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

Older medical writings have much information about drugs of vegetable origin. Roots, leaves, and barks were the principal means of treating diseases with drugs until the dawn of the present century. We now know that many of these were of little or no therapeutic value, but some, such as foxglove (digitalis) and belladonna (atropine) remain as useful drugs. Vincristine and vinblastine, derived from the periwinkle plant, have been important in the treatment of several forms of cancer for about 25 years. I will present five medicines with herbal embossing from my “medicine chest”.


Dr. Gordak's Jelly of Pomegranate.	Dr. Crook's wooden shipping box.	Dr. Bowder's Syrup of Indian Turnip.

Jelly of / Pomegranate / Preparate // By / Dr. Gordak / Only, 7 inches tall, aqua, rectangular, blowpipe pontil, appears to be the oldest medicine bottle I have. Note the spelling errors. Dr. William Gordak began practicing medicine in Boston about 1840, and placed his “Jelly” on the market around 1842. Other pontiled embossed Gordak bottles, all aqua, include his Drops, Cough Drops, Columbia, and Iceland Jelly; they also appear to be crude and early. Pomegranate was from the punicaceous tree. The bark of both the root and the tree contained pelletierine, which seemed to be of value in removing intestinal tapeworms. The rind of the fruit was “actively astringent” and used in diarrhea, hemorrhages, leukorrhea, relaxation of the throat, canker sores in the mouth, fever, etc.

Dr. Bowder's / Compound Syrup / Of Indian Turnip, 6 1/2 inches tall, aqua, rectangular, blowpipe pontil was put out by Dr. Jonathan Browder, who was first listed in the Louisville, Kentucky, City Directory in 1843. After 1851, he left the medicine business to become the sexton of a law college located on Chestnut Street. I know of no other embossed Browder bottles. Indian turnip was also known as wild turnip or dragonroot. The root was the only useful part, and in its fresh state was a powerful stimulant to the secretions of the lungs and skin. I don'' know how Dr. Browder kept it fresh. It was used for coughs, consumption of the lungs, asthma, colic and pains of bowels, and apthous sores of the mouth and throat.


Dr. Crook's Syrup of Poke Root.	Thurston's Hoarhound & Tar, and (right), Hoswell's witch Hazel Cream.

Dr. Crook's / Compound // Syrup of / Poke Root, 7 1/4 inches tall, aqua, square, was a product of Dr. Oliver Crook and Company of Dayton, Ohio. They advertised their Vegetable S-PH-L-S Remedy as early as 1865, apparently Dr. Crook was a bit modest, and their Syrup of PokeRoot by 1871. They also had a Wine of Tar advertised in 1872. I have two of the Crook's PokeRoot bottles, one with a partial label, and also the wooden shipping box. Both the root and fruit of poke weed or Phytolacca proved to be an alternative, cathartic, and emetic, and were thought to be useful in parasitic diseases of the skin, granular conjunctivitis, rheumatism, and hemorrhoids.

Geo. B. Thurston / Hoarhound and Tar, 6 inches tall, aqua, rectangular is a crude smooth based bottle. G.B. Thurston registered the trademark for Mrs. Thurston's Celebrated Work Syrup in Lynn, Mass. on May 2, 1871. Thurston's Liniment by G. Morse was advertised in Marlboro, N.H. in 1885. Hoarhound, also spelled horehound, was from the labiate plant. The leaves and tops were useful in coughs and dyspnea (trouble breathing); there was also a tonic action on the heart, and as a bonus, it cured intestinal parasites.

Haswell's / Witch Hazel Cream, 5 1/2 inches tall, clear, rectangular, bimal was advertised in The Era Blue Book in 1900 (issued annually by the Pharmaceutical Era), but I have no more information about this remedy. Witch hazel comes from Hamamelis virginica trees and shrubs. The leaves contain tannin, which was thought to be useful as an astringent. The bark was used as an external application in inflammatory conditions of the skin. The extract helped diarrhea, typhoid fever, and other unhealthy conditions of the bowels.

Herbal remedies seemed to work well in all diseases except those that proved to be incurable. Even with our thousands of new drugs, it's still sort of that way, plus we've got to figure out a way to pay for it all.

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