HE’D BE CALLED A SPREADER OF “MISINFORMATION” TODAY: The obscure ‘quack’ who helped pioneer the modern clinical trial.

Francis Hauksbee the Younger, an 18th-century instrument maker and scientific lecturer, proposed a formal comparative study in 1743 to evaluate the “safety and efficacy” of his medication for venereal disease.

Published as a pamphlet “A Further Account of the Effects of Mr. Hauksbee’s Alterative Medicine,” his plan aimed to compare his treatment against others by organizing a controlled trial. The study included a detailed methodology, patient consent and it called for transparent documentation of patient outcomes.

Doctors didn’t know much back then. That said, don’t mock the “opium-laced alcohol tinctures.” They may not have cured anything, but I’m sure they made patients feel better.