MO Pharmacist November 2022

Now&Then for the exclusive manufacture of Epsom Salts, which soon were sold over the counter. Un fortunately, Grew’s hopes that he could profit from the manufacture and sale of Epsom salt faded when the wells dried up and Epsom’s years as a spa deteriorated. A few years later, Timothy Byfield devel oped a medicine he called Sal Oleosum Volatile and became the first person to patent the for mulation of a medicine. The patent referred to “A new and most useful chemical preparation and medicine…which by abundant experience hath been found very healthful and beneficial, as well in uses medical, as others, and will very much tend to the public use and benefit to all of our subjects.” Royal Patent number 388 was granted at Westminster on October 22, 1711. Byfield did not explain the reason for seeking patent protection but a year later he published an eight-page booklet, Some Direc tions For the Use of Sal Oleosum Volatile , hinting that he sought the patent because counterfeit ers had “put off, under its name, scurvy com pounded trash, only for filthy lucres [sic] sake.” He maintained the patent protection would make the genuine product more widely available because, “While it lay in a single hand, ‘twas fearce and dear be reason of great Labour in Preparation, and many other Difficulties; so that it could be deriv’d but by a few. But now, in the hands of expert and industrious Artists, ‘twill be multiplied and Universally obtain.” Its lower price would make it available to “serve the necessities of the less knowing, and lower abilities.” The salt and Sulphur in his medicine were better than others in dealing with “Headache, Vertigo, Lethargy, Palsy, Apoplexy, Epilepsy, and Convulsions and Hysteric Fits, Vapours, Swoonings, Faintings, and Palpitations of the Heart” when “more rationally apply’d to than from many other, or many Medicines.” It even had benefits when inhaled. A cou ple of drops rubbed between the palms of the hand would produce a “highly refreshing” gas that “must smell only of itself, that is with a soft, not harsh, pungency; and in the scent may be discerned a sweet fragrancy from its sweet sulphurs. Whatever smells of spice, perfume, or spirits is a jumble of man’s invention, and out of the way of nature.” These early patent medicines made their way to the early English settlements in what became the United States where, in time, doc tors—real and proclaimed—began producing their own nostrums, tonics, and cures. The first patent in the United States was not issued until April 30, 1796, to Samuel Lee

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® (CSPT ® ) Certification other ingredients, calomel, a form of mercury. The first Lee pointedly noted in his advertising that his medicine did not contain the stuff. Years later, calomel was removed from the list of medical supplies because its side effects were found to be more harmful than many of the illnesses it was used as a treatment. Nemiah Grew, Timothy Byfield, and Samuel Lee Jr., and even Henry Winker were the fathers of the industry tha still puts boxes and bottles on pharmacy shelves today. Maybe we’ll think of them the next time we see some Epsom Salts. Jr., of Windham, Connecticut, for “Dr. Lee’s Windham Bilious Pills” The Connecticut Journal of June 14, 1797 had an advertisement claim ing the pills would “remove pains in the head, stomach and bowels—and the gripes and all obstructions.” They also were an “excellent help for the gravel, scurvy, cholic [sic], jaun dice, dropsy…and therefore convenient for all travelers by sea or land.” His remedy was made up of gamboge, aloes, soap, and nitrate of potassa. But Lee soon picked up some unwelcome competition from a doctor in New London, Connecticut, who got a patent in 1799. His name was Samuel H.P. Lee and he also called his concoction “Bilious Pills.” The original Samuel Lee warned the public, “If people in cautiously purchase his Pills for mine, I shall not be answerable for their effects.” The New London pills included, among

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Bob Priddy covered Missouri politics and government for forty years as the news director of the Missourinet statewide radio network. His most recent book is The Art of the Missouri Capitol, History in Canvas, Bronze, and Stone. He is the past President of the State Historical Society of Missouri.

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32 Missouri PHARMACIST | Volume 96, Issue III | November 2022