Excerpt from Lessons From the History of Medical Delusions Those of my readers who have read the 'physician and Patient, which was published by the author nearly a year since, will perceive that some few of the thoughts presented in this essay, and some of the illustrations, have already appeared in that work. The repeti tion, however, could not be avoided, without making my view of the subject in hand incomplete. This is my apology, if any be needed. It is'the opinion of some physicians that quackery had better be let alone, and that no attempt should be made to enlighten its vic tims, and to deliver them from the consequences of their errors. And among those who hold this Opinion are many eminent men, and some personal friends of the author, for whose judgment he has the highest respect. The grounds on which they object to all at tacks upon quackery are, that its victims, as they think, cannot be convinced of their error, and will be duped at any rate, and that therefore any attack upon their delusion is useless - nay, more, that it helps to introduce it into popular favor, by giving it notoriety, and perhaps even dignity. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.