ich were formed into pills the size of a
small pea. This satisfied the royal agents and Hooper went on about his
business. In an advertisement of the same year, he was able to cite as
a witness to his patent the name of the Archbishop of Canterbury.[13]

[11] John Hooper, "Pills," British patent 592, July 21, 1743.

[12] E. Burke Inlow, _The patent grant_, Baltimore, 1950, p. 33.

[13] _Daily Advertiser_, London, September 23, 1743.

Much less taciturn than Hooper about the composition of his nostrum was
Robert Turlington, who secured a patent in 1744 for "A specifick
balsam, called the balsam of life."[14] The Balsam contained no less
than 27 ingredients, and in his patent specifications Turlington
asserted that it would cure kidney and bladder stones, cholic, and
inward weakness. He shortly issued a 46-page pamphlet in which he
greatly expanded the list.[15] In this appeal to 18th-century
sensibilities, Turlington asserted that the "Author of Nature" has
provided "a Remedy for every Malady." To find them, "Men of Learning
and Genius" have "ransack'd" the "Animal, Mineral and Vegetable World."
His own search had led Turlington to the Balsam, "a perfect Friend to
Nature, which it strengthens and corroborates when weak and declining,
vivifies and enlivens the Spirits, mixes with the Juices and Fluids of
the Body and gently infuses its kindly Influence into those Parts that
are most in Disorder."

[14] Robert Turlington, "A Specifick balsam, called the balsam of
life," British patent 596, January 18, 1744.

[15] Robert Turlington, _Turlington's Balsam of Life_, ca. 1747.
A 46-page pamphlet preserved in the Folger Shakespeare Library,
Washington, D.C.

[Illustration: Figure 3.--LABEL FOR STOUGHTON'S ELIXIR as manufactured
by Dr. Jos. Frye of Salem, Massachusetts. (_Courtesy, Essex Institute,
Salem, Massachusetts._)]

Testimonials from those who had felt the kindly influence took up most
of the space in Turlington's pamphlet. In these grateful
acknowledgments to the potency of the patent medicine, the list of
illnesses cured stretched far beyond the handful named in the patent
specifications. Just as for Bateman's Pectoral Drops and the Darby
brand of British Oil, workers of many occupations solemnly swore that
they had received benefit. Most of them were humble people--a porter, a
carpenter, the wife of a gardener, a blanket-weaver, a gunner's mate, a
butcher, a host