Mountebanks and medicasters : a history of Italian charlatans from the Middle Ages to the present / Piero Gambaccini ; translated by Bettie Gage Lippitt ; foreword by Giorgio Cosmacini.

Mercanti della salute. English

Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland & Co., 2004.

viii, 247 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Orignally published as: I mercanti della salute : le segrete virtù dell'imbroglio in medicina.

People who go about swindling, with little exertion and for their own gain -- Grand entertainments -- Wise is the peasant who goes not seeking a doctors cure -- Scoundrels, quacks and murderers -- Charlatans against learned physicians -- Glorious Fioravanti, maker of miracles -- The feverish search for a remedy -- They make robbery seem a courtesy: Italian charlatans abroad -- The Alfier Lombardo, the unknown knight, and a charlatan doctor -- A carnival of publicity -- Physical recreations -- Mesmerists, hypnotists, and wondrous somnambulists -- Yearned-for, eternal youth -- It is said that medicine is of two parts: one is called a physician's science, the other is called art.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 233-242) and index.