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  • Title: [Historical Archives of Italian Nephrology: The Cerretani and charlatans: a poor page in the history of medicine and nephrology].
    Author: Timio M.
    Journal: G Ital Nefrol; 2002; 19(1):55-9. PubMed ID: 12165947.
    Abstract:
    Cerreto is a tiny town in the Valnerine area (Umbria) famous all over the world for the phenomenon of charlatanism derived from Cerretani inhabitants. In the Middle Ages, these people started to beg for alms on hehalf of medical and religious foundations. When their occupation ended due to religious prohibition (Council of Trent) the Cerretani shifted to Charlatanism or quackery. The Charlatans exploited the absence of institutional medicine in rural areas and the credulity and superstition of many sick people. A cynical distrust of the medical profession in urban areas helped the charlatans' activity to spread. They delivered diagnostic advice and therapeutic remedies in public squares. Renal and bladder remedies were key cures from still earlier quackeries. Some historians of medicine believe that some rural or town citizens were particulalry addicted to panaceas or placebos. Charlatans from all over the world poured into the happy hunting grounds. Quackery flourished on a grand scale until education spread throughout the population and medical services were made available to the poor. Special laws to safeguard health-care, helped undermine the charlatan healing phenomenon. Popular quackery medicine neared its end in the mid twentieth century. The history of medicine never follows a linear development such as great discoveries, political reforms, growing cultural interests. By contrast, it runs parallel to local, national and world histories. The history of medicine is largely regarded as a subdivision of the history of the world. Aspects of medicine lying outside the scientific horizon are regarded as of subsidiary importance. Does the history of the Charlatan phenomenon confirm such a statement?
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