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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;desertgem, post: 2213642, member: 15199&quot;]&quot;As it happens, some Chinese snake oil, made from water snakes that consume fish, is rich in a key omega-3 fatty acid, and so could have some anti-inflammatory efficacy, either taken orally or applied as a liniment—that according to an analysis reported in 1989 by Richard Kunin, a nutrition-oriented physician. More recently, at Japan’s National Food Research Institute, a team of scientists led by Nobuya Shirai fed oil from the black-banded sea krait to mice and found that it promoted swimming endurance in the mice, whereas lard or even fish oil did not. But to conclude from such tentative research that there is a health value to drinking snake wine—made from non-sea snakes to boot—is certainly a leap too far.&quot;</p><p><a href="http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/perspectives/102171/snake-oil-redux" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/perspectives/102171/snake-oil-redux" rel="nofollow">http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/perspectives/102171/snake-oil-redux</a></p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;William S. Haubrich, in his book <i>Medical Meanings</i> (1997, American College of Physicians), mentions the hypothesis that the term came from the eastern United States.[<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources" rel="nofollow">page needed</a></i>] The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_people" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_people" rel="nofollow">Seneca people</a>, indigenous to the New York and Pennsylvania region, would rub cuts and scrapes with the petroleum collected from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_seep" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_seep" rel="nofollow">oil seeps</a>. European settlers observed this habit, and in mid-nineteenth century they began bottling and selling the substance as a cure-all. They named the product for the local tribe as &quot;Seneca oil&quot;. Supposedly through mispronunciation, this became &quot;Sen-ake-a oil&quot; and eventually &quot;snake oil&quot;.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_oil#cite_note-2" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_oil#cite_note-2" rel="nofollow">[2]</a> Haubrich remarked, &quot;This story is almost too good to be true – which means it probably isn&#039;t.&quot;[<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources" rel="nofollow">page needed</a></i>] It appears to be a case of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_etymology" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_etymology" rel="nofollow">folk etymology</a>, since no known historical evidence supports this explanation&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_oil" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_oil" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_oil</a>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> jim[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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