quacksalver

The word quackery was apparently derived from the arcane term "quacksalver," which means to boast of a cure.

"All right, I've lived as a quacksalver.

Why should we Talents protect a quacksalver, a faker, a pharisee, a hoaxer, a gyp!

Towards the end of his life his stock fell, as the rationalist Cartesian approach began to dominate (Descartes himself described Kircher as "more quacksalver than savant").

The word "quack" derives from the archaic word "quacksalver", of Dutch origin (spelled kwakzalver in contemporary Dutch), literally meaning "hawker of salve".

But he is not a young man, and to tell you the truth, Maturin,' said Dr Harrington, bending close and shading his mouth, 'he is something of a quacksalver.

While I'm at it, Larry, quack is a shortening of quacksalver, a phony doctor who quacked (hawked or hard-sold, sounding as abrasive as a duck's quack) salves (ointments to cure whatever ailed you).