion from your lawyer.
HHC you either 100% missed the logic I was trying to illustrate or silently acknowledged it and instead replied with a pointless anecdote. Substitute burst appendix for heart attack or bullet wound or collapsed lung or malaria or bite by a rabid dog. How many people recover from rabies naturally, without a shot?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabies#Prognosis
Have any lawyer friends who recovered from rabies without medical attention? Hmmm?
Regarding peritonitis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peritonitis#Prognosis
“If untreated, generalised peritonitis is almost always fatal.”
The point is many things without medical attention are likely to be fatal. For many conditions, your chances of dying without medical attention are orders of magnitude higher than the chances a doctor will make a mistake and not properly treat you.
If we eliminated hospitals, the 4th leading cause of death would no longer be doctor error. It would be not only something else but something else in numbers that would far far exceed the number of people who die due to medical error.
Further, if you die of an infection being treated by a homeopathy, is this stat ever compiled and reported?