Where does the term "quack" or "quackery" come from, in relation to medical doctors?

Quackery is a derogatory term that is defined as the "medical practice and advice based on observation and experience in ignorance of scientific findings. The dishonesty of a charlatan."[1]

A "quack" is "a fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill. A person who pretends, professionally or publicly, to have skill, knowledge, or qualifications he or she does not possess; a charlatan."[2]

"Health fraud" is often used as a synonym for quackery, but this use can be problematic, since quackery can exist without fraud, a word which always implies deliberate deception.[3]

The word "quack" derives from "quacksalver," an archaic word originally of Dutch origin (spelled kwakzalver in contemporary Dutch), meaning "boaster who applies a salve."[4] The correct meaning of the German word "quacksalber" is "questionable salesperson (literal translation: quack salver)." In the Middle Ages the word quack itself meant "shouting. The quacksalvers sold their wares on the market shouting in a loud voice."[5]

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Widely marketed quack medicines (as opposed to locally produced and locally used remedies), often referred to as patent medicines, first came to prominence during the 17th and 18th centuries in Britain and the British colonies, including those in North America. Daffy's Elixir and Turlington's Balsam, which first came into use in this period, were among the first products to make use of branding (for example, by the use of highly distinctive containers) and mass marketing, in order to create and maintain markets [6]. A similar process occurred in other countries of Europe around the same time, for example with the marketing of Eau de Cologne as a cure-all medicine by Johann Maria Farina and his imitators.


Dalbys Carminative, Daffy鈥檚 Elixir and Turlingtons Balsam of Life bottles dating to the late 18th and early 19th centuries. These 'typical' patent or quack medicines were marketed in very different, and highly distinctive, bottles. Each brand retained the same basic appearance for over 100 years.The later years of the 18th century saw an increase in the number of internationally marketed quack medicines, the majority of which were British in origin[7], and which were exported throughout the British Empire as well as the (by then independent) United States. So popularly successful were these treatments that by 1830 British parliamentary records list over 1,300 different 鈥榩roprietary medicines鈥?[8], the majority of which can be described as 鈥榪uack鈥?cures.

British patent medicines started to lose their dominance in the United States when they were denied access to the American market during the American Revolution, and lost further ground for the same reason during the War of 1812. From the early 19th century 'home-grown' American brands started to fill the gap, reaching their peak in the years after the American Civil War[7][9]. British medicines never regained their previous dominance in North America, and the subsequent era of mass marketing of American patent medicines is usually considered to have been a "golden age" of quackery in the United States. This was mirrored by similar growth in marketing of quack medicines elsewhere in the world.

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The word "quack" derives from "quacksalver," an archaic word originally of Dutch origin (spelled kwakzalver in contemporary Dutch), meaning "boaster who applies a salve." The correct meaning of the German word "quacksalber" is "questionable salesperson (literal translation: quack salver)." In the Middle Ages the word quack itself meant "shouting. The quacksalvers sold their wares on the market shouting in a loud voice."
Quackery, the peddling of unproven, and sometimes dangerous, medicines, cures or treatments, has existed throughout human history. In ancient times, theatrics were sometimes mixed with actual medicine to provide entertainment as much as healing. Quack medicines often had little in the way of active ingredients, or had ingredients which made a person feel good, such as what came to be known as recreational drugs. Morphine and related chemicals were especially common, being legal and unregulated in most places at the time. Arsenic and other poisons were also included.

During the great plague of 1665, plague doctors wore a uniform that included a mask with a large beak-like bit on the front. The idea being this would protect them from breathing in the plague. The outfit made them look like a duck, so they were known as quacks. And they couldn't cure the plague.

Inthe 1646 book "Pseudodoxia Epidemica", Sir Thomas Browne used the word "quacksalver" to describe what we would now call a quack doctor. "Quacksalver" means a person who makes meaningless noise ("quack") about his cure-all ointments ("salve")

Actually it dates back to the hill peole in West Virgina and Appalachian moutains. There were people who called themselves "doc" and had no medical training at all. THey used self man-made medications from herbs, tree bark, toadstools...anything to fixwhatever ailed the people. They were eventually labeled quacks...some people died under that kind of care and other got better inspite of the care! :)
Now we label quackery as other means to treat bonafide disease processes...for example: Laetrile, which is a product made from Apricot pits and is used to "cure" cancer. The people who talk cancer patients into this treatment keep them from getting real surgery, chemotherpay, and radiation. They make billions of dollars every year off these poor patients. They are the quacks of today!