Word: gaddesden
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Dates: during 1958-1958
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Author Turner's most savage anecdotes are from the annals of court medicine. In a day when only God could save a King, a typical court quack was John of Gaddesden (probably Chaucer's "verrey parfit practisour"). John went so far as to publish a list of ailments that, financially, were beneath his notice. His gaudiest feat: curing Edward I's son of smallpox by swaddling the boy in scarlet robes, confining him to a room hung with scarlet drapes, claiming that the color's influence turned the trick. The 17th century court physician had less...
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