Also, the high standard held up to the public mind by the College of which which gave its peculiar sanction to the expensive and highly rarefied medical instruction obtained by graduates of Oxford and Cambridge, did not hinder quackery from having an excellent time of it; for since professional practice chiefly consisted in giving a great many drugs, the public inferred that it might be better off with more drugs still, if they could only be got cheaply, and hence swallowed large cubic measures of physic prescribed by unscrupulous ignorance which had taken no degrees. Considering
The esteemed reputation of the colleges at Oxford and Cambridge, which provided graduates with advanced medical education, did not prevent the rise of quackery. Many people believed that since medical practice involved administering numerous medications, they might benefit even more from taking additional drugs, especially if they were affordable. This led to the widespread use of potentially harmful remedies from unscrupulous individuals lacking proper qualifications.
As a result, the public's trust...
