History of the Comstock Patent Medicine Business and Dr. Morse's Indian Root Pills — John Shaqi
History of the Comstock Patent Medicine Business and Dr. Morse's Indian Root PillsShaw, Robert B.
History
History of the Comstock Patent Medicine Business and Dr. Morse's Indian Root Pills
Shaw, Robert B.
Patent medicines -- United States; W.H. Comstock Co.
To continue the business, a new partnership, also under the name of
Comstock & Brother, comprising George Wells Comstock, William Henry
Comstock, and Baldwin L. Judson, was formed on October 1, 1853. Judson
was the husband of Eliza, a sister of Lucius and his brothers. George
contributed one half of the capital of the new firm and the other two,
one quarter each; however, exclusive possession of all trademarks,
recipes, and rights to the medicines was reserved to George. It is not
clear precisely when Judson entered the drug business or first became
associated with the Comstocks; there is some evidence that he had
previously been in business for himself, as several remedies were
registered by him prior to this time. Judson's Chemical Extract was
registered with the Smithsonian by the Comstock firm in 1851, but Dr.
Larzetti's Juno Cordial or Procreative Elixir had previously been
entered by Judson & Co. in 1844. A variant of the Juno Cordial label
also mentions Levi Judson (a father?) as Dr. Larzetti's only agent in
America.
Besides the "new" remedies, the Comstock firm--both Comstock firms--was
also selling all of the "old" patent medicines, most of them of British
origin. These included such items as Godfrey's Cordial, Bateman's
Pectoral Drops, Turlington's Balsam of Life, British Oil, and others.
The only strictly American product that could claim a venerability
somewhat approaching these was Samuel Lee's Bilious Pills, patented on
April 30, 1796.
Most of the more recent remedies probably had been originated by local
doctors or druggists, either upon experimentation or following old folk
remedies, and after enjoying some apparent success were adopted by drug
manufacturers. With rare exceptions, however, the names of the
discoverers never seem to have made their way into medical history.
[Illustration: FIGURE 3.--Original wrapper for Judson's Chemical Extract
of Cherry and Lungwort, printed about 1855.]
*Entrance of Dr. Morse's Indian Root Pills*
During the summer of 1855 the Comstock firm, now located at 50 Leonard
Street, was approached by one Andrew J. White, who represented himself
as the sole proprietor of Dr. Morse's Indian Root Pills and who had
previously manufactured them in his own business, conducted under the
name of A.B. Moore, at 225 Main Street, in Buffalo. Actually, White's
main connection with this business had been as a clerk, and he had been
taken in as a partner only recently. Nevertheless, the Comstocks
accepted his claims--carelessly, one must believe--and on August 10,
1855, signed a contract with White for the manufacture and distribution
of these pills.
The originator of these pills was Andrew B. Moore. This is clear from
several legal documents, including an injunction proceeding in behalf of
White and Moore in 1859, which reads in part as follows:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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