over a century. For other remedies manufactured by the
company, the ingredients purchased included:

Anise Seed
Black Antimony
Calomel
Camphor
Gum Arabic
Gum Asphaltum
Gum Tragacanth
Hemlock Oil
Horehound
Laudanum
Licorice Root
Magnolia Water
Muriatic Acid
Saltpetre
Sienna Oil
Sulphur
Wormseed

It is not known where the calomel (mercurous chloride) and some of the
other harsher ingredients were used--certainly not in the Indian Root
Pills or the Mountain Herb Worm Tea--for the company frequently
incorporated warnings against the use of calomel in its advertising and
even promised rewards to persons proving that any of its preparations
contained calomel.

Less active ingredients used to supply bulk and flavor included alcohol,
turpentine, sugar, corn starch, linseed meal, rosin, tallow, and white
glue. Very large quantities of sugar were used, for we find that
Comstock was buying one 250-pound barrel of sugar from C.B. Herriman in
Ogdensburg approximately once a month. In the patent-medicine business
it was necessary, of course, that the pills and tonics must be
palatable, neutralizing the unpleasant flavor of some of the active
ingredients; therefore large quantities of sugar and of pleasant-tasting
herbs were required. It was also desirable, for obvious reasons, to
incorporate some stimulant or habit-forming element into the various
preparations.

[Footnote 11: Actually, the formula for the Indian Root Pills would seem
to have corresponded closely with that for "Indian Cathartic Pills"
given in _Dr. Chase's Recipes_, published in 1866. These were described
as follows:

Aloes and gamboge, of each 1 oz.; mandrake and blood-root, with gum
myrrh, of each 1/4 oz.; gum camphor and cayenne, of each 1-1/2
drs.; ginger, 4 oz.; all finely pulverized and thoroughly mixed,
with thick mucilage (made by putting a little water upon equal
quantities of gum arabic and gum tragacanth) into pill mass; then
formed into common sized pills. Dose: Two to four pills, according
to the robustness of the patient.]

A register of incoming shipments for the year 1905 shows that the
factory was still receiving large quantities of aloes, gamboge,
mandrake, jalap, and pepper. One new ingredient being used at this time
was talc, some of which originated at Gouverneur, within a few miles of
the pill manufactory, but more of it was described as "German talc." The
same register gives the formulas fo