Well written and easily read, with lots of illustrations from the time.

"What did the people of seventeenth century England do when they got a dose of the clap? The reached for 'Walker's Jesuit Drops' or 'Wessels Specific Purging Remedy for Venereal Diseases' of course. Did either work? Was urine-gazing by the 'pisse prophets' (with or without the patient being present) an effective diagnostic tool? Find out by reading bestselling popular historian Roy Porter's hugely entertaining history.

Shattering old misconceptions about the sharp division between 'regular' medicine and quackery, he shows a vibrant industry replete with both inspired innovation and calculated deception. This is the first modern history of an important, fascinating and entertaining stage in medical history, viewed in the wider context of social and cultural change."

By reading this, I've learnt that household medicine included lead, poppy syrup, laudanum and 'Flowers of Sulphur', that regular doctors often were no better than quacks, and that the 'quack stage' changed in the Victorian age. People don't often realise how quickly medicine has evolved during the last 2-3 centuries, but this book gives you a fair idea.

I realised I had two of GoryDetails' books at home, one bookring due to return to its' owner (More Items from Our Catalog), and one marvellous bookray called The Healing Hand, which was moving on. "This must be a sign," I thought, and decided to let Quacks accompany the Items on its' long journey home. Enjoy!

This arrived in today's mail, as a surprise accompaniment to "More Items from Our Catalog," which has just returned from its bookring. Thanks, Too-Ticki; this looks like a good one, and may indeed have a few points in common with "The Healing Hand"...

Definitely an eye-opener; just attempting to make a distinction between "legitimate" medicine and quackery wasn't as easy as it might sound... At a time when even the most highly-trained doctors didn't really know very much about the causes and cures of most ailments, anyone could take out an ad in the paper or put a placard on a wall and claim to have the solution to all ills. And the general public seemed eager to take advantage of this - so many ailments could not be cured by "real" doctors that it certainly seemed tempting to give the charlatans a crack at them. [The author makes the interesting point that modern medicine has become so overwhelmingly authoritative that patients have no "leverage" - even a well-read patient would have a hard time arguing with a top-notch neurosurgeon about the fine points of brain surgery. The author suggests that this is not an entirely good thing, and might explain the rise in popularity of alternative medicine.]

While the author has a point, I've noticed recent news articles about patients demanding that their doctors give them antibiotics for colds and flu (which are viral infections and not responsive to antibiotics); even though overuse of antibiotics is clearly a very bad thing, many doctors will simply give the patients what they want. This harks back to the days Porter is writing about, when patients were aggressive consumers and would demand pills or potions from their doctors whether the doctors thought them appropriate or not...

The period illustrations and quotes from news articles, advertisements, and broadsides are very entertaining, but the gist of it all is that I think I'd rather be alive today than have to cope with the medical establishment (both trained and fake!) of the 1800's!

Thanks, Too-Ticki - this was a very interesting read!

Released on Tuesday, November 11, 2003 at Starbucks Coffee, 932 S. Willow in Manchester, New Hampshire USA.

I plan to release this at the Meetup tonight, at around 7 pm. [If you weren't planning on attending the Meetup but spotted this book via the "go hunting" pages, feel free to drop by and ask for it.]

Hmph. The Meetup site did it again - the address given for the Meetup is now a video store. Wound up at the Starbucks in Barnes & Noble instead, where BCer BasketsAndBooks chose this one. [Hope you enjoy it!]

Got from GoryDetails last night at the Bookcrossing Meet-up. I looks like it can be enjoyed in short readings from time to time.

I got the chance to visit Baskets-and-Books one last time yesterday, over coffee and choclate chip cake. She gave me a couple of BC books, including this one, since I'll have 2000 miles of book releasing to cover on my move from New Hampshire to Texas.

Released on Sunday, April 04, 2004 at A rest stop on Rt. 40 in ??????, Tennessee USA.

This was released along the way on my trip from Manchester, NH to San Antonio, TX.

Sorry I don't know exactly where, it was a long trip and a couple days ago.