Historical information
JEREMAH CURTIS & BENJAMIN A. PERKINS: BITTERS & MEDICINE
In 1848 Jeremah Curtis and Benjamin A. Perkins would become partners in a medical business. The business was located at No. 1 West End Kepduakong Bridge Banger, Maine. The business was called Curtis & Perkins Proprietors. By 1849 they started bottling Jeremah Curtis's mother-in-law, Mrs. Charlotte N. Winslow's syrup which she compounded from sulfate or morphia, sodium carbonate, spirits fueniculi and aqua ammonia. Mrs. Winslow was a physician and a nurse for children for about 30 years. This medicine was made for infants and was named Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup. In time the name was changed to Anglo American Drug Company and was then run by J. Curtis and his son George N. Curtis.
Physical description
Round slender aqua tinted clear glass bottle with embossed text on sides and monogram on base.
Inscriptions & markings
'MRS WINSLOW'S SOOTHING SYRUP' 'THE ANGLO AMERICAN DRUG CO.' 'SUCCESSORS TO CURTIS & PERKINS PROPRIETORS' The monogram seems to consist of 4 triangular marks in a grid pattern.
References
- Developing Treatments - Treatments for Children : Teething Mrs Winslow’s Soothing Syrup The history of Mrs Winslow’s Soothing Syrup is one marred by controversy and court cases, because initially it contained morphine. Prior to the 20th century, manufacturers did not have to reveal the ingredients on medicine bottles. As a result mothers were unaware that the syrup contained morphine. From the late 1860s up until the early 20th century, there were numerous cases of American babies falling into a coma or becoming addicted to and, on occasions, dying from use of the syrup. Morphine was not completely removed from the syrup’s formula until 1909 in the UK and 1915 in the US. Originating in New York in the 1840s, Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup was a dangerous concoction. Parents often did not realise that it contained morphine, and sadly, as the American Medical Times put it in 1860, were “relieved of all further care of their infants” through its use. ADVICE TO MOTHERS!—Are you broken in your rest by a sick child suffering with the pain of cutting teeth? Go at once to a chemist and get a bottle of MRS. WINSLOW’S SOOTHING SYRUP. It will relieve the poor sufferer immediately. It is perfectly harmless and pleasant to taste, it produces natural quiet sleep, by relieving the child from pain, and the little cherub awakes “as bright as a button.” It soothes the child, it softens the gums, allays all pain, relieves wind, regulates the bowels, and is the best known remedy for dysentery and diarrhoea, whether arising from teething or other causes. Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup is sold by Medicine dealers everywhere at 1s. 1½d. per bottle. Manufactured in New York and at 498, Oxford-street, London.
