布宜诺斯艾利斯医疗市场中的催眠师、万灵药推销员和不受信任的医生(1880—1900)

Hypnotists,Panacea Salesmen and Suspicious Doctors in the Health Marketplace(Buenos Aires,1880-1900)

19世纪八九十年代,布宜诺斯艾利斯医疗市场上广泛存在非法行医的现象。在这一时期,许多催眠师、性灵疗愈者和万灵药推销员公开挑战有关行医规定。他们并非秘密地开展行动,而是有计划地通过新闻媒体进行宣传。在生物医药对许多疾病没有效果的情况下,记者和唯灵论医师通常会在必要时为非法游医发声,这表明当时在专业医疗和游医诊疗之间没有明确的界限。

The purpose of this paper is to study the wide presence of unauthorized healing offerings in Buenos Aires health marketplace during the last two decades of the 19th century.In the course of those years,many hypnotists,healers and panacea salesmen posed an open challenge to regulations regarding the art of healing.Their actions were not carried out clandestinely but were systematically publicized through advertisements in the press.On the other hand,in a context in which biomedicine was still incapable of offering effective therapies for many pathologies,journalists and spiritualists could raise their voices in defense of uncertified healers when necessary,revealing the absence of a sharp division between medicine and quackery.