Exercise
For students and teachers, this suggested exercise encourages further reflection and thought on the topics discussed in the pages in this section of the Web of Healing.
Think Like A Quack
Part I: Enter the Quarrel
a) In the bibliography for this section of the site there is a short list of primary sources regarding quackery. Among these sources are medical advertisements by practitioners of varying degrees of status as well as writings which denounce and defend quacks and quackery. Using the primary sources as both inspiration and guide, write a short (500-800 word) pamphlet that defends and advances medicine from either the “irregular” (quack) or “regular” (credentialed doctor) point of view.
b) Write an advertisement (100-200 words) for your imaginary author’s medical services. Use other portions of this site along with secondary sources (some starting points are provided in the bibliography section) to inform your writing.
Keep in mind:
Include at least one specific medicine and/or treatment in your advertisement.
While you are writing, think about how either the quack or physician would defend themselves and attack or cast aspersions on the other group’s practices.
Part II: Further Reflection
Does this site wrap-up all there is to know about quackery? No. Even if Young is correct to characterize eighteenth-century American quackery as much duller than its British parent, quackery surely existed in eighteenth-century America and in a variety of ways Americans participated through practice, patronage, and punditry (pro and con). There are always new ways in which to think about eighteenth-century American quackery.
Based on the content of this site and the material listed in the bibliography, write a thought-piece of 1,000 – 1,500 words in which you address the question below. Your response should be evaluated based on the structure of your argument and on your ability to support your claims with examples from primary and/or secondary sources.
a) Scholars have been interested in the regulation of quackery in the nineteenth and twentieth century — we know that some states and districts did legislate against quackery in the eighteenth century — why did they do so in these areas and why do you think Philadelphia failed to enact similar legislation in until the nineteenth century?