However, only aloes was common to all the recipes
submitted to the committee. This botanical, which still finds a place
in laxative products today, was retained by the committee as the
cathartic base, and to it were added "the Extract of Hellebore, the
Sulphate of Iron and the Myrrh as the best emmenagogues."

Anderson's Scots Pills had been a "mild" purgative throughout its long
career, varying in composition "according to the judgement or fancy of
the preparer." Paris, an English physician, had earlier reported that
these pills consisted of aloes and jalap; the committee decided on
aloes, with small amounts of colocynth and gamboge, as the purgatives
of choice.

Of Bateman's Pectoral Drops more divergent versions existed than of any
of the others. The committee settled on a formula of opium and camphor,
not unlike paragoric in composition, with catachu, anise flavoring, and
coloring added. Godfrey's Cordial also featured opium in widely varying
amounts. The committee chose a formula which would provide a grain of
opium per ounce, to which was added sassafras "as the carminative which
has become one of the chief features of the medicine."

English apothecary Dalby had introduced his "Carminative" for "all
those fatal Disorders in the Bowels of Infants." The committee decided
that a grain of opium to the ounce, together with magnesia and three
volatile oils, were essential "for this mild carminative and laxative
... for children."

Instead of the complex formula described by Robert Turlington for his
Balsam of Life, the committee settled on the official formula of
Compound Tincture of Benzoin, with balsam of peru, myrrh, and angelica
root added, to produce "an elegant and rich balsamic tincture." On the
other hand, the committee adopted "with slight variations, the
Linimentum Saponis of the old London Dispensatory" to which they, like
Steers, added only ammonia.

The committee found two distinct types of British Oil on the market.
One employed oil of turpentine as its basic ingredient, while the other
utilized flaxseed oil. The committee decided that both oils, along with
several others in lesser quantities, were necessary to produce a
medicine "as exhibited in the directions" sold with British Oil. "Oil
of Bricks" which apparently was the essential ingredient of the Betton
British Oil, was described by the committee as "a nauseous and
unskilful preparation, which has long since been banished from the
Pharmacopoe