self to
the sale of pellets, lotions and gargles, possessing marvellous virtues!

Here is a copy of an advertisement which appeared in an early number of
the London "Spectator":

Loss of Memory or Forgetfulness certainly cured by a grateful
electuary, peculiarly adapted for that end. It strikes at the
primary source, which few apprehend, of Forgetfulness, makes
the head clear and easy, the spirits free, active and
undisturbed; corroborates and revives all the noble faculties
of the soul, such as thought, judgment, apprehensions, reason
and memory, which last in particular it so strengthens as to
render that faculty exceeding quick and good beyond
imagination, thereby enabling those whose memory was almost
totally lost, to remember the minutest circumstances of their
affairs, etc; to a wonder. Price 2s. 6d a pot. Sold only at
Mr. Payne's, at the _Angel and Crown_, in St. Paul's
Church-Yard, with directions.

William Smith, in his "History of the Province of New York from its
First Discovery to the Year 1722" (London, 1757), wrote as follows:

The History of our Diseases belongs to a Profession with which
I am very little acquainted. Few physicians amongst us are
eminent for their skill. Quacks abound like Locusts in Egypt,
and too many have recommended themselves to a full Practice
and profitable subsistence. This is the less to be wondered
at, as the Profession is under no Kind of Regulation. Loud as
the call is, to our Shame be it remembered, we have no Law to
protect the Lives of the King's Subjects from the Malpractice
of Pretenders. Any man at his Pleasure sets up for Physician,
Apothecary and Chirurgeon. No candidates are either examined
or licensed, or even sworn to fair practice. In 1753 the City
of New York alone boasted the Honour of having forty Gentlemen
of that Faculty.

A contributor to the Cincinnati "Lancet and Observer," October, 1861,
moralized on this subject in a somewhat pessimistic vein.

To see an ignorant, boastful quack petted, caressed and patronized by
people of culture and refinement, wrote he, such as members of the
learned professions, statesmen, philosophers, shrewd merchants and
bankers, as well as by worthy mechanics and trusting farmers, is enough
to make one ponder whether after all it is worth while to devote money,
time and talents in acquiring a th