> In England a quack never fails unless he is untrue to himself, that is, if he be not sufficiently outrageous in his professions; let him promise and persevere in promising the impossible - let him screw his courage to that point and he’ll not fail; the yearly sum in advertisements alone by some of those venders of nostrums (the value of which they assert, and truly, is unknown and incredible) must be immense. [...]<p>> – Henry Wood – "Change for the American Notes in Letters from London to New York by an American Lady." (1843)<p>I feel this phenomenon is still going strong over a century later and an ocean away.