and the Darby IjrancI of British Oil, workers of many 

 occupations solemnly swore that they had received 

 benefit. Most of them were humble people — -a por- 

 ter, a carpenter, the wife of a gardener, a blanket- 

 weaver, a gunner's mate, a butcher, a hostler, a bod- 

 ice-maker. Some bore a status of greater distinction: 

 there were a "Mathematical Instrument-Maker" and 

 the doorkeeper of the East India Company. All were 

 jubilant at their restored good health. 



The Balsam's well-nigh sovereign power could not 

 protect it from one ailment of the times, competition. 

 \'arious preparations of similar composition, like 

 Friar's Balsam, already were on the market, but be- 

 fore long even the Turlington name was trespassed 

 upon, and the in\entors niece was forced to advertise 

 that she alone had the true formula and that any per- 

 son who took a dose of the spurious imitations being 

 offered did so at great hazard to his life. 



A quarter of a century after the patenting of the 

 Balsam, there appeared for sale to British ailing a 

 remedy called Dr. Steer's Celebrated Opodeldoc. 

 Dr. Steer is a shadowy rider of a vigorous steed, for 

 although the doctor has left but a faint personal 

 impact upon the historical record, Opodeldoc has 

 pranced through medical history since the time of 

 Paracelsus. This 16th-century continental chemist- 

 physician, who introduced many mineral remedies 

 into the materia medica, had coined the word 

 "opodeldoc" to apply to various medical plasters. 

 In the two ensuing centuries the meaning had 

 changed, and the Pharmacopoeia Edinburgensis of 

 1722 employed the term to designate soap liniment. 

 It is presumed that Dr. Steer appropriated the 

 Edinburgh formula, added ammonia, and marketed 

 his proprietary version. In 1780, a Londoji paper 

 carried an advertisement listing the difficulties for 

 which the Opodeldoc was a "speedy and certain 

 cure." These included bruises, sprains, burns, cuts, 

 chillblains, and headaches. Furthermore, the remedy 

 had been "found of infinite Use in hot Climates for 

 the Bite of venomous Insects.'"* Dr. Steer seems 

 not to have secured a patent for his slightly modified 

 version of an official preparation. He died in 1781, 

 but Opodeldoc, indeed Steer's Opodeldoc, went 

 marching on.'" 



'" Daily Advertiser, London, February 18, 1780. 



"Broadsides, ca. 1810-1822, advertising "Steer's Chemical 

 Opodeldoc, for bruises, sprains, rheumatism, etc., etc.," 

 are preserved in the American Antiquarian Society, Worces- 

 ter, Massachusetts; the Library of the New York Academy 

 of Medicine; and the Warshaw Collection of Business Ameri- 

 cana, New York. 



About the same time that Dr. Steer began adver- 

 tising, newspaper promotion was launched in behalf 

 of another remedy, called Dalby's Carminative. 

 The inventor, J. Dalby, was a London apothecary, 

 and his unpatented concoction was designed to cure 

 "Disorders of the Bowels." One early advertiscinent " 

 added details: "This Medicine, which is founded 

 on just Medical Principles, has been long established 

 as a most safe and effectual Remedy, generally afford- 

 ing immediate Relief in the Wind, Cholocks [sic]. 

 Convulsions, Purgings, and all those fatal Disorders 

 in the Bowels of Infants, which carry off so great a 

 number under the age of 2 years. It is also equally 

 efficacious in gouty Pains in the Intestines, in Fluxes, 

 and in the cholicky Complaints of grown Persons, 

 so usual at this Season of the Year." Dalby, like 

 Steer, failed long to survive the appearance of his 

 medicine on the market. 



Such were the origins of the eight remedies which 

 the Philadelphia pharmacists were to take account 

 of in 1824. Besides these eight, two other patent 

 medicines, both eli.xirs, were destined for roles of 

 such special interest that a brief look at their English 

 background is warranted. 



One of them. Daffy's Elixir, was the invention of 

 a clergyman, Rev. Thomas Daffy soon after 1650. 

 Daffy had his troubles during that troubled century, 

 losing a pastorate because he offended a powerful 

 Countess. When the rector first sought to minister 

 unto men's bodies as well as to their souls is not known. 

 According to a pamphlet issued in 1673, after the Rev. 

 Daffy had passed from the scene, the formula had 

 been "found out by the Providence of the Almighty." 

 By this time a London kinsman of the inventor, 

 named Anthony Daffy, was vending the remedy. 

 The full name of the medicine, according to the 

 pamphlet's title, was "Elixir Salutis: The Choice 

 Drink of Health, or Health-Bringing Drink." and 

 among the ailments for which it was effective were 

 gout, the stone, colic, "ptissick," scurvy, dropsy, 

 rickets, consumption, and "languishing and 

 melancholly." 



The Elixir Salutis proved immensely popular. It 

 was too much to expect that .Anthony should hold the 

 field uncontested; in the 1673 pamphlet one false 

 fabricator was called by name, and in 1680 .\nthony 

 advertised to warn against "diverse Persons" who were 

 not only counterfeiting the medicine but spreading the 

 malicious rumor that Anthony was dead. Early in 



" Daily Adtrrliser, London, January 



PAPER 10: OLD ENGLISH P.ATENT MEDICINES IN .WIERICA 



ICll 



