Question 2 of 21

What substance did cowboy Clark Stanley bottle and market as "snake oil liniment" in the late 1800s?

... Known as the "Rattlesnake King," Stanley sold bottles filled with mineral oil, beef fat, red pepper and other chemicals. He labeled them as snake oil, and convinced buyers that the oil could cure all types of pain, from a sore back to a toothache.

Question 3 of 21

When were Beecham's Pills, a supposedly miraculous remedy made from aloe, ginger and soap, finally taken off the market?

... For more than 150 years, Beecham's touted their pills as a cure-all for 23 different medical ailments. It wasn't until 1998 that the product was finally discontinued.

Question 4 of 21

From 1898 to 1910, Bayer sold a cough syrup named for this ingredient.

... From 1898 to 1910, parents in the U.S. could soothe a child's cough with Bayer's "Heroin" cough syrup. The company developed heroin as a less addictive alternative to morphine. While the product was discontinued in 1910, it wasn't until 1924 that the sale of heroin was expressly banned in the U.S.

Question 5 of 21

Dinshah P. Ghadiali made more than $1,000,000 in 1940 alone from selling his Spectro-Chrome. What did the Spectro-Chrome use to cure disease?

... The Spectro-Chrome featured a 1,000-watt light bulb, which directed various colors of light into the body to restore balance and cure disease. According to Ghadiali, his device could cure any ailment except for broken bones.

Question 6 of 21

In 1927, naturalist Johanna Brandt traveled to the U.S. to promote her cancer cure, which involved eating this.

... Brandt promised that a diet consisting of nothing but grapes could cure cancer and many other types of illness. The American Cancer Society found no merit to the "grape cure" during four separate studies in 1965, 1971, 1974 and 2000.

Question 7 of 21

Fact or fiction: Modern medical science has proved that attaching small magnets to the skin attracts iron in the blood to improve circulation and relieve pain.

... Fiction: Iron in the blood is a mineral, not a metal, and is not attracted to a magnet. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), scientific evidence does not support the use of magnets for pain relief. In fact, the NIH states that "the majority of rigorous trials" involving magnets "have found no effect on pain."

Question 8 of 21

What force did the Violet Ray Generator use to "cure" everything from pimples to obesity during the early 20th century?

... The Violet Ray Generator was an electrotherapy gadget found in many beauty parlors and doctor's offices during the early 20th century. This device generated a magnetic field, and reportedly cured baldness, acne and countless other ills using ultraviolet light. Because many home versions of this device were sold, Violet Ray Generators are one of the most widely-known gadgets in the history of medical quackery.

Question 9 of 21

During the 1920s, some people used a device called a Revigator to create homemade health tonics of water and this ingredient.

... During the 1920s, radioactive water was used to cure everything from arthritis to mental illness. The demand for this product quickly died out as newspapers began to print reports of radium poisoning associated with the water.

Question 10 of 21

In 1886, the Surgeon General of the U.S. Army endorsed the medicinal use of this drug for pain.

... In 1886, the Surgeon General of the U.S. Army came out in support of cocaine for pain management. That same year, Coca-Cola, which originally contained cocaine, was released to the public. By 1902, there were more than 200,000 cocaine addicts in the U.S. The drug was outlawed in 1914.

Question 11 of 21

George Washington's death may have been caused by the medical practice of phlebotomy, which was better known as this.

... Through the late 19th century, doctors relied heavily on phlebotomy, or bloodletting, to restore health and balance within the body. Suffering from a bacterial infection, George Washington was relieved of 9 pints of blood in less than 24 hours, which likely helped to hasten his death.

Question 12 of 21

Suffering from syphilis? Why not infect yourself with this disease, which was once used to lessen the effects of syphilis.

... Until the development of antibiotics in the early 20th century, doctors used malaria to treat syphilis. The treatment was so accepted that Julius Wagner-Jauregg won the 1927 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his work in this field.

Question 13 of 21

Many call trepanation the earliest form of surgery. What does this procedure involve?

... Archaeological evidence suggests that trepanation, where a hole is drilled into the skull for medical reasons, has been in practice since the Stone Age. Surprisingly, more than 80 percent of those who underwent this procedure survived, according to the NIH -- and this was in the days before anesthesia, antibiotics or even hand washing.

Question 14 of 21

Fact or fiction: In 1949, the Nobel Prize in Medicine went to a man who perfected the art of using a lobotomy to "improve" mentally ill patients.

... Fact: António Egas Moniz won the Nobel Prize in 1949 for helping to develop the lobotomy. One of his former research partners, Walter Freeman, performed up to 25 anesthesia-free lobotomies per day during the 1940s.

Question 15 of 21

From the 1920s through around 1960, Harry Hoxsey made a fortune selling tonics that promised to cure this disease.

... Starting in the 1950s and continuing to the present day, the FDA repeatedly issued public warnings against the use of the Hoxsey Cancer Treatment, stating that it has no value to cure cancer. Because Hoxsey claimed that his tonics are less effective if patients combine them with traditional treatments (like radiation), some patients have skipped proven treatments in favor of Hoxsey's useless tonics.

Question 16 of 21

Who were the first people to enjoy the delicious crunch of Kellogg’s corn flakes?

... Dr. Harvey Kellogg developed his famous cereal at the Battle Creek Sanitarium, and tested the new product on his patients before putting it on the market. Unfortunately, many of the doctor's preferred treatments were not so pleasant. Not only was Kellogg a fan of shock therapy and using acid to discourage certain sex acts, he also invented a vibrating chair that would violently shake patients in an effort to "improve" their health.

Question 17 of 21

During the 18th century, Dr. Elisha Perkins used his metallic tractors to treat a variety of ailments. What did his device consist of?

... Perkins believed that he could redirect the body's natural electricity using his metallic tractors, which consisted of a pair of metal rods. The device fell out of favor when an 1800 study found that a pair of wooden rods provided the same supposedly miraculous results.

Question 18 of 21

What ingredient probably led people to believe that early-20th-century syrups like Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound were effective at improving health and wellness?

... On a classic episode of "I Love Lucy," Lucy gets in trouble thanks to a product called Vitameatavegamin, which contained 23 percent alcohol. The episode was inspired by real-life products like Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound, which left users feeling great thanks to a 15 to 20 percent alcohol content.

Question 19 of 21

From ancient times until the start of the 20th century, this potentially harmful substance was used to treat syphilis and other STDs.

... Civilizations have used mercury in medical treatments for thousands of years, despite the fact that some experts had discovered the dangers associated with this metal as early as the 9th century.

Question 20 of 21

During the 19th century, phrenologists studied this feature to assess character and mental health.

... Phrenologists believed that you could learn about a person's brain by studying the shape and profile of his or her skull. By studying the skull, doctors could detect the size of 26 different organs that make up the surface of the brain, including a murder organ, which reveals whether a person is likely to become a murderer. Today, phrenology has been thoroughly discredited.

Question 21 of 21

During the early 20th century, Heil Eugene Crum promised to cure illness and even regrow limbs using this wondrous technology.

... Crum used a device which he claimed could cure or treat virtually any disease through the wonders of radionics. Crum's device was so remarkable that he could treat a patient at a distance using radio waves. In reality, Crum's amazing medical gadget was little more than a lightbulb and a bunch of random disconnected wires.

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