Printed on box: "AYER'S // CATHARTIC PILLS // PREPARED BY // DR. J. C. AYER & CO. LOWELL, MASS. U.S.A."; on back: "Each one of Ayer's Pill contains" (ingredients listed); other side lists product information in Spanish
Permanent Location
Storage Room 0010
0010-A2-4 Row F
Unit Of Measure
centimeters
Condition Remarks
Shows wear along edges
Copy Type
Original
Research Facts
American Dr. James Cook Ayer (1818-1878) was the wealthiest patent medicine businessman of his day.
He started working in an apothecary shop in Lowell, Mass., bought a drug store in 1841 when he was 22 and eventually received a medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1860.
Ayer was more interested in selling medicines than in practicing medicine.
In 1843, James Cook Ayer mixed up a cherry cough medicine in a Lowell, Mass., apothecary while his boss was on vacation in Europe. The cough medicine, known as ‘Cherry Pectoral,’ marked Ayer’s first step on the road to a fortune. It was followed by a strong laxative called Cathartic Pills, a blood medicine called Sarsaparilla that was supposed to cure syphilis, a cure for malaria called Ague Cure, and a hair restorer called Hair Vigor.
Physicians happily prescribed Ayer’s medicines, but the real secret to his success was advertising. He spent $140,000 (c1840s) a year on advertisements that promoted the benefits of his medicines with charming, whimsical illustrations. He distributed millions of free copies of an almanac that hawked his cures.
Ayer advertised cherry pectoral as a cure for ‘coughs, colds, asthma, croup, laryngitis, bronchitis, whooping cough and consumption.’ His most popular product, sarsaparilla, was ‘a real blessing that purifies the blood, stimulates the vital functions, restores and preserves health, and infuses new life and vigor throughout the whole system. He recommended It for jaundice, dyspepsia, pimples, boils, ringworm, female weaknesses and ‘lassitude and debility peculiar to the Spring.’
Ayer built a state-of-the-art factory in Lowell to produce vast quantities of medicines that made him a fortune. He employed 150 people. In one year the factory processed 325,000 pounds of drugs, 220,000 gallons of spirits and 400,000 pounds of sugar. He sold his products around the world, and the factory continued to produce drugs until the 1940s.
He was accused of using misleading advertising to sell quack medicines and miracle cures. His defenders say Ayer’s claims were well within the bounds of medical knowledge in the 19th century.
Cherry pectoral contained three grams of morphine – but that was a lot less than doctors were prescribing at the time. Some of Ayer’s products contained small amounts of alcohol to preserve the plant material that comprised his medicines.
But certainly, some of his products did not live up to their billing. Sarsaparilla didn’t work. Hair Vigor didn’t work. But Ague Cure contained bark from the cinchona tree – which later became known as quinine and was very effective in fighting malaria. Cherry pectoral did not cure lung ailments, as advertised, but it did treat the symptoms of a cold, which helps patients improve.