quack-salver

I could say what I know of it for the expulsion of rheums, raw humours, crudities, obstructions, with a thousand of this kind, but I profess myself no quack-salver: only thus much, by Hercules; I do hold it, and will affirm it before any prince in Europe, to be the most sovereign and precious weed that ever the earth tendered to the use of man. '

Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce E. R. Billings

Hence the term quack-salver was commonly used in the seventeenth century, signifying an ignorant person, who was wont to extol the curative virtues of his salves.

Primitive Psycho-Therapy and Quackery Robert Means Lawrence

The answers were given with a solemn self-complacency, not unmixed with that shrewdness which was an essential attribute to the success of the ancient quack-salver.

Rob of the bowl : a legend of St. Inigoe's, 1872

I could say what I know of the virtue of it, for the expulsion of rheums, raw humours, crudities, obstructions, with a thousand of this kind; but I profess myself no quack-salver.

Every Man in His Humor Ben Jonson 1605

Why, only this afternoon I learned that some quack-salver has been touring the villages up the Fluminis, and was headed our way. "

The Urth of the New Sun Wolfe, Gene 1987