History of the Comstock Patent Medicine Business and Dr. Morse's Indian Root Pills

by Robert B. Shaw

HISTORY
of the
COMSTOCK PATENT MEDICINE
BUSINESS
and Dr. Morse's Indian Root Pills

BY

Robert B. Shaw

Associate Professor, Accounting and History
Clarkson College of Technology
Potsdam, N.Y.

SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY NUMBER 22

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COVER: Changing methods of packaging Comstock remedies over the years.—Lower left: Original packaging of the Indian Root Pills in oval veneer boxes. Lower center: The glass bottles and cardboard and tin boxes. Lower right: The modern packaging during the final years of domestic manufacture. Upper left: The Indian Root Pills as they are still being packaged and distributed in Australia. Upper center: Dr. Howard's Electric Blood Builder Pills. Upper right: Comstock's Dead Shot Worm Pellets.