Snake oil

In English, snake oil is the name for a product (usually a drug) that has no real effect, or which is given properties it does not have. The term comes from the "snake oil" that people said would cure many kinds of health problems. Many 19th-century United States and 18th-century European entrepreneurs advertised and sold mineral oil as "snake oil liniment". Different herbs and spices, were added to the mineral oil. Sometimes, it also contained other drugs, but it didn't contain any products made from snakes. They also said snake oil could be used as a panacea. Drugs that claimed to be a panacea were extremely common from the 18th century until the 20th, particularly among vendors masking addictive drugs such as cocaine, amphetamine, alcohol and opium-based products, to be sold at medicine shows as medication or products promoting health.