Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Magic, Quackery, Charlatanry, Gender

People mentioned:

Humphry Davy

    Presents the lives of Daffy, Dalby, and Godfrey, all of whom have been 'Physician-Extraordinary [...] to the million' and 'experimentalists upon popular credulity'. The account of Daffy notes that he 'flourished at the time of Merlin, the Magician', from whom he stole the recipe for his own elixir. Adds that the latter substance was devised 'to meet a little bill'. The account of Dalby notes that it is 'wonderful she did not shine in a tar-barrel, as a witch' and that she 'discovered', by accident, in a surgeon's cupboard, 'Carminative', a magical medicine. Describes Godfrey as a woman who, after a 'long series of experiments of the effects of cordials on herself', discovered her 'Cordial'. Notes her connection with the French crusader Godfrey of Bouillon, a name that reflects her large cash profits.