The Quack

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 10, 7 March 1907, Page 23

The Quack

There is in New Zealand a large body of people whose serene simplicity affords a comfortaible or luxurious living to the raucous horde of quaoks that ' pour drugs of which they know nothing into .bodies of which they know less.' These simple-minded people are (said, Dr. Barnet, President of the New Zealand Branch of the British Medical Association at their in-^ augural meeting in Dunedin a few days ago) ' not only the ignorant,- tout the lovers of the mysterious, the neurotics, the .half crazy cranks, and faddists who, prefer the treatment of the quacks to that of the orthodox practitioners '. There is, he adds, * a brisk demand for' quack treatment ; there always will be" ; and the supply will meet the demand.' Judging by the learned doctor's remarks, arguments against the fascination of the quack would seem— to fall like paper, pellets from the ironclad folly and prejudice of the unthinking. He adds :—: — ' ■ "

'We can^probably point out to them that they will prdbafoHy waste much . money, and, worse than that, they may. let the favorable opportunity for radical treatment slip by, and incipient cancer or consumption may. have established itself tco .deeply for successful interference by the time "the unfortunate or foolish dupes find themselves released from" the coils of Quackery.- We . may q,uote» ' the confessions x>f victims who have left the hands of quacks . sadder, wiser, and poorer men ; we may .ridicule the electric belts which are sold at prices ranging from three tci twenty, guineas, and possess as much electrical virtue as a dog-collar ; ,we. may * prove to demonstration that the much-vaunted cures of hernia,' cancer, epilepsy, goitre, asthma , . . nervous 'debility, 'and what- not, are in nine cases out of ten ignorant frauds. , Our denunciations fall upon unsympathetic ears ; we are regarded as biased, as jealous, as - self-interested.- We can and do point out'. t to the public the risks they run- in entrusting their precious bodies to the care of quacks. I doubt whether we ought to do more?- If the public wishes to protect U>c ignorant and" the- silly from falling victims to the alluring snares- of the irregular practitioner, it can demand legislation^: to - that end, and it can be sure of the sympathy and cooperation "of the medical profession '. We do not, however, despair of seeing;, the measure that was slaughtered during A>he lasV session of .Parliament placed' upon the' statute-book for the protection of the' poor - against the wiles and frauds of the great fraternity of quacks.