Snake Oil

Snake oil is intentionally promoted fraudulent or unproven Medicine. The expression is also applied metaphorically to any product with questionable or unverifiable quality or benefit. By extension, a snake oil salesman is someone who sells fraudulent goods or who is a fraud himself.

There are two hypotheses for the origin of the term. The more common theory is that the name originated in the Western regions of the United States, and is derived from a topical preparation made from the Chinese Water Snake (Enhydris chinensis) used by Chinese laborers to treat joint pain. The preparation was promoted in North America by traveling salesmen who often used accomplices in the audience to proclaim the benefits of the preparation.

One source, Dr. William S. Haubrich in his book Medical Meanings (1997, American College of Physicians) claims that the name came from the Eastern United States. The Native Americans of New York and Pennsylvania region would rub cuts and scrapes with the petroleum collected from oil seeps that occurred naturally in the area. European settlers observed this habit, and began bottling and selling the substance as a cure-all. The preparation was sold as "Seneca oil" in mid-nineteenth century, after the local tribes. Haubrich claims through mispronunciation this became "Sen-ake-a oil" and eventually "snake oil". Haubrich's claim, however, appears to be a case of folk etymology, as no further evidence appears to exist for this transformation.