Daily globe., 1882-11-09
PATENT MEDICINES.
Enormous Extcuf os ty.s. rsr..ss,

enormous Extent of tysc EsIssss s,r~rs
The patent medicine business say~ :,
New York journal. has assumed :neI,
enormous proportions that the largest
dealers say that sometimes they can
scarcely realize that so much money is
Invested in it. Without the most ex.
tensive newspaper advertising they admit
the business would fan away and be
almost unheard of. They are satisfied
| that this would be the condition OF af-
Iairs with them Notwithstanding their
''0on,Cvable opinion that lnany o. llta
| - tlcics have genuine merit, and Iasl
properly used accomplish good results.
That the business may prosper millions
| OF dollars are expended every year in
advertising. When the manufacturer
OF an article, after ten years OF wide
spread advertising. discontinues this
plan of keeping it before the public the
sales generally fall Off about rs per cent. :,
and then steady demand, which con-
tlnues for many years, is reached. A
reporter visited an establishment, which
is the only one of it's kind in the city.
where patent medicines and other pre-
parations of the apothecary and druggist
are exclusively sold. The seven long
floors of this building were filed with
articles invented for the cure of every
disease which flesh is heir to.
Twenty years ago this proprietor
started in a small way with three
patented preparations, and at the pres
ent time he deals in over 5000 different
articles. The gentleman who showed
the reporter through the place. and who
had been engaged in the business for
many years, insisted that he had never
heard Of any person who died. was in
.lured or disfigured through the proper
use of any of the 5000 articles. Some
times, be said, mother would, Of course,
pour bottle of soothing silup down the
throat of an infant, and then when the
child died there would be great hub
bub. The reporters informant said that
there is no dull season in the patent
medicine business, as there is in the
dry-goods trade. When the season for
cough sirups has passed the cholera
medicines find a ready market. Tooth
ache is common throughout the year.
and thus remedies for that distressing
complaint are always salable. Hair
restoratives are briskly called for in
spring, summer, autumn and winter, and
tonics likewise prevail at all seasons OF
the year. The salesman estimated that
there are $4,000 druggists and fully 3d.
Coo physicians in the United States,
and said that the patent-medicine
dealers find mUch favor among
the physicians as well as the drug
gists. While the reporter was running
against boxes filled with all kinds Of
Preparations, the salesman pointed to a
pile of boxes, each less than two feet
square. "1hose," he said, "contain
pills. We sell one Of the boxes for $432,
and you will Observe" he added, with a
smile, "that that is rather an expensive
boz OF pills." Then he figured up the
cost of a pile of boxes that seemed almost
lost in the vast amount of other boxes in
the room, and said: "There we have
50, 072 worth Of pills. and that will give
you faint idea OF the amount of money
invested in patent medicines in this build
ing. The salesman said that the dealer
wllfnotventure anymoneyina new article
unless he buys it from the manufacturer
or pays the inventor for the everlasting
right to manufacture it. He will not ac-
cept patent article, advertise it and
make it profitable, SO that the inventor
can at some time take it from him and
manufacture it himself. The inventor
must either manufacture and advertise
the article himself, or sell the patent to
the manufacturer and have done with it.
Looking at half-dozen preparations for
corns. the salesman said that there are
fully 1000 different corn cures sold by
dealers.
The reporter was permitted to see a
list OF the various preparations OF sale.
The number of balms for the lungs,
rheumatism, consumption, etc., num-
bered 46; balsams, SO; stomach bitters,
106; cordials, 4S; catarrh, asthma, skin,
cough, rheumatic, heart, cholera,
dyspepsia, ague and other cures, 1877 !;
drops, 48; elixirs, n; extracts, 131;
hair dyes, s3; hair tonics, Is; iniments,
15l lotions, "a lozenges, 81; hair oils
and cod liver oil preparations, $50 !;
ointments, 81 pills, 312; plasters, 157 !;
powders, 1853; various remedies, 142 !;
different kinds of hair restorers, 68 !;
salts, %; salves, IS; snuffs, IS; soaps,
l29; specifies, 66; syrups, 1888; tablets,
81 tonics, 81; troches, 80, and medicinal
waters, IS. Beside these articles there
were many others with extraordinary
names, and the salesman said that to be
a good salesman in such an establish
ment it was necessary to remember all
OF the 5000 different articles in the
place.