Thus had ilic old Enghsh patent medicines reached 

 a new point in their American odyssey. They had 

 first crossed the Atlantic to serve the financial inter- 

 ests of the men who promoted them. During the 

 Revolution they had lost their British identity while 

 retaining their British names. The Philadelphia 

 pharmacists, while adopting them and reforming 

 their character, did not seek to monopolize them, as 

 had the original proprietors. J'hey now could work 

 for every man. 



English Patent Medicines Go West 



The double reprinting of the formulas was one token 

 of the continuing role in American therapy of the old 

 English patent medicines. There were others. In 

 1829 with the establishment of a school of pharmacy 

 in New York City, the Philadelphia formulas were ac- 

 cepted as standard. The new labels devised by the 

 Philadelphians with their more modest claims of effi- 

 cacy had a good sale.^- It was doubtless the Philadel- 

 phia recipes which went into the Bateman and Tur- 



« England, nf,. at. (footnote 89), pp. 73, 103. 



lington and Godfrey vials with which a new druggist 

 should be equipped "at the outset of business," ac- 

 cording to a book of practical coun.sel." To local 

 merchants who lacked the knowledge or time to do it 

 themselves, drummers and peddlers vended the medi- 

 cines already bottled. "Doctor" William Euen of 

 Philadelphia issued a pamphlet in 1840 to introduce 

 his son to "Physicians and Country Merchants." His 

 primary concern was dispensing nostrums bearing his 

 own label, but his son was also prepared to take orders 

 for the old English patent medicines.''' Manufac- 

 turers and wholesalers of much better repute were pre- 

 pared to sell bottles for the same brands, empty or 

 filled. 



"' Carpenter, op. cit. (footnote 73). 



'* William Euen, A short expose on quackery . . . or, introduction 

 of his son to physicians atul country merchants . PbilaiUIphia, 1840. 



Figure 12. — English .-wd .\meric.\n Brands of 

 Hooper's Fem.ale Pills, an assortment of packages of 

 from the Samuel Aker, David and George Kass 

 collection, .'\lbany. New \'ork. (Smithsonian photo 

 4420 1 -D.) 



176 



BULLETIN 218: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF lllSIORV .AND TECHNOLOGY 



