RX for your Good Health April 9

More than a half-century ago, “rheumatiz” and “lumbago” were two terms assigned to the aches and pains of older Americans. I remember when my grandmother began limping -- usually in the evening -- and when I asked if she was okay, she’d answer, “Just a touch of the rheumatiz,” and after a long day, driving Nellie Belle (a little Jeep), Roy Rogers’ TV sidekick, Gaby Hayes often complained of “lumbago.”

But what were these diseases…really?

Rheumatiz, a short form of the word, “rheumatism,” was once used to describe pain almost anywhere in the body. It was often associated with arthritis or rheumatic fever, a form of strep throat affecting the heart in worst cases. Rheumatiz also was sometimes the diagnosis for lupus, fibromyalgia and tendinitis.

Today, we now know the rheumatism is not the dysfunction of bones, but instead, the problem is based on inflammation and pain in the joints, muscles, or fibrous tissue, especially rheumatoid arthritis.

Lumbago, or pain in the lower (lumbar portion) back, is considered by health professionals to be an antiquated term that designates nothing more than lower back pain caused by any of a number of underlying conditions. 

The pain may be mild or severe, acute (pain lasting less than six weeks) or chronic (pain lasting more than 12 weeks). It includes various conditions caused by factors such as injury, back strain, arthritis, abuse of the back muscles (such as from poor posture, a sagging mattress, or ill-fitting shoes), or any of a number of other disorders. 

In the mid- to late-1800s and into the 20th century, a new breed of “medicine men” emerged -- called “snake oil salesmen.” Today, when one uses the word, “snake oil,” the connotation is a negative one, especially when used to describe a politician’s suspicious campaign promises. The term “snake oil salesman” brings the terms “shady,” “con men” and “fraud” to mind.

But, decades ago, people suffering from the rheumatiz and lumbago were prime targets for the sellers of snake oil. Here’s the back story:

From 1849 to 1882, thousands of Chinese workers arrived in the U.S. to work on the Transcontinental Railroad. According to historian Richard White's Railroaded, about 180,000 Chinese immigrated to the U.S., with most workers coming from southeastern China’s peasant class.

These immigrant workers brought various medicines — including snake oil -- when they came to the States. Made from the oil of the Chinese water snake, which is rich in the omega-3 acids help reduce inflammation, snake oil in its original form really was legitimately effective according to some, especially when used to treat common rheumatiz and lumbago. 

The workers rubbed the oil on their joints after a long day’s work and began sharing the oil with their co-workers. 

So how did this centuries-old, Chinese folk medicine become a symbol of fraud? 

According to a 2013 NPR broadcast, “the origins of snake oil as a derogatory phrase trace back to the latter half of the 19th century, which saw a dramatic rise in the popularity of "patent medicines." Often sold on the back pages of newspapers or from traveling stages, these tonics promised to cure a wide variety of ailments including chronic pain, headaches, "female complaints" and kidney trouble. In time, all of these false "cures" began to be referred to as snake oil.

“As word of the healing powers of the legitimate Chinese snake oil spread, many Americans wanted to make their own snake oil…but because no Chinese water snakes were handy, many healers began using rattlesnakes to make their own snake oil.”

Enter entrepreneur and cowboy Clark Stanley, aka The Rattlesnake King. 

In an 1897 pamphlet about Stanley's life and exploits, he claimed he learned about rattlesnake oil’s healing powers from Hopi medicine men.  

During Chicago’s 1893 World's Exposition, Stanley attracted national media attention when he took a live snake and sliced it open before a crowd of onlookers.

McGill University’s Joe Schwarcz described the scene in the 2008 article: How did a legitimate medicine become a symbol of fraud?

"[Stanley] reached into a sack, plucked out a snake, slit it open and plunged it into boiling water. When the fat rose to the top, he skimmed it off and used it on the spot to create 'Stanley's Snake Oil,' a liniment that was immediately snapped up by the throng, gathered around to watch the spectacle."

But, there were two problems with Stanley's oil.

First, rattlesnake oil was far less effective than the original Chinese snake oil it was trying to emulate. A 1989 letter to The Western Journal of Medicine from psychiatrist and researcher Richard Kunin revealed that the Chinese oil contained almost triple the amount of a vital acid as did rattlesnake oil.

Secondly, investigators found Stanley’s Snake Oil didn't contain any snake oil at all. In fact, tests found the so-called snake oil contained mostly mineral oil, beef fat, red pepper and turpentine. Not a trace of snake oil was found.

It was about this time that snake oil became symbolic of fraud. 

Traveling snake oil salesmen quickly became stock characters in American Westerns. The first written usage of the phrase appeared in Stephen Vincent Benet's epic 1927 poem John Brown's Body, when the poet refers to "Crooked creatures of a thousand dubious trades ... sellers of snake-oil balm and lucky rings." 

What happened to Clark Stanley after it was found that his whole empire was based on a lie? 

He was fined $20 (that's about $429 in today's dollars) for violating the Food and Drug Act and for "misbranding" his product by "falsely and fraudulently represent[ing] it as a remedy for all pain."

He got off easy, wouldn’t you say?