ctio Adrianum,
35 ingredients in Confectio Atanasia, and 48 ingredients in Confectio
Esdra. Theriac or Mithridatum grew in complexity until by the 16th
century it had some 60 different ingredients.

It was in this tradition of complex mixtures that most of the patent
medicines may be placed. Richard Stoughton claimed 22 ingredients for
his Elixir, and Robert Turlington, in his patent specification, named
27. Although other proprietors had shorter lists or were silent on the
number of ingredients, a major part of their secrecy really lay in
having complicated formulas. Even though rivals might detect the major
active ingredients, the original proprietor could claim that only he
knew all the elements in their proper proportions and the secret of
their blending.

Not only in complexity did the patent medicines resemble regular
pharmaceutical compounds of the 18th century. In the nature of their
composition they were blood brothers of preparations in the various
pharmacopoeias and formularies. Indeed, there was much borrowing in
both directions. An official formula of one year might blossom out the
next in a fancy bottle bearing a proprietor's name. At the same time,
the essential recipe of a patent medicine, deprived of its original
cognomen and given a Latin name indicative of its composition or
therapeutic nature, might suddenly appear in one of the official
volumes.

For example, the formula for Daffy's Elixir was adopted by the
_Pharmacopoeia Londinensis_ in 1721 under the title of "Elixir Salutis"
and later by the _Pharmacopoeia Edinburghensis_ as "Tinctura sennae
composita" (Compound Senna Tincture). Similarly the essential formula
for Stoughton's Elixir was adopted by the _Pharmacopoeia
Edinburghensis_ as early as 1762 under the name of "Elixir Stomachium,"
and later as "Compound Tincture of Gentian" (as in the _Pharmacopoeia
of the Massachusetts Medical Society_ of 1808). Only two years after
Turlington obtained his "Balsam of Life" patent, the _Pharmacopoeia
Londinensis_ introduced a recipe under the title of "Balsamum
Traumaticum" which eventually became Compound Tincture of Benzoin, with
the synonym Turlington's Balsam. On the other hand, none of these early
English patent medicines, including Stoughton's Elixir and Turlington's
Balsam, offered anything new, except possibly new combinations or new
proportions of ingredients already widely employed in medicine.
Formulas similar in composition to those patente