Antique Medicine Bottles Dr Cannon's Medicine Chest

ANOTHER "PATENT MEDICINE ARTICLE" FROM THE PAGES OF

ANTIQUE BOTTLE AND GLASS COLLECTOR MAGAZINE

THE MAGAZINE OF THE ANTIQUE BOTTLE COLLECTING HOBBY

I really like California. The earthquakes are scary, but that doesn't keep folks there from collecting old bottles. They use a lot of sticky stuff on the shelves.

Nineteenth century medicine collectors have to love aqua rectangular

bottles; there were so many of them. I want to present five of these from California.
My favorite, Dr. Grattan's // Diphtheria // Remedy, 6 3/4 inches tall, is rare. Christopher Grattan, 1820-1913, was born in Ireland, and settled in Albany, N.Y., with his parents Patrick and Mary and eight siblings in 1821.

An accident incapacitated his father so at age 15 Christopher had to find employment in a New York City Wholesale and retail drug store. Soon he also studied medicine at the clinics of the University of New York, and by age 19, began to practice medicine. In 1849, Christopher, his wife, and younger brother John sailed by way of the Horn to San Francisco. They tried the gold mines, but came to Stockton, Ca. in 1850, where Dr. Grattan set up a medical practice and became a partner in a wholesale and retail drug store. He treated diphtheria, cholera, and many other illnesses successfully, and also produced "wonderful cures" until his retirement in the late 1860s.

That / Wondrous / Liniment / San Jose / Cal. // A. Schoenheit // State Pioneer Dispensary is a good bottle as is The / Specific / A No. 1 / A Self Cure / Trade Mark, both 5 1/8 inches tall. Augustus G. Schoenheit, 1827-1906, was born in Saxony, Germany, to John and Margaret Schoenheit. By age three, he was an orphan and had to live with his oldest sister in Moscow, Russia. From 1848-1851,

he served Germany as a first lieutenant in the Schlewig-Holstein War, and then studied at the University of Gottingen.

He came to America and in 1853 journeyed from New York, crossing the Isthmus of Panama on foot, to San Francisco. Augustus tried gold mining, but sometime after 1854, moved to San Jose and became a drug store clerk, He bought the business 18 months later, and it was first the City Drug Store and then the State Pioneer Pharmacy. He manufactured a number of remedies. That Wondrous Liniment was "just the ticket" for backaches, headaches, rheumatism, sprains, sore throat, colds, cramps, cholera-morbus, and convulsions. Along with

"The Specific A No. 1", there was a cough cure, corn cure, sarsaparilla, and medical lozenge. In 1893, son Augusta A. Schoenheit it to a Mr. Webb in 1907.

assumed management of the business, and sold Green's Lung Restorer / Santa / Abie // Abietine Medical Co. // Oroville, Cal., U.S.A., 7 7/8 inches tall. Oroville is about 70 miles north of Sacramento. In the 1860s it was discovered that pitch taken from the Pinus Sabiniana plant, which grew on the foot hills of the Sierra Nevada range, had several promising properties. The gum would boil at 180 degrees F., While most gums would not boil until 212 degrees. The volatile oil distilled from this gum proved to be an excellent solvent for tar based medicinal ingredients like balsams. It was called Abientine, and adopted by the U.S. Pharmacopoeia by 1880. R.M. Green, an apothecary and Albert F. Jones founded the Abientine Medical Company in Oroville in 1885. They put out a cough balsam named Abientine, the second "I" was changed to "e", and Green's Lung Restorer, Santa Abie. Both contained Abientine.

Dr. Warren's // Botanic / Cough Balsam // S.F. Cal., 6 3/4 inches tall. This product was advertised in the 1870s and is thought to be Dr. Joseph S. Warren's medicine. It was distributed by Homer Williams and Alfred Wright who established a proprietary medicine business in San Francisco in 1869. Homer became the sole owner and wealthy with Yerba Buena Bitters which was introduced in 1870, Homer's Ginger Brandy and Warren's Cough Balsam. Williams retired in 1880, and in the mid 1880s the Paul O. Burn Co., San Jose, purchased Yerba Buena Bitters, and Lash's Bitters Co. purchased Homer's Ginger Brandy. Dr. Joseph Warren was in the San Francisco directories from 1887 through 1900, but I do not know who took over the cough balsam.

The late Charles B, Gardner often said to his fabulous collection of antique bottles "Good Morning, friends". I say that sometimes to the many aqua rectangulars and all the others.

References:
1. Blasi, B.:A Bit About Balsams, 1974
2. Cannon, R.: Bottles and Extras, Feb., 1993, and August, 1993.
3. Fike, R.: The Bottle Book, 1987.
4. Wilson, B. and B.: 19th Century Medicine In Glass. 1971.

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