Mountebanks and medicasters : a history of Italian charlatans from the Middle Ages to the present
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Mountebanks and medicasters : a history of Italian charlatans from the Middle Ages to the present
McFarland & Co., 2004
- : softcover
- Other Title
-
I mercanti della salute : le segrete virtù dell'imbroglio in medicina
Available at 1 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. 233-242) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Italian medical charlatans, wandering quacks who traded in remedies, accompanied real medicine like a dark shadow during its slow progress. Over the centuries, these cunning individuals infuriated orthodox physicians with their ability to capture audiences in village squares. While licensed physicians imperiously ordered torrential enemas and pitiless bloodletting, charlatans sold cheap remedies accompanied by consoling promises. Not merely merchants committed to swindling the gullible, the charlatans often disguised a form of opposition to an arrogant new science. New and courageous ideas were hidden beneath their exaggerated posturing. This work recounts the history and adventures of ingenious Italian medical quacks who were sought after and imitated all over Europe. The research is culled from judicial proceedings, newspaper articles, Italian State Archives, and books and manuscripts from all over the world. Ostensibly an account of these characters covering five centuries, the book also examines the relationship between doctor and patient and the placebo effect. The final chapters explore the reasons for their success and the necessity for a re-evaluation of the relationship between doctor and patient today, a period in which the practice of medicine is often confined to laboratory examinations and brief, impersonal encounters.
by "Nielsen BookData"