antique bottles THE MEDICINE CHEST --- BY DR. RICHARD CANNON

medicine VAUGHN’S, U.S.A. HOSP. DEPT., AND THE WINDOW bottles

An old bottle is the glass blower’s work of art, and as collectors, we love to gaze at the beauty of our relics. Antique bottles are displayed in many ways, but before a window with natural light revealing the color, crudeness, and embossing is best in my opinion. A brief glance at the old gems in my office windows is just the pace change I need between bunches of sick little people and their worried parents.

Dr. Cannon in his office.

Joseph K. Baldwin put out a really fine book in 1973, A Collectors Guide To Patent And Proprietary Bottles Of The Nineteenth Century.

Baldwin's Cover jacket.

Information about four thousand plus bottles and 600 fine drawings by the author should be enough, but for a bonus, a beautiful watercolor of a Vaughn’s Vegetable Lithontriptic Mixture, an U.S.A. Hosp. Dept., and two smaller medicine bottles before a window by his mother Mrs. Karle J. Baldwin adorns the jacket. I have admired this picture all 22 years, and it has influenced my thinking about bottle display. I even asked a local artist, Marinella M. Haygood, to follow this concept with a one of a kind bottle embossed Robert Cotter // Cotter’s / Blood / Purifier // Houston, Tex., aqua, rectangular, 9 1/4 inches tall, before I sold it a while back. The street scene in the painting is Houston’s Main Street in 1876. Robert Cotter was located at 74 Main, and the sign on the side of his building reads: “R. Cotter & Co., Wholesale & Retail Druggists, Dealer in Paints, Oils, Varnishes, Putty”. He sold several medicines including an I.X.L. Sarsaparilla with R. Cotter and Houston, Tex. embossed. One of the two known is in my collection. 1

The Vaughn’s bottles are really great examples of our mid-nineteenth century medicines. Mine is crude but with a smooth base, 7 3/4 inches tall, deep aqua, and embossed Vaughn’s // Vegetable / Lithontriptic / Mixture // Buffalo. There are 8 inch tall deep aqua’s with bare iron pontils, and 6 1/4 inch tall bottles embossed Vaughn’s // Vegetable / Lithontriptic // Mixture with bare iron and blowpipe pontils in aqua to almost a sapphire blue, as well as less crude smooth base variants. Five inch tall examples with bare iron pontils and the same embossing as the 8 inch bottles are also known. A green (citron) bare iron pontiled one exists, but I’m not sure of its height. My 1951 Dorland’s Medical Dictionary defines lithontriptic as an agent that dissolves calculi (kidney stones).

U.S.A Hosp. Dept.

Painting - Cotter's Blood Purifier, Houston, TX.

An ad in the May 7, 1851, Kingston (N.Y.) Democratic Journal reads: “Vaughn’s Lithontriptic Mixture--acts with great healing power and certainty, upon the Blood, Liver, Kidney’s, Lungs, and all other organs, upon the proper action of which life and health depend. This medicine has a justly high repute as a remedy for Dropsy and Gravel, and all diseases of that nature. It may be relied upon when the intelligent physician has abandoned his patient, and for these distressing diseases, more especially Dropsey, the proprietor would earnestly and honestly recommend it.”

George C. Vaughn, 1812-1863, was first given in the Buffalo City Directories in 1841, as a jeweler. In 1842, he was listed as a partner in Chase and Vaughn, a watch-making and jewelry concern. Vegetable Lithontriptic Mixture was advertised as early as 1844 in the Buffalo Morning Express paper. Beginning in 1847, city directories list Vaughn as proprietor of Vegetable Lithinotriptic at 207 Main, and yearly thereafter through 1858, when he was given as a physician. This designation was dropped in 1862. According to the records of the Erie County Historical Society, Vaughn died October 3, 1863. There is no mention of George C. Vaughn in the 1864 city directory, but Vegetable Lithontriptic Mixture was made through the 1880’s. The 1850 Buffalo Census gave George C. Vaughn and his wife Marian, a daughter Adeline, and four sons Romers B., Burlington R., George C., and Frank O. 2,3

Vaughn's Vegetable Lithontriptic Mixture.

U.S.A. Hospital Department bottles were blown mostly in Pittsburgh, Pa., from 1863-1865, to contain medicine for the Union Army personnel.

They occur in many colors and sizes. Some are round and some oval. They are quite rare, with amber and olive quarts being the most available. My light amber with a tinge of olive quart is 9 1/4 inches tall, round, and blown into a four piece mold. I have 9 other U.S.A. Hosp. Dept. bottles in colors that include cobalt, green, black, clear, and aqua. They are all crude with smooth bases. A bare iron pontil example is known and was formerly in the Samuel Greer Collection. 4
One thing about bottles and windows. They don’t withstand little rascals with baseballs and air rifles.....

References:
1. Cannon, R.A.: The I.X.L. Brand From
Houston, Antique Bottle and Glass
Collector, August, 1984
2. Personal Communication, Jeff Rosenthal,
Buffalo, NY
3. Buffalo and Erie County Public Library,
Buffalo, NY
4. Cannon, R.A.: Civil War Medicine In
Glass, Antique Bottle and Glass Collector,
June, 1991.

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