The expression "snake oil" seems familiar from movies and television. I wonder if that's the case, or just the thoughts of things past.
Oxford English Dictionary defines snake oil as "a quack remedy or panacea."
The 1800s saw thousands of Chinese workers arriving in the United States as indentured laborers to work on the Transcontinental Railroad. Among the items the Chinese railroad workers brought with them to the States were various medicines — including snake oil. Made from the oil of the Chinese water snake, which is rich in the omega-3 acids that help reduce inflammation, snake oil in its original form really was effective, especially when used to treat arthritis and bursitis.The story goes that the Chinese workers began sharing the oil with some American counterparts, who marveled at the effects.
Without Chinese water snakes handy in the American West, many healers began using rattlesnakes to make their own versions. The entrepreneur Clark Stanley, known as The Rattlesnake King, claimed he had learned about the healing power of rattlesnake oil from Hopi medicine men. Rattlesnakes oil wasn't effective, so there it was - a fraud.
And did I seem to remember snake oil from Western films? Yes, Wikipedia says it was a popular trope in Western films.
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