To give Bruce credit, when he is calling the Miracle-Mineral-Supplement a "snake oil" he means that it is the closest thing to a LEGITIMATE cureall.....NOT the traditional usage of the word - which means something that is sold as a cureall but is worthless.
yes that is abundantly clear. adams was thrown off by the non-traditional usage of of term, & in the future it's usage is going to confuse people. maybe the term snake-oil is used differently in australia but in the states "scam" is basically what it means.