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This turns my whole world upside down, next they're going to come out and say snake oil won't cure my rheumatism.[1] [1]http://www.csicop.org/sb/show/peddling_

• dredmorbius 12y ago
  The original snake oil -- from the Chinese water snake -- may in fact have been effective, in part due to its high Omega-3 oil content. The pejorative sense came from a mix of hucksterism and cargo-culting: concoctions from other sources (including other animal oils or petroleum-based oils) which lacked the specific constituents of the Chinese remedy: Well, hucksters that sold patent or proprietary medicine caught wind of the miraculous muscle-soothing powers of snake oil. Naturally, they decided to sell their own versions of snake oil—but it was just much easier to forgo using actual snakes. (From the Collectors Weekly reference below.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_oil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_oil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Water_Snake https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Water_Snake http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/how-snake-oil-got-a-bad-rap/ http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/how-snake-oil-got-a...