The name of the third preparation was not given, but the ingredients were:
1 oz. Dry White Lead
1 oz. Oxide of Zinc
1/2 oz. Precipitated Chalk
3 oz. Glycerine
Add 1 lb. Glue.
| FIGURE 22.—A
partial list of remedies offered for sale by Lucius Comstock in
1854, shortly after the separation of the old company into the
rival firms of Comstock & Co. and Comstock & Brother. |
Originally, Comstock and its predecessor firms marketed a large number of remedies. In 1854, Comstock & Company—then controlled by Lucius Comstock—listed nearly forty of its own preparations for sale, namely:
| Oldridge's Balm of Columbia George's Honduras Sarsaparilla East India Hair Dye, colors the hair and not the skin Acoustic Oil, for deafness Vermifuge Bartholomew's Expectorant Syrup Carlton's Specific Cure for Ringbone, Spavin and Wind-galls Dr. Sphon's Head Ache Remedy Dr. Connol's Gonorrhea Mixture Mother's Relief Nipple Salve Roach and Bed Bug Bane Spread Plasters Judson's Cherry and Lungwort Azor's Turkish Balm, for the Toilet and Hair Carlton's Condition Powder, for Horses and Cattle Connel's Pain Extractor Western Indian Panaceas Hunter's Pulmonary Balsam | Linn's Pills and Bitters Oil of Tannin, for Leather Nerve & Bone Liniment (Hewe's) Nerve & Bone Liniment (Comstock's) Indian Vegetable Elixir Hay's Liniment for Piles Tooth Ache Drops Kline Tooth Drops Carlton's Nerve and Bone Liniment, for Horses Condition Powders, for Horses Pain Killer Lin's Spread Plasters Carlton's Liniment for the Piles, warranted to cure Dr. Mc Nair's Acoustic Oil, for Deafness Dr. Larzetti's Acoustic Oil, for Deafness Salt Rheum Cure Azor's Turkish Wine Dr. Larzetti's Juno Cordial, or Procreative Elixir British Heave Powders |
| FIGURE 23.—Dr.
McNair's and Dr. Larzetti's acoustic oil apparently were identical in every respect. Labels and directions, with the difference only of the doctors' names, were quite obviously printed from the same type. |
All of the foregoing were medicines for which Lucius claimed to be the sole proprietor—although it is improbable that he manufactured all of them: several of them were probably identical preparations under different labels. In addition to these, he offered a larger list of medicines as a dealer. Brother J. Carlton Comstock must have been the main originator of medicines within the firm; he seems to have specialized largely in veterinary remedies, although the liniment for the piles also stood to his credit. Despite Lucius' claim to sole proprietorship of these remedies, the departing brothers also manufactured and sold most of the identical items, adding two or three additional preparations, such as Dr. Chilton's Fever and Ague Pills and Youatt's Gargling Oil (for animals). Aside from J. Carlton Comstock and Judson, the originators of most of the other preparations are cloaked in mystery; most of them were probably entirely fictitious. Admittedly, William Youatt (1776-1847), for whom several of the animal remedies were named, was an actual British veterinarian and his prescriptions were probably genuine, but whether he authorized their sale by proprietary manufacturers or was himself rewarded in any way are questions for speculation. The versatile Dr. Larzetti seems to have experimented both with impotency and deafness, but his ear oil—a number of specimens of which were still on hand in the abandoned factory—was identical in every respect with Dr. McNair's oil, as the labels and directions, aside only from the names of the doctors, were exactly the same for both preparations. In fact, some careless printer had even made up a batch of circulars headed "Dr. Mc Nair's Acoustic Oil" but concluding with the admonition, "Ask for Larzetti's Acoustic Oil and take no other." Presumably simple Americans who were distrustful of foreigners would take Mc Nair's oil, but more sophisticated persons, aware of the accomplishments of doctors in Rome and Vienna, might prefer Larzetti's preparation.
As the century moved along, the Comstock factory at Morristown reduced the number of remedies it manufactured, and concentrated on the ones that were most successful, which included, besides the Indian Root Pills, Judson's Mountain Herb Pills, Judson's Worm Tea, Carlton's Condition Powders, Carlton's Nerve & Bone Liniment, and Kingsland's Chlorinated Tablets. At some undisclosed point, Carlton's Nerve & Bone Liniment for Horses, originally registered with the Smithsonian Institution on June 30, 1851, ceased to be a medicine for animals and became one for humans. And sometime around 1920 the Judson name disappeared, the worm medicine thereafter was superseded by Comstock's Worm Pellets. Long before this, Judson had been transposed into somewhat of a mythical character—"old Dr. Judson"—who had devised the Dead Shot Worm Candy on the basis of seventy years' medical experience.
During the final years of the Comstock business in Morristown, in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, only three items were manufactured and sold: the Indian Root Pills, the Dead Shot Worm Pellets and Comstock's N & B Liniment.