Through the Victorian and Edwardian eras, various new health movements emerged in the transition to the modern age of scientific medicine. Strange medical devices and quack cures were pushed for the curing of illnesses during this time, frequently using crude remedies based on simplistic beliefs and the placebo effect. Nowadays, some of these treatments appear absurd, even cruel. Because some of these devices were properly used as appropriate therapies, it's difficult to label them altogether as bogus devices.

This book takes a thorough look at unconventional medical gadgets, as well as the strange devices and therapies used by both fringe and legitimate healers, and places them in the perspective of modern medicine. The author argues that quackery should not be defined by the ineffectiveness of a therapy, but rather be based on the fraudulent intent of the people who pushed dishonest and deceptive remedies.