die Ages encouraged this so-called "polypharmacy." 

 For example the Antidularium Nkolai, written about 

 A. D. 1100 at Salerno, described 38 ingredients in 

 Confectio Adrianum, 35 ingredients in Confectio Ata- 

 nasia, and 48 ingredients in Confectio Esdra. Thcriac 

 or Mithridatum grew in complexity luuil hy the 16th 

 century it had some 60 different ingredients. 



It was in this tradition of complex mixtures tliat 

 most of the patent medicines may be placed. Richard 

 Stoughton claimed 22 ingredients for his Elixir, and 

 Robert Turlington, in his patent specification, named 

 27. Although other proprietors had shorter lists or 

 were silent on the number of ingredients, a major 

 part of their secrecy really lay in ha\ing complicated 

 formulas. Even though rivals might detect the major 

 active ingredients, the original proprietor could claim 

 that only he knew all the elements in their proper 

 proportions and the secret of their blending. 



Not only in complexity did the patent medicines 

 resemble regular pharmaceutical compounds of the 

 18th century. In the nature of their composition thcv 

 were blood brothers of preparations in the various 

 pharmacopoeias and formularies. Indeed, there was 

 much borro\\ing in both directions. An official for- 

 mula of one year might blossom out the next in a 

 fancy bottle bearing a proprietor's name. At the 

 same time, the essential recipe of a patent medicine, 

 deprived of its original cognomen and given a Latin 

 name indicative of its composition or therapeutic na- 

 ture, might suddenly appear in one of the official 

 volumes. 



For example, the formula for Daffy's Elixir was 

 adopted by the Pharmacopoeia Londinensis in 1721 under 

 the title of "Elixir Salutis" and later by the Pharma- 

 copoeia Edinhurghensis as "Tinctura sennae composita" 

 (Compound Senna Tincture). Similarly the essential 

 formula for Stoughton's Elixir was adopted by the 

 Pharmacopoeia Edinhurghensis as early as 1762 under 

 the name of "Elixir Stomachium," and later as "Com- 

 pound Tincture of Gentian" (as in the Pharmacopoeia 

 of the Massachusetts Medical Society of 1808). Only two 

 years after Turlington obtained his "Balsam of Life"' 

 patent, the Pharmacopoeia Londinensis introduced a rec- 

 ipe under the title of "Balsamum Traumaticum" 

 which eventually became Compound Tincture of Ben- 

 zoin, with the synonym Turlington's Balsam. On the 

 other hand, none of these early English patent medi- 

 cines, including Stoughton's Elixir and Turlington's 

 Balsam, offered anything new, except possibly new 

 combinations or new proportions of ingredients already 

 widely cmplo\cd in medicine. Formulas similar in 



[«•: 'V ;..-■«• 





,11 



■--'■' . .y.t, ST ■ 



Figure 6. — BoTiLKS of B,\tem.\n"s Pectoral Drops, 

 igth century (left) and early 20lh century (right), 

 from the Samuel Akcr, David and George Kass 

 collection, Albany, New York. {Smithsonian photo 



44287-.I.) 



composition to those patented or marketed as "new 

 inventions" can in every case be found in such 17th- 

 century pharmacopoeias as William Salmon's Pharma- 

 copoeia Londinensis. 



Whatever similarities existed between the canons m 

 regular pharmacy and the composition of patent med- 

 icines, there was a decided difference in the methods 

 of marketing. Although patent medicines were often 

 prescription items, they did not have to be. The way 

 they looked on a shelf made them so easily recog- 

 nizable that even the most loutish illiterate could tell 

 one from another. As the nostrimi proprietor did so 

 much to pioneer in advertising psychologs', so he also 



PAPER 10: OLD ENGLISH PATENT MEDICINES IN AMERICA 



167 



