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


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.


Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Shaw, Robert B., 1916--

History of the Comstock patent medicine business and of Dr. Morse's