The Psychological Aspects of the Treatments Involved in Cancer Quackery: Historical Review

Sir Macfarlane Burnet [1], who is far famed for his pioneer work on cancer surveillance, recommended clearly in his Brailsford Robertson Memorial Lecture that scientists should acquaint themselves with historical antecedents. Therefore, this paper documents such antecedents in respect of the drug treatment modalities used by cancer quacks. Quacks were presented in the 1725 History of Physic by Friend [2] concerning “how much quacks have prevailed in all ages.” As he put it, “There are so many little Arts used by Mountebanks and Pretenders to Physic, that an extensive treatise, had I a mind to write one, would not contain them all.”