Daily globe., 1882-11-09
PATENT MEDICINES.
Enormous Extent Of thc rstsss.,

enormous Extent Of tIsc Esrs.ss,r~s.
The patent medicine business s8yS 4
New York journal. has assumed .,e,
enormous proportions that the iar9e5f
dealers say that sometimes they can
scarcely realize that so much money is
Invested in it. Without the most e,s-
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
''wo,ncvable opinion .ieat many OF ilie
.scticies have genuine merit, and when
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 Is per cent,
and then a steady demand, which con-
tinues for many years, is reached. A
reporter visited an establishment, which
is the only one of its 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 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
jured or disfgured through the proper
use of any of the 5000 articles. Some
times, he said, a mother would, of course,
pour a bottle of soothing si1up 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 25,0O0 druggists and fully 3d.
UO0 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. "Ihose," he said, "contain
pills. We sell one of the boxes for $432,
and you will observe" he added, with q
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
s9,072 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
willnotventure any money in 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 a 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 1900 different corn cures sold by
dealers.
The reporter was permitted to see a
list OF the various preparations on sale.
The number of balms for the lungs,
rheumatism, consumption, etc., num-
bered 46; balsams, 90; stomach bitters,
106; cordials, 48; catarrh, asthma, skin,
cough, rheumatic, heart, cholera,
dyspepsia, ague and other cures, 1877 !;
drops, 48; elixirs, n; extracts, 131 !;
hair dyes, 90; hair tonics, IS; liniments,
l5l 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, 18; soaps,
l29; specifics, &C.; 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.