Old English Patent Medicines in America
()
About this ebook
Read more from George B. Griffenhagen
Drug Supplies in the American Revolution Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOld English Patent Medicines in America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Old English Patent Medicines in America
Related ebooks
The Wardian Case: How a Simple Box Moved Plants and Changed the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary of David M. Oshinsky's Bellevue Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTobacco: The Story of Tobacco Before the Coming of the White Man Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPoisons: From Hemlock to Botox and the Killer Bean of Calabar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A History of the Medicines We Take: From Ancient Times to Present Day Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummary of Phyllis D. Light's Southern Folk Medicine Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChloroform: The Quest for Oblivion Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Gardening in the Bahamas and the Florida Keys Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFood Folklore: Tales and Truths About What We Eat Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Empty Pleasures: The Story of Artificial Sweeteners from Saccharin to Splenda Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Garlic (Allium sativum): Monograph on a herb reputed to be medicinal Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMedical Caregiving and Identity in Pennsylvania's Anthracite Region, 1880–2000 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNotebooks from the Emerald Triangle Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Prairie Gardener’s Go-To for Soil Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPainless Herbal Recipes For Lazy People: 50 Simple Herbal Recipes Even Your Lazy Ass Can Make Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Home Medical Library, Volume I (of VI) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSuper-Powered Immunity: Natural Remedies for 21st Century Viruses and Superbugs Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Joy of Weeds: A Celebration of Wild Plants Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Avocado Affair: Discover Avocado’s Most Delicious Partners in Health Through Ancient Rejuvenating Secrets and 70 New Recipes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRecipes and Everyday Knowledge: Medicine, Science, and the Household in Early Modern England Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLa Cuisine Creole Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Medicine-Men of the Apache (Unabridged) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Discovery of Insulin: Twenty-fifth Anniversary Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The History and Natural History of Spices: The 5,000-Year Search for Flavour Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLittle Book of Cocktails, Cordials and Elixirs Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChilies to Chocolate: Food the Americas Gave the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Northern Gardener’s Guide to Native Plants and Pollinators Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Mystery and Romance of Alchemy and Pharmacy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Classics For You
Flowers for Algernon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wuthering Heights (with an Introduction by Mary Augusta Ward) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Odyssey: (The Stephen Mitchell Translation) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fellowship Of The Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Master & Margarita Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Confederacy of Dunces Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silmarillion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5East of Eden (Original Classic Edition) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Quiet American Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Old Man and the Sea: The Hemingway Library Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Animal Farm: A Fairy Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mythos Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Iliad: The Fitzgerald Translation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sense and Sensibility (Centaur Classics) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Learn French! Apprends l'Anglais! THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY: In French and English Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Jungle: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Canterbury Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5For Whom the Bell Tolls: The Hemingway Library Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Little Women (Seasons Edition -- Winter) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bell Jar: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Count of Monte-Cristo English and French Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Farewell to Arms Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As I Lay Dying Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Count of Monte Cristo (abridged) (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Titus Groan Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ulysses: With linked Table of Contents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We Have Always Lived in the Castle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Old English Patent Medicines in America
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Old English Patent Medicines in America - George B. Griffenhagen
George B. Griffenhagen, James Harvey Young
Old English Patent Medicines in America
Published by Good Press, 2022
goodpress@okpublishing.info
EAN 4064066223106
Table of Contents
Contributions from
The Museum of History and Technology
Paper 10
Old English Patent Medicines in America
George B. Griffenhagen and James Harvey Young
Contributions from
The Museum of History and Technology:
Paper 10
Table of Contents
Old English Patent Medicines in America
Table of Contents
George B. Griffenhagen and
James Harvey Young
Table of Contents
OLD ENGLISH PATENT MEDICINES
IN AMERICA
By George B. Griffenhagen and James Harvey Young
Bateman's Pectoral Drops, Godfrey's Cordial, Turlington's Balsam of Life, Hooper's Female Pills, and a half-dozen other similar nostrums originated in England, mostly during the first half of the 18th century. Advertised with extravagant claims, their use soon spread to the American Colonies.
To the busy settler, with little time and small means, these ready-made and comparatively inexpensive remedies
appealed as a solution to problems of medical and pharmaceutical aid. Their popularity brought forth a host of American imitations and made an impression not soon forgotten or discarded.
The Authors: George B. Griffenhagen, formerly curator of medical sciences in the Smithsonian Institution's U.S. National Museum, is now Director of Communications for the American Pharmaceutical Association. James Harvey Young is professor of history at Emory University. Some of the material cited in the paper was found by him while he held a fellowship from the Fund for the Advancement of Education, in 1954-55, and grants-in-aid from the Social Science Research Council and Emory University, in 1956-57.
In 1824 there issued from the press in Philadelphia a 12-page pamphlet bearing the title, Formulae for the preparation of eight patent medicines, adopted by the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. The College was the first professional pharmaceutical organization established in America, having been founded in 1821, and this small publication was its first venture of any general importance. Viewed from the perspective of the mid-20th century, it may seem strange if not shocking that the maiden effort of such a college should be publicizing formulas for nostrums. Adding to the novelty is the fact that all eight of these patent medicines, with which the Philadelphians concerned themselves half a century after American independence, were of English origin.
Hooper's Female Pills, Anderson's Scots Pills, Bateman's Pectoral Drops, Godfrey's Cordial, Dalby's Carminative, Turlington's Balsam of Life, Steer's Opodeldoc, British Oil—in this order do the names appear in the Philadelphia pamphlet—all were products of British therapeutic ingenuity. Across the Atlantic Ocean and on American soil these eight and other old English patent medicines, as of the year when the 12-page pamphlet was printed, had both a past and a future.
Origin of English Patent Medicines
When the Philadelphia pharmacists began their study, the eight English patent medicines were from half a century to two centuries old.¹ The most ancient was Anderson's Scots Pills, a product of the 1630's, and the most recent was probably Dalby's Carminative, which appeared upon the scene in the 1780's. Some aspects of the origin and development of these and similar English proprietaries have been treated, but a more thorough search of the sources and a more integrated and interpretive recounting of the story would be a worthy undertaking. Here merely an introduction can be given to the cast of characters prior to their entrances upon the American stage.
The inventor of Anderson's Scots Pills was fittingly enough a Scot named Patrick Anderson, who claimed to be physician to King Charles I. In one of his books, published in 1635, Anderson extolled in Latin the merits of the Grana Angelica, a pill the formula for which he said he had learned in Venice. Before he died, Anderson imparted the secret to his daughter Katherine, and in 1686 she in turn conveyed the secret to an Edinburgh physician named Thomas Weir. The next year Weir persuaded James II to grant him letters patent for the pills. Whether he did this to protect himself against competition that already had begun, or whether the patenting gave a cue to those always ready to cut themselves in on a good thing, cannot be said for sure. The last years of the 17th century, at any rate, saw the commencement of a spirited rivalry among various makers of Anderson's Scots Pills that was long to continue. One of them was Mrs. Isabella Inglish, an enterprising woman who sealed her pill boxes in black wax bearing a lion rampant, three mallets argent, and the bust of Dr. Anderson. Another was a man named Gray who sealed his boxes in red wax with his coat of arms and a motto strangely chosen for a medicine, Remember you must die.