Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Why be doctors call quacks?

Because all doctors used to be ducks. Honest.
once call quack-salver. A puffer of salves. (Swedish, quak-salfvar"e Norwegian, quak-salver; German, quacksalber.)
“Saltimbancoes, quacksalvers, and charlatans fool the vulgar.”—Sir Thomas Browne.
medicine and condition guarantee correctness , is for informational purposes only counsel or treatment for any medical conditions.


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1 comment:

Kevin Faulkner said...

Some of Browne's medical observations still worth reading. He coined many words into the English, in particular those relating to science and medicine including 'Suicide''Pathology' 'Hallucination' 'Ambidextrous' and even 'Medical' all first recorded usages in the English language.

I wonder if 'Quack-salver' may be a corruption of 'Quick-silver' as mercury was often viewed as a medical cure-all.

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