Short Stuff: The Original Snake Oil Salesman | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[Music]. hey and welcome to the short stuff I'm. Josh and there's Chuck and Jerry's here. too and we're all thinking of Dave right. now so his ears are probably burning. like flames on the side of his face or. in my throat oh yeah Chuck's got a. little sore throat but not really what'. you say you've got some dust in your. throat you know how when you just have a. little coughing fit because it feels. like there's a tickle in your throat you. can't get rid of I always call it you. sound like you're about to cough I. always call it dust in my throat.

sure yeah it's a good description we're. going to try to muddle through everybody. I was going to say a great Tom White's. album but the joke's dumb so I'm not. gonna say it dust in my throat is great. that was a great Joke Man uh this one's. fun you dug this one up uh we tal have. talked over the years a lot about snake. oil and uh what's called patent. medicines and this is the origin story. of snake oil yeah and it kind of ties. into our episode we just released on.

um meat and food before the FDA came. along H yeah so um to quote the Oxford. English. Dictionary snake oil is quote a quack. Remedy or Panacea o and essentially what. they're saying there in high futin terms. is that snake oil is it's um it's well. it's a quack remedy it doesn't actually. work it's something that sold as a a. medicine or a cure that that doesn't do. anything like it says and it just has a. a bad assoc we think of snake oil as um.

just something you you're something. you're duped by and the person you're. duped by is a snake oil salesman but. this is one of those really interesting. stories Chuck where there's an actual. origin to this and the as as bad as we. think of snake oil today um like it. actually had a legitimate use back in. the day and still does depending on. where you live yeah and that's if you're. literally talking oil from a snake uh. we're talking about in China they would.

use uh Chinese water snakes venomous. Chinese water snakes to get their. literal extract you know extract oil. from the snake and that oil is very high. in omega-3 fatty acids which we all know. are very good for your health so the. original snake oil in you know ancient. China actually had a use it wasn't like. this this bunk medicine uh you know it's. good for your brain health your heart. health I think it can reduce. inflammation.

uh kind of like fish oil everyone knows. that omega-3 fatty acids are great and. that was what the original snake oil was. it was so high or it is so high in. omega-3 fatty acids that it reduces. inflammation if you just rub it on your. skin it's just really potent stuff which. is pretty much the opposite of what we. think of with snake oil today like not. only does it not really work it's fake. snake oils original snake oil was not. fake it was very potent and um in the.

19th century there were a lot of Chinese. immigrants who came over either by their. own volition or as indentured workers to. work on the railroad um the. Transcontinental Railroad in particular. and they brought this snake oil with. them and it became like kind of a. popular Curative for people when they. wanted to like relieve sore muscles or. inflammation and it caught the attention. of one guy named Clark Stanley um who. became a he was a cowboy he was a legit. cowboy but he became a patent medicine.

seller and you toss that word around. patent medicines but there's an actual. like explanation to how we got to where. patent medicines had this bad reputation. and it's in the name too yeah because. you could say I have this medicine I. want to patent it so only I can sell it. and part of having a patent uh can mean. that you don't have to tell what's in it. uh so you're you know it's proprietary. so you can have your little secret uh. recipe and so patent medicines were were.

you know they became uh these medicines. that was essentially snake oils like you. know who knows what could be in this. stuff and these husters are selling it. uh for you know a quarter a bottle 10. cents a bottle 50 cents a bottle as. we'll see which is like 18 bucks today. and no one knows what's in it so that is. where snake oil well actually we're not. quite there yet that's what patent. medicine was right uh and maybe we. should take a break then with that. Cliffhanger about how snake oil as uh. Huer ISM came about.

[Music]. if you want to know then you're inck. just listen up to. and Stu you should. know so Chuck you left us off on a. cliffhanger where we were talking Pat. medicine were basically fraudulent and.

fake and snake oil was about to enter. the realm of from legitimate medicine to. fake patent medicine and it did so via. that cowboy turned patent medicine. seller Clark Stanley yeah so he was. around and he said hey uh these Chinese. people are using this snake oil or. they're you know have have stories of. using this snake oil cuz uh they didn't. have those Chinese water snakes in the. American West of course but he heard. these stories he was into this uh p. medicine thing and he said well one.

thing we have a lot of out here is. rattlesnakes so I'm going to uh well we. we'll get to the little twist here in a. second but I'm going to make a patent a. patent medicine uh this snake oil. linament out of rattlesnakes I'm going. to say I'm the rattlesnake King I'm. going to put out a little uh pamphlet to. really Gussy up my story called The Life. and Adventures of the American Cowboy. colon life in the Far West in 1897 and. it's going to have uh horses and cowboy. poetry and like lasso throwing advice.

and uh I'm going to include this with. this snake oil I'm going to charge 50. cents a bottle which like I said was 18. bucks today and it's going to cure. almost anything you can think of yeah he. said that it was the strongest and best. linament known for the Cure of all pain. and lameness for rheumatism neuralgia. sciatica lame back lumbago contracted. muscles toothaches sprain swellings Etc. cures frostbites chill blaines bruises. sore throat bites of animals insects and. reptiles that was on the label yeah it.

like the uh the early medical marijuana. places in. California they're like can't sleep try. marijuana too much sleep try. marijuana right so um if you notice. though this is like lame back contracted. muscles it like it he's tying into the. the reputation that snake oil already. has is an anti-inflammatory that you rub. on your skin right um but he never gave. credit to the Chinese people who.

introduced them to um snake oil or who. introduced it to the United States he. said that he learned to make snake oil. from rattlesnakes from years of study. with a hopy medicine man and also. because he was bit countless times by. rattlesnake so I guess that gave him. some uh entree into it the problem is. rattlesnake oil has about a third of the. omega-3 fatty acids that oil from. Chinese water snakes do which makes it. about a third is potent.

yeah and then here's the real twist that. we promised he didn't even use. rattlesnake oil so even if he was using. it it would have been you know far less. potent but he wasn't even using that. stuff and we know and this is how it. ties into the episode from yesterday uh. because of the Pure Food and Drug Act of. 1906 in that episode yesterday we talked. about one of the things they did was a. big Crackdown on patent medicine so he. was exposed and they tested his snake. oil in 1917 and it had beef fat red.

pepper mineral oil uh a little bit of. camur and a little bit of. turpentine yeah that's it that was what. was in Stanley's um snake oil linament. no snake oil he got caught red-handed. and he knew he was caught red-handed um. this new FDA I don't even think it was. the FDA yet they busted him and so for. decades of selling fake medicine he was. fined $20 Which is less than5 00 today.

and that was that but the thing is is he. single-handedly gave snake oil a bad. name like it was him he was the conduit. through which snake wh turned legitimate. to this um umbrella term this catchall. term for any kind of fake fraudulent. medicine or any anytime somebody's. trying to sell you something that's not. real um or just kind of hustling you. that's snake oil sold by a snake oil. salesman and um our friends at code. switch. seem to have found the first um use of.

snake oil is kind of a catchall term to. deride all patent medicines in that way. yeah it was about 10 years afterward it. was in 19 10 years after Clark stainley. was busted in 1927 a poem by Steven. Vincent. Benet uh called John Brown's Body which. is I think fairly famous right I've. heard of that haven't I that's where we. get that John Brown's Body lies of. molder in the grave oh okay but that's. like two lines of this almost book.

length epic poem it's from yeah one of. the lines as well was sellers of snake. oil balm and lucky Rings uh and then. also in. 1956 it was in the very famous uh Play. The Iceman Cometh From Eugene O'Neal. right yeah so one character says that. someone else another character is quote. standing on a street corner in hell. right now making suckers of the Damned. telling them there's nothing like snake. oil for a bad burn amazing that's. classic Eugene O'Neal.

so that's it that's where snake oil came. from or that's where snake oil's bad. reputation came from and you can thank. Clark Stanley for it or blame him if. you're a snake oil manufacturer yeah and. I love this because I'm sure we'll talk. about snake oil again and then we can. reference Clark Stanley yeah for sure. Chuck uh and since I said for sure. everybody I don't think either of us. have anything more about snake oil short. stuff is. after stuff you should know is a. production of iHeart Radio for more. podcasts my heart radio visit the iHeart.

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