The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1858-07-17
Quaclsory and Imposturo.


Notwithstanding the increase Of education
and general intelligence in thc/communty
and the consequent exposure Of many and
various decisions that hayein'turn possessed
the popular mind, the disposition to crcduliiy
seems to be hardly less prevalent now, than
at any former period Of the worlds history.
We wonder and laugh at the blindness and
stupidity, the iniatuator and credulity Of the
yictims|of dclusion and imposturc IN former
ages, and congratulate ourselves that we live
At a time and in a community in which the
people have been educated above liability 90
similar imposition But il is still true that
about one half the world lives hy making
lupcs Of the other. The number and variety
Of methods, moreover, 10y which impoucrs
contriye to cheat the multitude instead Of
decreasing, as we should naturally expect,
seem TO be multiplying cycry'year, No pre-
tension is too oxtrayagant, no charlatanry is
too bald and yillainous to be swallowed and
paid for hy mnlilndes in almost cycrl COM
other things, and ought to be ashamed of
their folly in this. ain ancient times" says
the author Of popular treatise on Medical
Philosophy-"whcn the people were cropping
their way in the darkness Of ignorance and
superstition, il is not TO be wondered at that
ttHy siioHid br deceived by false appearances,
by mystery, magic and incarnation, and hy
various arts and devices of cunning priest.
hooGi but it is most truly astonishing that
with all the light of the nineteenth century,
when the imposture is so easily detected 1t
is neither the ignorant nor the superstitious
alone, who are gulled by the designing for
in this country such individuals are rarely TO
be found, and yet there are plenty Of subjects
upon which these harpics prey Were the
positively ignorant the only supporters Of
quacks, they would so on be driven from the
field by staryatioui but unfortunately Cor the
interests Of science, the universe, ignorance
of the human system in health and in disease,
propagatcs race Of unprncipled empires
and on this ignorance they grow and fattcn.
Encouraged by success, il matters little how
gross the absurdity, or how glaring the inn
posture they attempt to practice; and if they
envelope their whole scheme in MS deep
mystery as that which involved the oracles
of Pythian Apollo, so much the more likely
are they to become equally celebrated 49,
Charms and magic have not been banshed
by the increase and diffusion of knowledge"
OF this last assertion any one may find album
dant proof in the advertising columns Of al.
most any of our city papers. But whether
the author from whom we have quoted is
correct in locating the source of this popular
gullibility in that specific ignorance which he
assigns-"ignoranco Of the human system in
health and in disease"-we-hav some doubt.
We are more inclined to think the author Of
Hudibras has furnished, in the following,
more philosophical diagnosis Of the case;
Doubtless the pleasure Is as great
or being cheated, TO cheat
As lookcts-on feel most delight
That least perceive n Jugglcrs slight;
Ant still, the less they understand.
The more they admire his slight OF hand"
As evidence of what has been already said,
that no quackcry is too barefaccd and impu-
dent To ahi4i+ tFeF4at, sr,r m utmost
every community, we need only refer to the
operations of those itinerant pretenders who
occasionally visit our own virinity and adycr-
tise their capacity to cure all the various ellis
that flesh is heir to-" Who, but the grccnest
child among us, could fail TO see the CON
temptible mountebanks in the very announce
ment which they make of themselves. And
yet they have their dupes, and bleed them
too most profusely. Still more confrmatory
of the same fact, We might ,adduce that vo.
rae ious appetite for patent nn.trums with
which multitudcs are afflicted, All attempts
at csricature Of the pretended virtues Of /.