Thursday 29 June 2023

 

Our October 2023 Meeting


Thursday 19th October 2023 at 7:30pm 


Snake Oil: The Golden Age of Quackery in Britain and America 


Caroline Rance


The nineteenth and early twentieth 
centuries saw a proliferation of advertised medicines and health devices - some harmless, some strange and some downright fraudulent. 

From arsenic wafers to electric corsets, and from morphine-laced teething syrups to life-enhancing 'Z-Rays', Caroline Rance of www.thequackdoctor.com explores how patent medicine vendors attracted customers, and how medical campaigners of the day attempted to put a stop to their lucrative activities.