Pursuant to Division and Brigade orders issued by 8,000 Field
Officers, "On the Spot", where they are stationed. All Skedadlers,
Deserters, Skulkers, and all others--sick, wounded and
cripples--who have foresaken the cause of General Health, shall
immediately report to one of the aforesaid officers nearest the
point where the delinquent may be at the time this order is made
known to him, and purchase one box of
JUDSON'S
MOUNTAIN HERB PILLS
and pay the regulation price therefor. All who comply with the
terms of this order, will receive a free pardon for past offences,
and be restored to the Grand Army of General Health.
A. GOOD HEALTH
Lieutenant-General
By order
Dr. Judson,
Adjutant-General
Sold by all dealers.
Twenty years later, when the Civil War had passed out of recent memory
and Confederate currency was presumably becoming a curiosity, Comstock
printed facsimiles of $20 Confederate bills,[9] with testimonials and
advertisements upon the reverse side; it can be assumed that these had
enough historical interest to circulate widely and attract attention,
although each possessor must have felt a twinge of disappointment upon
realizing that his bill was not genuine but merely an advertising
gimmick.
[Footnote 9: These facsimile bills were registered as a trademark at the
United States Patent Office. In his registration application, Mr.
Comstock described himself as a citizen of the United States, residing
at Morristown, N.Y.--although he had served three terms as mayor of
Brockville, Ontario, prior to this time.]
Back in the 1850s, the Comstock Company in lower Manhattan had an
advertising agent, one Silas B. Force, whose correspondence by some
unexplained happenstance was also deposited in the loft of the Indian
Root Pill building in Morristown, even though he was not an exclusive
agent and served other clients besides the Comstocks. One of these was
Dr. Uncas Brant, for whom Force had the following announcement printed
in numerous papers:
AN OLD INDIAN DOCTOR WHO HAD made his fortune and retired from
business, will spend the remainder of his days in curing that
dreadful disease--CONSUMPTION--FREE OF CHARGE: his earnest desire
being to communicate to the world his remedies that have proved
successful in more than 3,000 cases. He requires each applicant to
send him a minute description of the symptoms, with two Stamps (6
cts) to pay the return letter, in which he will return his _advice
prescription_, with directions for preparing the medicines &c.
_The Old Doctor_ hopes that those afflicted will not, on account of
delicacy, refrain from consulting him because he makes _No Charge_.
His sole object in advertising is to do all the good he can, before
he dies. He feels that he is justly celebrated for cure of
Consumption, Asthma, Bronchitis, Nervous Affections, Coughs, Colds,
&c.
Address
DOCT. UNCAS BRANT
Box 3531, P.O., New York
This type of an apparently free diagnosis of medical ills, prompted
solely by the benevolence of some elderly or retired person, was a
familiar petty swindle around the middle of the last century. The
newspapers carried many such announcements from retired clergymen, old
nurses, or Indian doctors, frequently persons who had themselves
triumphed over dread diseases and had discovered the best remedies only
after years of search and suffering, always offering to communicate the
secret of recovery to any fellow sufferer. The victim would receive in
reply a recipe for the proper medicine, always with the advice that
great care must be taken to prepare it exactly as directed, and with the
further advice that if the ingredients should not prove to be
conveniently available the benevolent old doctor or retired clergyman
could provide them for a trifling sum. Invariably, the afflicted patient
would discover that the ingredients specified were obscure ones, not
kept by one druggist in a hundred and unknown to most of them. Thus, he
would be obliged, if he persisted in the recommended cure, to send his
money to the kindly old benefactor. Frequently, he would receive no
further reply or, at best, would receive some concoction costing only a
few cents to compound. The scheme was all the safer as it was carried on
exclusively by mail, and the swindler would usually conclude each
undertaking under any given name before investigation could be
initiated.
Besides participating in such schemes, Force apparently devoted a large
part of his energy in collecting accounts due him or, in turn, in being
dunned by and seeking to postpone payment to newspapers with whom he was
delinquent in making settlement.
Other forms of advertising employed over the years included finely
engraved labels, circulars and handbills, printed blotters, small
billboards, fans, premiums sent in return for labels, a concise--_very_
concise--reference dictionary, and trade cards of various sorts. One
trade card closely resembled a railroad pass; this was in the 1880s when
railroad passes were highly prized and every substantial citizen aspired
to own one. Thus, almost everyone would have felt some pride in carrying
what might pass, at a glance, as a genuine pass on the K.C.L.R.R.;
although it was signed only by "Good Health" as the general agent,
entitled the bearer merely to ride on foot or horseback and was actually
an advertisement of Kingsland's Chlorinated Tablets. Another card played
somewhat delicately but still unmistakably on the Indian Root Pills'
capacity to restore male virility. This card pictured a fashionably
dressed tomcat, complete with high collar, cane and derby, sitting
somewhat disconsolately on a fence as the crescent moon rose behind him,
with these reflections:
How terribly lonesome I feel! How queer,
To be sitting alone, with nobody near,
Oh, how I wish Maria was here,
Mon dieu!
The thought of it fills me with horrible doubt,
I should smile, I should blush, I should wail,
I should shout,
Just suppose some fellow has cut me out!
Me out!
And underneath the lesson is given:
Dr. Morse's Indian Root Pills
The Best Family Pill in use
[Illustration: FIGURE 20.--A trade card advertising Kingsland's
Chlorinated Tablets, which closely resembled a railroad pass.]
Testimonials submitted voluntarily by happy users of the pills were
always widely featured in the almanacs, newspaper advertisements, and
handbills. Although the easy concoction of the stories about Dr. Morse
and Dr. Cunard might suggest that there would have been no hesitation in
fabricating these testimonials, it is probable that they were genuine;
at least, many have survived in the letters scattered over the floor of
the Indian Root Pill factory. In some cases one might feel that the
testimonials were lacking in entire good faith, for many of them were
submitted by dealers desiring lenient credit or other favors. Witness,
for example, the following from B. Mollohan of Mt. Pleasant, Webster
County, West Va., on April 16, 1879:
Pleas find here enclosed Two Dollars & 50 cts $2 _50_ cts for which
pleas place to my credit and return receipt to me for same. I cant
praise your Dr Morse pill two high never before in all my
recolection has there bin a meddison here that has given such
general satisfaction. I hope the pills will always retain their
high standing and never bee counterfeited.... I could sell any amt
Pills allmost if money was not so scarce. I have to let some out on
credit to the Sick and Poor & wait some time though I am
accountable to you for all I recd & will pay you as fast as I sell
& collect ... I have about one Doz Box on hand.
Mollohan's complaint about the shortage of money and the long delay in
collecting many accounts reflected a condition that prevailed throughout
the nineteenth century. Money was scarce, and the economy of many rural
communities was still based largely on the barter system, so that it was
very difficult for farmers to generate cash for store goods.
Consequently, country storekeepers had to be generous in extending
credit, and, in turn, manufacturers and jobbers had to be lenient in
enforcing collection.
Not all of the storekeepers could write as neatly and clearly as
Mollohan. The following letter, quoted in full, from Thomas Cathey of
Enfield, Illinois, on January 23, 1880, not merely presented a problem
relating to the company's policy of awarding exclusive territories but
offered considerable difficulty in deciphering:
mr CumStock der ser i thaut i Wod rite yo
u a few lineS to inform you that i was the fir
St agent for you pills in thiS Setlement but th
as iS Several agent round her and tha ar interfer
With mee eSpeSly William a StavSon he liveS her
at enfield he Wanted mee to giv him one of you Sur
klerS So he Wod be agent but i Wodent let hi
m hav hit an he rote to you i SupoSe an haS got a
Suplye of pillS an ar aruning a gant mee he iS Sell
ing them at 20 centS a box i Want you to St
op him if you pleeS
mr CumStock i Sent you too dollars the 21 p
leeS Credet my a Count With hit mr. Cumsto
Ck i Want you to Send mee Sum of you pam
pletS i Want you to Send mee right of three tow
nShipS aS i am Working up a good trad her i wan
t indin Cree an enfield an Carnie tonnShipS rite
Son aS poSSible an let me know whether you will let
me have thoSe townShipS or not for my territory
i Sold a box of pillS to melven willSon his gir
l She haS the ChilS for three yer and he tride eve
n thang he cood her wan nothing never dun her
eny good one box of you pills brok them on her
tha ar the beSt pillS i ever Saw in
my life tha ar the beSt medeSon for the ChillS
i ever Saw an rumiteS i am giting
up a good trad i Want you to Send me Sum of
you pampletS i want you to Stop theSe oth
er agentS that iS botheran me an oblige you
rite Son.
enfield
White Co.
illS
thomaS Cathey
Sadly, we do not know how the company handled Mr. Cathey's request for
sole representation in three Illinois townships.
After the pills achieved wide recognition and other methods of
publicity, chiefly the almanacs, were well established, newspaper
advertising was terminated. An invitation to agents (about 1885)
declared that
For some years past they have not been advertised in newspapers,
they being filled with sensational advertisements of quack nostrums
got up for no other purpose than catch-penny articles ...
The Indian Root Pills obviously claimed a more lofty stature than other,
common proprietary remedies. The exclusive representation scheme was
also a partial substitution for newspaper advertising; the company was
aggressive in soliciting additional agents--aiming at one in every town
and village--and then in encouraging them to push the pills by offering
prizes such as watches, jewelry, and table utensils.[10]
[Footnote 10: In connection with this offer the pills were priced to
agents at $2 per dozen boxes--$24 per gross--and were to be retailed at
$3 per dozen--25¢ per box. Other agreements, however, probably intended
for more substantial dealers, specified a price of $16 per gross for the
Indian Root Pills.]
[Illustration: FIGURE 21.--Cover for booklet used as a circular
describing the Indian Root Pills.]
What were the ingredients of the Indian Root Pills and the other
Comstock preparations? Originally, the formulas for the various remedies
were regarded as closely held secrets, divulged only to proprietors and
partners--and not even to all of them--and certainly never revealed to
the purchasers. But despite this secrecy, charges of counterfeiting and
imitating popular preparations were widespread. In many cases, the
alleged counterfeits were probably genuine--to the extent that either of
these terms has meaning--for it was a recurrent practice for junior
partners and clerks at one drug house to branch off on their own, taking
some of the secrets with them--just as Andrew B. White left Moore and
joined the Comstocks, bringing the Indian Root Pills with him.
In the latter years, under the rules of the Federal Food and Drug Act,
the ingredients were required to be listed on the package; thus we know
that the Indian Root Pills, in the 1930s and 1940s, contained aloes,
mandrake, gamboge, jalap, and cayenne pepper.
_Aloe_ is a tropical plant of which the best known medicinal varieties
come from Socotra and Zanzibar; those received by the Comstock factory
were generally described as Cape (of Good Hope) _Aloe_. The juice
_Aloes_ is extracted from the leaves of this plant and since antiquity
has been regarded as a valuable drug, particularly for its laxative and
vermifuge properties. _Mandrake_ has always been reputed to have
aphrodisiac qualities. _Gamboge_ is a large tree native to Ceylon and
Southeast Asia, which produces a resinous gum, more commonly used by
painters as a coloring material, but also sometimes employed in medicine
as a cathartic. _Jalap_ is a flowering plant which grows only at high
altitudes in Mexico, and its root produces an extract with a powerful
purgative effect. All of these ingredients possessed one especial
feature highly prized by the patent-medicine manufacturers of the
nineteenth century, i.e., they were derived from esoteric plants found
only in geographically remote locations. One does find it rather
remarkable, however, that the native Indian chiefs who confided the
secrets of these remedies to Dr. Morse and Dr. Cunard were so familiar
with drugs originating in Asia and Africa.[11] The Indians may very well
have been acquainted with the properties of jalap, native to this
continent, but the romantic circumstances of its discovery, early in the
last century seem considerably overdrawn, as the medicinal properties of
jalap were generally recognized in England as early as 1600.
Whether the formula for the Indian Root Pills had been constant since
their "discovery"--as all advertising of the company implied--we have no
way of knowing for sure. However, the company's book of trade receipts
for the 1860s shows the recurring purchase of large quantities of these
five drugs, which suggests that the ingredients did remain substantially
unchanged for over a century. For other remedies manufactured by the
company, the ingredients purchased included:
Anise Seed
Black Antimony
Calomel
Camphor
Gum Arabic
Gum Asphaltum
Gum Tragacanth
Hemlock Oil
Horehound
Laudanum
Licorice Root
Magnolia Water
Muriatic Acid
Saltpetre
Sienna Oil
Sulphur
Wormseed
It is not known where the calomel (mercurous chloride) and some of the
other harsher ingredients were used--certainly not in the Indian Root
Pills or the Mountain Herb Worm Tea--for the company frequently
incorporated warnings against the use of calomel in its advertising and
even promised rewards to persons proving that any of its preparations
contained calomel.
Less active ingredients used to supply bulk and flavor included alcohol,
turpentine, sugar, corn starch, linseed meal, rosin, tallow, and white
glue. Very large quantities of sugar were used, for we find that
Comstock was buying one 250-pound barrel of sugar from C.B. Herriman in
Ogdensburg approximately once a month. In the patent-medicine business
it was necessary, of course, that the pills and tonics must be
palatable, neutralizing the unpleasant flavor of some of the active
ingredients; therefore large quantities of sugar and of pleasant-tasting
herbs were required. It was also desirable, for obvious reasons, to
incorporate some stimulant or habit-forming element into the various
preparations.
[Footnote 11: Actually, the formula for the Indian Root Pills would seem
to have corresponded closely with that for "Indian Cathartic Pills"
given in _Dr. Chase's Recipes_, published in 1866. These were described
as follows:
Aloes and gamboge, of each 1 oz.; mandrake and blood-root, with gum
myrrh, of each 1/4 oz.; gum camphor and cayenne, of each 1-1/2
drs.; ginger, 4 oz.; all finely pulverized and thoroughly mixed,
with thick mucilage (made by putting a little water upon equal
quantities of gum arabic and gum tragacanth) into pill mass; then
formed into common sized pills. Dose: Two to four pills, according
to the robustness of the patient.]
A register of incoming shipments for the year 1905 shows that the
factory was still receiving large quantities of aloes, gamboge,
mandrake, jalap, and pepper. One new ingredient being used at this time
was talc, some of which originated at Gouverneur, within a few miles of
the pill manufactory, but more of it was described as "German talc." The
same register gives the formulas for three of the company's other
preparations. One of these, the _Nerve & Bone Liniment_, was simply
compounded of four elements:
3 gal. Turpentine
2 qts. Linseed Oil
2 lbs. Hemlock
2 lbs. Concentrated Amonia.
The formula for the _Condition Powders_ (for horses and livestock) was
far more complex, consisting of:
4 lbs. Sulphur
4 lbs. Saltpetre
4 lbs. Black Antimony
4 lbs. Feongreek Seed
8 lbs. Oil Meal
1-1/2 oz. Arsenic
2 oz. Tart Antimony
6 lbs. Powdered Rosin
2 lbs. Salt
2 lbs. Ashes
4 lbs. Brand (Bran-?).
The name of the third preparation was not given, but the ingredients
were:
1 oz. Dry White Lead
1 oz. Oxide of Zinc
1/2 oz. Precipitated Chalk
3 oz. Glycerine
Add 1 lb. Glue.
[Illustration: FIGURE 22.--A partial list of remedies offered for sale
by Lucius Comstock in 1854, shortly after the separation of the old
company into the rival firms of Comstock & Co. and Comstock & Brother.]
Originally, Comstock and its predecessor firms marketed a large number
of remedies. In 1854, Comstock & Company--then controlled by Lucius
Comstock--listed nearly forty of its own preparations for sale, namely:
Oldridge's Balm of Columbia
George's Honduras Sarsaparilla
East India Hair Dye, colors the hair and not the skin
Acoustic Oil, for deafness
Vermifuge
Bartholomew's Expectorant Syrup
Carlton's Specific Cure for Ringbone, Spavin and Wind-galls
Dr. Sphon's Head Ache Remedy
Dr. Connol's Gonorrhea Mixture
Mother's Relief
Nipple Salve
Roach and Bed Bug Bane
Spread Plasters
Judson's Cherry and Lungwort
Azor's Turkish Balm, for the Toilet and Hair
Carlton's Condition Powder, for Horses and Cattle
Connel's Pain Extractor
Western Indian Panaceas
Hunter's Pulmonary Balsam
Linn's Pills and Bitters
Oil of Tannin, for Leather
Nerve & Bone Liniment (Hewe's)
Nerve & Bone Liniment (Comstock's)
Indian Vegetable Elixir
Hay's Liniment for Piles
Tooth Ache Drops
Kline Tooth Drops
Carlton's Nerve and Bone Liniment, for Horses
Condition Powders, for Horses
Pain Killer
Lin's Spread Plasters
Carlton's Liniment for the Piles, warranted to cure
Dr. Mc Nair's Acoustic Oil, for Deafness
Dr. Larzetti's Acoustic Oil, for Deafness
Salt Rheum Cure
Azor's Turkish Wine
Dr. Larzetti's Juno Cordial, or Procreative Elixir
British Heave Powders
All of the foregoing were medicines for which Lucius claimed to be the
sole proprietor--although it is improbable that he manufactured all of
them: several of them were probably identical preparations under
different labels. In addition to these, he offered a larger list of
medicines as a dealer. Brother J. Carlton Comstock must have been the
main originator of medicines within the firm; he seems to have
specialized largely in veterinary remedies, although the liniment for
the piles also stood to his credit. Despite Lucius' claim to sole
proprietorship of these remedies, the departing brothers also
manufactured and sold most of the identical items, adding two or three
additional preparations, such as Dr. Chilton's Fever and Ague Pills and
Youatt's Gargling Oil (for animals). Aside from J. Carlton Comstock and
Judson, the originators of most of the other preparations are cloaked in
mystery; most of them were probably entirely fictitious. Admittedly,
William Youatt (1776-1847), for whom several of the animal remedies were
named, was an actual British veterinarian and his prescriptions were
probably genuine, but whether he authorized their sale by proprietary
manufacturers or was himself rewarded in any way are questions for
speculation. The versatile Dr. Larzetti seems to have experimented both
with impotency and deafness, but his ear oil--a number of specimens of
which were still on hand in the abandoned factory--was identical in
every respect with Dr. McNair's oil, as the labels and directions, aside
only from the names of the doctors, were exactly the same for both
preparations. In fact, some careless printer had even made up a batch of
circulars headed "Dr. Mc Nair's Acoustic Oil" but concluding with the
admonition, "Ask for Larzetti's Acoustic Oil and take no other."
Presumably simple Americans who were distrustful of foreigners would
take Mc Nair's oil, but more sophisticated persons, aware of the
accomplishments of doctors in Rome and Vienna, might prefer Larzetti's
preparation.
[Illustration: FIGURE 23.--Dr. McNair's and Dr. Larzetti's acoustic oil
apparently were identical in every respect. Labels and directions, with
the difference only of the doctors' names, were quite obviously printed
from the same type.]
As the century moved along, the Comstock factory at Morristown reduced
the number of remedies it manufactured, and concentrated on the ones
that were most successful, which included, besides the Indian Root
Pills, Judson's Mountain Herb Pills, Judson's Worm Tea, Carlton's
Condition Powders, Carlton's Nerve & Bone Liniment, and Kingsland's
Chlorinated Tablets. At some undisclosed point, Carlton's Nerve & Bone
Liniment for Horses, originally registered with the Smithsonian
Institution on June 30, 1851, ceased to be a medicine for animals and
became one for humans. And sometime around 1920 the Judson name
disappeared, the worm medicine thereafter was superseded by Comstock's
Worm Pellets. Long before this, Judson had been transposed into somewhat
of a mythical character--"old Dr. Judson"--who had devised the Dead Shot
Worm Candy on the basis of seventy years' medical experience.
During the final years of the Comstock business in Morristown, in the
1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, only three items were manufactured and sold:
the Indian Root Pills, the Dead Shot Worm Pellets and Comstock's N & B
Liniment.[12] The worm pellets had been devised by Mrs. Hill, "an old
English nurse of various and extended experience in the foundling
hospitals of Great Britain."
Besides its chemicals and herbs, the Comstock factory was a heavy
consumer of pillboxes and bottles. While the company advertised, in its
latter years, that "our pills are packaged in metal containers--not in
cheap wooden boxes," they were, in fact, packaged for many decades in
small oval boxes made of a thin wooden veneer. These were manufactured
by Ira L. Quay of East Berne, New York, at a price of 12¢ per gross. The
pill factory often must have been a little slow in paying, for Quay was
invariably prodding for prompt remittance, as in this letter of December
25, 1868: