rup among the Comanches. Texas
Charlie discovered a Kickapoo cure-all, and Frank Cushing pried the
secret of a stomach renovator from the Zuni. (Frank, a famous
ethnologist, had gone West on a Smithsonian expedition.) Besides
these notable accretions to pharmacy, there were Modoc Oil,
Seminole Cough Balsam, Nez Perce Catarrh Snuff, and scores more,
all doubtless won for the use of white men by dint of great cunning
and valor.

[Footnote 4: Young, James Harvey, _The Toadstool Millionaires, A Social
History of Patent Medicines in America before Federal Regulation_.
Princeton University Press. 1961.]

Judson's Mountain Herb Pills, a companion product of the Indian Root
Pills, had an even more romantic origin--so remarkable, in fact, that
the story was embodied in a full-scale paperback novel published by B.L.
Judson & Co. in 1859. According to this book, the remedy was
discovered--or at least revealed to the world--by a famous adventurer,
Dr. Cunard. Dr. Cunard's career somehow bore a remarkable similarity to
that of Dr. Morse. He was also the scion of a wealthy family who spent
much time traveling throughout the world, and in this process becoming
fluent in no less than thirty languages. Eventually he encountered an
Aztec princess about to be tortured and sacrificed by Navajo Indians; he
interrupted this ceremony only to be captured himself, but by virtue of
successfully foretelling an eclipse (happily he had his almanac with
him) he won release for himself and the princess. Thereafter he led her
back to her home, in some remote part of Mexico, and lived among her
people for a year. As a boon for having saved the princess, he was given
possession of the ancient healing formula of the Aztecs. Upon returning
home Dr. Cunard, in an experience very similar to Dr. Morse's, found his
mother on her death bed, but he effected an instant cure by the use of
the miraculous herbs he had brought with him. The news spread, soon a
wide circle of neighbors was clamoring for this medicine, and in order
that all mankind might share in these benefits, Dr. Cunard graciously
conveyed the secret to B.L. Judson & Co.

These stories were told entirely straightforwardly, with the intention
of being believed. How widely they were actually accepted is difficult
to say. In retrospect it seems extremely curious that persons as
prominent, as successful, as wealthy as Dr. Morse and Dr. Cunard were
never seen or hea