Hydropathy, or the water cure, was a 19th-century health reform movement and treatment popular in Europe and the United States. Patients soaked in cold or hot baths, took showers, were wrapped in wet compresses, sheets, belts, or special wet dresses, and also drank vast amounts of water. Hydropathy became a popular craze – a treatment … Continue reading Hydropathy: Pseudoscience in the 19th Century
The Zodiac Man or Man of Signs (homo signorum in Latin) is an age-old diagram relating the calendar and the movement of the heavenly bodies to the human body. Sections of the body are labeled with the twelve zodiacal signs, beginning with Aries, which ruled the head, and ending with Pisces associated with the feet. … Continue reading The Zodiac Man: How Astrology Guided Health Care
In the early 19th century, Nathanial McClure, a frontiersman in Garrard County Kentucky, had a problem. Open sores or abscesses were growing on his neck. Local physicians didn’t have the answer for his problem, diagnosed as the King’s Evil or scrofula. He learned about the cures of Richard Carter, a frontier herb doctor. According to … Continue reading What is scrofula? Can it be cured?
Scams, rip-offs, cons, quacks, and purveyors of fake news thrive on the internet and other modern media. However, their tactics aren’t new; only the media carrying their message has changed. Ancient Rome had frauds, swindlers, cheats, and liars and Latin phrases warned consumers. Caveat emptor and cui bono are examples of age-old advice to follow … Continue reading Caveat Emptor and Cui Bono: Ancient Advice for Modern Consumers
Almanacs were a popular and handy reference for information and entertainment centuries before internet search engines, calendar apps, YouTube, blogs, and Google Maps. And like the internet, almanacs also informed us about new products and services through advertising and promotional articles. Select the images for a larger view and more information. At the heart of … Continue reading Almanacs: Information before the Internet
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 … Continue reading Cure for the Flu!? Don’t fall for quack cures.