HISTORY of the COMSTOCK PATENT MEDICINE BUSINESS and Dr. Morse's Indian Root Pills by Robert B. Shaw Associate Professor, Accounting and History Clarkson College of Technology Potsdam, N.Y. SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY NUMBER 22 COVER: Changing methods of packaging Comstock remedies over the years.--Lower left: Original packaging of the Indian Root Pills in oval veneer boxes. Lower center: The glass bottles and cardboard and tin boxes. Lower right: The modern packaging during the final years of domestic manufacture. Upper left: The Indian Root Pills as they are still being packaged and distributed in Australia. Upper center: Dr. Howard's Electric Blood Builder Pills. Upper right: Comstock's Dead Shot Worm Pellets. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Shaw, Robert B., 1916-- History of the Comstock patent medicine business and of Dr. Morse's Indian Root Pills. (Smithsonian studies in history and technology, no. 22) Bibliography: p. 1. Comstock (W.H.) Company. I. Title. II. Series: Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian studies in history and technology, no. 22. HD9666.9.C62S46 338.7'6'615886 76 39864 _Official publication date is handstamped in a limited number of initial copies and is recorded in the Institution's annual report_, Smithsonian Year. For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402--Price 65 cents (paper cover) Stock Number 4700-0204 *History of the Comstock Patent Medicine Business and of Dr. Morse's Indian Root Pills* For nearly a century a conspicuous feature of the small riverside village of Morristown, in northern New York State, was the W.H. Comstock factory, better known as the home of the celebrated Dr. Morse's Indian Root Pills. This business never grew to be more than a modest undertaking in modern industrial terms, and amid the congestion of any large city its few buildings straddling a branch railroad and its work force of several dozens at most would have been little noticed, but in its rural setting the enterprise occupied a prominent role in the economic life of the community for over ninety years. Aside from the omnipresent forest and dairy industries, it represented the only manufacturing activity for miles around and was easily the largest single employer in its village, as well as the chief recipient and shipper of freight at the adjacent railroad station. For some years, early in the present century, the company supplied a primitive electric service to the community, and the Comstock Hotel, until it was destroyed by fire, served as the principal village hostelry.