In an era when medicine was still finding its footing, John Romulous Brinkley built an empire on impossible cures, relentless ambition, and astonishing lack of a moral compass. In a shocking display of charm and manipulation, he managed to sell his patients on a cure for diseases they didn’t even know they had, frequently involving the surgical insertion of a goats testicle into their body. His rise to fame was inspired, and for a while, his power was almost unstoppable, until one man on a crusade took it upon himself to prove otherwise.

SOURCES

Brock, Pope (2008) Charlatan: The Fraudulent Life of John Brinkley. Orion Publishing, London, UK.

Griffenhagen, George B. & Young, James (1959) Old English Patent Medicines in America. Contributions from The Museum of History and Technology: Paper 10. Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., USA.

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