One hundred years ago, 25.8 million Americans got the flu in the 1918-19 influenza pandemic. Fifty percent of the U.S. military deaths in World War I were caused by the flu and 670,000 Americans died. And quack cures offered frightened Americans false hope.
Below are just a few quack cures and preventative nostrums that were offered a century ago in American newspapers. A quick internet search reveals modern snake oil that is just as useless, even though medical scientists know much more about the viral disease.
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I would love to use this image when instructing students on what cures for common ailments looked like before modern scientific medicine.
This is so interesting! I think my future students would be very interested in something like this.