Such random assortments of prewar importations 

 could hardly have met the American demand for the 

 old English patent medicines created by a half century 

 of use. Doubtless many embattled farmers had to 

 confront their ailments without the accustomed Eng- 

 lish-made remedies. However, as early as the 1750s, 

 at least two of the English patent medicines, Daffy's 

 and Stoughton's Elixirs, were being compounded in 

 the colonies and packaged in empty bottles shipped 

 from England. Apothecary Carter of Williamsburg 

 ordered sizable quantities of empty "Stoughton Vials" 

 from 1752 through 1770, and occasionally ordered 

 empty DafTy's bottles.*^ In 1774 apothecary Waldo 

 of Salem noted the receipt from England of "1 Groce 

 Stoughton Phials" and "1 Groce Daffy's Do." " 

 Joseph Stansbury, who sold china and glass in Phila- 

 delphia, ad\ertised '"Daffy's Elixir Bottles" a week 

 after the Declaration of Independence."* Stoughton's 

 and Daffy's Elixirs, therefore, were being compounded 

 bv the .\merican apothecaries during the Re\'olution- 

 arv War. Formulas for both preparations were offi- 

 cial in the London and Edinburgh pharmacopoeias, 

 as well as in unofficial formularies like Quincy's 

 Pharmacopoeias officinalis extemporanea of 1765. .Ml 

 these publications were used widely by American 

 physicians and apothecaries. 



It is not known how extensively, during the struggle 

 for independence, this custom was adopted for Eng- 

 lish patent medicines other than Daffx's and Stousjh- 

 ton's. However, imitation of Englisti patent medi- 

 cines in America was to increase, and it contributed 

 to the chaos that beset the nostrum field when the war 

 was o\er and the original articles from England were 

 once more available. And they were bought. An 

 advertisement at a time when the fighting was over 

 and peace negotiations were still imder way indicated 

 that the Baltimore post office had half a dozen of the 

 familiar English remedies for sale."" Two years later 

 a New York store turned to tortured rhyme to convey 

 the same message:'" 



Medicines approv'd by royal charter, 

 James, Godfry, Anderson, Court-plaster, 

 With Keyser's. Hooper's Loekycr's Pills, 

 .\nd Honev Balsam Doctor Hill's; 



*'' Carter, op. cil. (footnote 46). 



«' Waldo, op. cil. (footnote 65). 



«" Pennsylvania Gazette, Philadelphia, July 11, 1776. 



«>' .Maryland Journal and Baltimore Gazette, Baltimore, October 

 29, 1782. 



'•" .\av York Packet and the American Advertiser, New York, Octo- 

 ber 11, 1784. 



Bateman and DafTy, Jesuits drops. 

 And all the Tinctures of the shops, 

 As Stoughton, Turlington and Grenough, 

 Pure British Oil and Haerlem Ditto. . . . 



Later in the decade, the Salem apothecary, Jona- 

 thon Waldo, made a list of "An as.sortment [of patent 

 medicines] Usually Called For." The imported brand 

 of Turlington's Balsam, Waldo staled, was "very dear" 

 at 36 shillings a dozen, adding that his "own" was 

 w'orth but 15 shillings for the same quantity. The 

 English original of another nostrum, Essence of Pep- 

 permint, he listed at 18 shillings a dozen, his own at 

 a mere 10/6.'' Despite the price differential, impor- 

 tations continued. A Beverly, Massachusetts, drug- 

 gist, Robert Rantoul, in 1799 ordered from London 

 filled boxes and bottles of Anderson's Pills, Bateman's 

 Drops, Steer's Opodeldoc, and Turlington's Balsam, 

 along with the empty vials in which to put British Oil 

 and E.ssence of Peppermint. "■ For decades thereafter 

 the catalogs of wholesale drug firms continued to 

 specify two grades of various patent medicines for 

 sale, termed "English'' and "American," "true" and 

 "common," or "sjenuine" and "imitation." "' This 

 had not been the case in patent medicine listings of 

 18th-century catalogs."^ 



In buying .Anderson's and Bateman's remedies from 

 London in 1799, Robert Rantoul of Massachusetts 



"' Waldo, op. cil. (footnote 65). 



"- Robert Rantoul, .Xpothecai y daybooks, 3 vols., Beverly, 

 Masiiachusetts [17961812]. Manuscript originals preserved in 

 the Beverly Historical .Society. Also see Robert W. Lovclt, 

 '•Squire Rantoul and his drug store,'' Bulletin oj the Business 

 Historical Society, ]une 1951, vol. 25, pp. 99-114. 



•3 Joel and Jotham Post, A catalogue of drugs, medicines & chem- 

 icals, sold wholesale & retail, by Joel and Jotham Post, druggists, 

 corner of Walt and William-Streets, New York, 1804; Massachu- 

 setts College of Pharmacy, Catalogue of the materia medica and of 

 the pharmaceutical pteparations, with the uniform prices of the Massa- 

 chusetts College of Pharmacy, Boston, 1828; George \V. Carpenter, 

 Essays on some of the most important articles of the materia medica . . . 

 to which is added a catalogue of medicines, surgical instruments, etc., 

 Philadelphia, 1834. 



"*John Dunlap, Catalogus medicinarum et pharmacorum, Phila- 

 delphia, 1771; John Day, Catalogue of drugs, chymicat and galenical 

 preparations, shop furniture, patent rredicines, and surgical instruments 

 sold by John Day and Company, druggists and chymists in second- 

 street, Philadelphia, 1771; George Griffenhagcn, "The Day- 

 Dunlap 1771 pharmaceutical catalog," American Journal of 

 Pharmacy, September 1955, vol. 127, pp. 296-302; also The .\nv 

 i'ork Physician and American Medicine, May 1956, vol. 46, pp. 

 42-44; Smith and Bartlett, Catalogue of drugs and medicines, in- 

 struments and utensils, dyestuffs, groceries, and painters' colours, im- 

 ported, prepared, and sold, by Smith and Bartlett, at their druggists store 

 and apothecaries shop, Boston, 1795. 



P.M'ER 10: OLD ENGLISH P.\TENT MEDICINES IN AMERICA 



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