inal Elixer Salutis" occurs in 1720." Ten years later, 

 Stoughton's Drops were announced for sale "by 

 Public Vendue," along with feather beds, looking 

 glasses, and leather breeches.'^ Nearly a decade more 

 was to pass before Bateman's Pectoral Drops showed 

 up in the midst of another general list, including 

 cheese, and shoes, and stays.'' Not until 1748 did an 

 advertisement appear in which several of the old 

 English nostrums rubbed shoulders with each other. '^ 

 Then Silvester Gardiner, at the Sign of the Unicorn 

 and Mortar, asserted that "by appointment of the 

 Patentee" he was enabled to sell "Genuine British 

 Oyl, Bateman's Pectoral Drops, and Ilooper^s Female 

 Pills, and the True Lockyer's Pills." 



Although nearly a century old, Anderson's Scots 

 Pills were not cited for sale in the pages of the Boston 

 News-Letter until August 23, 1750, two months after 

 the much more recent Turlington's Balsam of Life 

 first put in its appearance.''' During the same year, 

 the British confusion over British Oil was reflected in 

 America. Boden's and Darby's variety preceded the 

 Betton brand into the Xeivs-Letter pages by a fort- 

 night."* It was the latter, however, which was to \\u\ 

 the day in Boston, for almost all subsequent adver- 

 tising specified the Betton Oil. Godfrey's Cordial was 

 first mentioned in 1761." Thus, of the ten old Eng- 

 lish patent medicines which are the focus of the pres- 

 ent study, eight had been advertised in the Boston 

 News-Letter. The other two. Steer's Opodeldoc and 

 Dalby's Carminative, did not reach the market before 

 this colonial journal fell prey to the heightening ten- 

 sions of early 1776. 



By the 1750's, the names of several old English 

 nostrums were appearing fairly frequently in the 

 advertising of colonial apothecaries, not only in Boston 

 but in other colonial towns. In Williamsburg, for 

 example, a steady increase occurs in the number of 

 references and the length of the lists of the English 

 patent medicines advertised in the Virginia Gazette 

 from their first mention into the early 1760's.'' This 

 journal — which later had competing issues by differ- 

 ent editors — was launched in 1736, and the next 



" Ilwl., November 14, 1720. 

 " IliiJ., March 12, IT.'iO. 

 " rtiW., January 4, 1739. 

 " Ibid., November 14, 1748. 

 " /AiW., June 7, 1750. 

 " Ibid., May 24, 1750. 

 3" Ibid., December 31, 1761. 



" Lester J. Cappon and Stella F. Duff, Virginia Gazette index, 

 1736-1780, Williamsburg, 1950, 2 vols. 



year George Gilmer advised customers that, in addi- 

 tion to "all manner of Chymical and Galenical 

 Medicines," he could furnish, at his old shop near 

 the Governor's, "Bateman's Drops, Squires Elixir, 

 Anderson's Pills."'" The other remedies appeared 

 in due time, Stoughton's and Daffy's Elixirs in 1745, 

 Turlington's Balsam in 1746, Godfrey's Cordial in 

 1751, Hooper's Pills in 1752, and Betton's British 

 Oil in 1770. 



A spot check of newspapers in Philadelphia and 

 New York reveals a pattern quite similar. Residents 

 of the middle colonies, like those to the north and 

 the south, could buy the basic English brands, and 

 it was during the 1750's that the notices of freshly- 

 arrived supplies ceased to be rare in advertising 

 columns and became a frequent occurrence. Thomas 

 Preston, for example, announced to residents of 

 Philadelphia in 1768 that he had just received a sup- 

 ply of Anderson's, Hooper's, Bateman's, Betton's, 

 Daffy's, Stoughton's, Turlington's, and Godfrey's 

 remedies.*" Not only were these medicines for sale 

 at apothecary shops, but they were sold by postmasters, 

 goldsmiths, grocers, hair dressers, tailors, printers, 

 booksellers, cork cutters, the post-rider between 

 Philadelphia and Williamsburg, and by many co- 

 lonial American physicians. 



It is a matter for comment that American news- 

 paper advertising of the English packaged medicines 

 was singularly drab. In the mother country, the 

 proprietors or their heirs were faced with \igorous 

 competition. It behooved them to sharpen up their 

 adjectives and reach for their vitriol. In America the 

 apothecary or merchant had no proprietary interest 

 in any of the different brands of the imported medicines 

 which were sold. Moreover, there was probably no 

 great surplus of supply over demand in America as 

 in Britain, so the task of selling the stock on hand 

 was less difficult and required less vigorous promotion. 

 Also, advertising space in the few American weeklies 

 was more at a premium than in the more frequent 

 and numerous English journals. \\"n\\ rare exceptions, 

 therefore, the old Ensjlish patent medicines were 

 merely mentioned by name in .American advertising. 

 Seldom did one receive the individual attention 

 accorded by Samuel Emlen to Godfrey's Cordial in 

 Benjamin Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette for June 26, 

 1732. The ad ran like this: 



"Dr. Godfrey's General Cordial. So imiversallv 



" Virginia Gazette, Williamsburg, May 27, 1737. 



*" Pennsylvania Gazelle, Philadelphia, December 1, 1768. 



164 



BULLETIN 218: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY .\ND TECHNOLOGY 



