Ohio History Journal

CLEVELAND DRUG STORE 339

to his home on Superior Street. Two other drug stores were

added on the same street in 1831, the Aaron Tufts Stickland

(later the Gaylord store), and the Handerson and Punderson

stores.

Lewis Handerson, senior partner in the latter store, was born

in 1806 in Columbia County, New York. Upon completing his

training he sold drugs in New York City. In 1831, he and the

son of one of his former preceptors in Hudson opened the Han-

derson and Punderson drug store in Cleveland. They conducted

a progressive store, for in 1833 they advertised stethoscopes for

sale. Handerson married Punderson's sister and, having no

children, he adopted two orphaned children of his brother,

Thomas. One of these children was Dr. Henry E. Handerson

(1837-1918), who fell heir to the manuscript under consideration

upon the death of Punderson. Mrs. Henry E. Handerson pre-

sented it to the Dittrick Museum.

A word about this Henry E. Handerson. Upon graduation

from Hobart College he wrote in Greek a thesis on Socrates which

I had the opportunity to examine. The meticulous care and neat-

ness displayed reminded me of the manuscript of Benvenuto

Cellini's autobiography in the Laurentian Library in Florence.

After graduation Handerson spent two years studying medicine

under a private tutor in Louisiana. At the outbreak of hostilities

in 1861 he enlisted in the Louisiana Volunteers and was made a

captain two years later. He was captured at the Battle of the

Wilderness in 1864 and remained a prisoner until June 1865. He

resumed medical study and graduated from the College of Physi-

cians and Surgeons of New York in 1867 and practiced there

until he came to Cleveland in 1885. A successful practitioner

and earnest scholar, he left a deep impression upon cultural medi-

cine in Cleveland. His translation of J. H. Baas' Outlines of the

History of Medicine, with his own flavorful footnotes, remains a

classic in its field. A chapter on medicine was written by him

for S. P. Orth's History of Cleveland (1910). Another work

Gilbertus Anglicus, was published after he had lost his sight.

Such, then, is the family history of this book.

340 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Today through innumerable channels we are bombarded with

varied instructions for everyday living, all of which we accept as

; matter of course. In pioneer days those living in isolated com-

munities had to pool such useful information. The general store,

the tavern, or the drug store was a clearing house for such data

to meet the needs of the settlers. Folk medicine, founded upon

the test of trial and error, thrived and often was sufficient unto

the day.

Books were scarce and when purchased they had to be trans-

ported to the Western Reserve by boat and by horseback from

Pittsburgh or even from Philadelphia. The druggist supple-

mented his knowledge of drugs by keeping a record of recipes

and practical suggestions for ready reference. This manuscript

was such a record. The entries began on January 7, 1835, and

the last date mentioned is December 1857, about six years after

Handerson retired.

Like the cookbook of an old housewife, it is badly worn with

use and is interleaved with clippings, in this case chiefly patent

medicine testimonials. Among them is noted a "Pain Extractor"

which promised to cure as by magic, "burns, chronic diarrhea,

inflammatory rheumatism, salt rheum (eczema), inveterate sores,

swelled and broken breast, and spavin lumps in horses. . . . A lady

in Syracuse, who had lost two fingers by felons, was attacked by

another; she applied the Extractor and repelled the enemy. Mr.

Swartz, Lydius Street, Albany, chopped his four fingers nearly

off. His brother cut an enormous gash above his knee. His

child was horribly burnt, and his horse had a dangerous cut. In

every case the Extractor was applied and cured all as by magic."

Many of the drugs employed in the various formulas re-

corded in the book are still employed more or less frequently.

Were it not that so many preparations are now compounded by

manufacturing concerns and supplied to the trade under a pat-

ented name, we would be familiar with most of the individual

drugs in Punderson's prescriptions.

In addition to counter prescribing and compounding prescrip-

tions, the druggist of 1835 was his own specialty manufacturer.

CLEVELAND DRUG STORE 341

He made court plaster (both black and flesh-colored), corn plaster,

wart remover, adhesive plaster, perfume, tooth paste, shaving

liquid, shaving cream, hair remover, hair tonic, and many hair

dyes, one of which contained hartshorn, nitrate of silver, and

rain water. He was also prepared to furnish the customer with

any kind of animal oil desired. Buffalo oil, for example, was

made of lard oil, perfumed with equal parts of oil of lavender

and oil of lemon. Although it is not mentioned the accommo-

dating druggist doubtless could extract from the same jar those

popular old medicinal fats, goose grease, dog grease, and bear

grease.

Care of livestock frequently demanded the druggist's atten-

tion, especially since there were few veterinarians at the time.

John Baird appears as the sole veterinary surgeon in the Cleveland

Directory for 1837. I remember as a boy being warned against

giving a horse cold water when he was still hot after a workout,

lest he be foundered. In the Punderson manuscript directions

were laid down for treating the stiff joints of the foundered

horse. The formula and method of compounding drenches, em

brocations, washes, and blisters for horses were given in detail.

Early incision was not the treatment of choice in abscesses of

horses; a poultice of bread and onions was applied. Squills were

given for heaves; a preparation of corrosive sublimate, oil of

origanum, and camphor was used locally for spavin. Numerous

prescriptions were noted for introducing medicines in the form

of a ball, with a flavoring agent such as licorice and mucilage as

a base to hold the ingredients together. Physics, tonics, and cor-

dials for horses were described, and even the favorite "condition

powders" which contained resin, nitre, and levigated mercury.

For cattle, remedies were given in a drench instead of a ball. For

sheep the dose was one-quarter that for the horse. There were

also included procedures to make hens lay and remedies to cure

the roup.

The drug store was also the pet shop of those early days, but

this feature was limited largely to the care of birds. Full in-

structions were outlined by Punderson for the feeding and care

of song birds. To prepare a German paste, "take the crust of

342 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

bread and moisten it in clean water. Put in a stone mortar and

having added some carrot finely grated and a few spoonsful of

fine barley or wheat meal, grind the whole well together with a

pestle. This paste should be made fresh every two days at least.

This paste for nightingales, thrushes, blackbirds, robins and such

birds that feed on insects and seeds both." Observation had

proved to those early settlers that carotene, although not recog-

nized under that name, was an essential element in the food of

birds.

"The gold finch," Punderson wrote, "is a healthy bird and

seldom out of order. Too much hemp seed will cause epilepsy,"

he reported, "in which case instantly abandon it and feed him

entirely on thistle seed or lettuce seed." If the bird is scoured,

Punderson instructed, crumble dry chalk in his seed. Bull

finches and siskins are other varieties of birds for which special

care was mentioned. A special diet was recommended for can-

aries while pairing.

Punderson did not state whether nightingales were resident

in Cleveland or whether they were imported for aviaries. They

were, however, sufficiently numerous in the settlement to war-

rant an outline for their diet. "For nightingales," Punderson

explained, "the best food in summer is ant eggs, to which add

daily 2 or 3 meal worms. To secure a plentiful supply, nearly

fill a quart earthen jar with bran or oatmeal, add some old pieces

of leather, throw in a gill of meal worms, cover it up with a piece

of wet cloth (woolen). In 3 months they will change into

beetles which will lay eggs: these will be converted into maggots,

and give a supply of food for some time. In autumn [feed them]

very ripe elderberries dried and mixed with ant eggs." Punder-

son ended these notes, "So much for the aviary."

This druggist was also an authority on gardening. His

handbook contained instructions for the care of strawberry plants

and the so:l in which they grew. For grafting trees he used a

wax made of tallow, beeswax, and rosin. He advised planting

tansy around the roots of the peach tree to prevent infestation

with the peach worm. Could it be that this represents the influ-

CLEVELAND DRUG STORE 343

CLEVELAND DRUG STORE 343

ence of horticulturalist Jared P. Kirtland, who moved to the out-

skirts of Cleveland in 1837?

If the ratio of reference items is significant, it would appear

that the druggist was consulted more frequently for problems of

the household than for those of the sickroom, and since the house-

wife found him so accommodating and dependable, the man of

the house also sought him in consultation. Thus this druggist

prepared red, blue, and indelible inks, sealing wax, varnish, paint,

wood stains for oak, mahogany, or black walnut, putty remover,

wagon soap, and oil blacking. Beef gall mixed with rain water

was advised for cleaning carpets. Full directions were given

for transforming a sheep's skin into a serviceable doormat. If

the patron wished to make iron look like copper, whiten iron,

color leather, or polish metals, the druggist would make up a

serviceable product. A mixture of milk, sugar, and pepper was

his favorite fly killer, phosphorus for killing rats, and corrosive

sublimate, sal ammoniac, and whiskey for killing bedbugs. He

could tell the housewife how to make candles burn more clearly

and without running. Recipes for making such dyes as madder

red, scarlet red, emerald green, and permanent blue, as well as a

bleach or bluing for the laundry, were also filed in this book. He

could even make up a brilliant whitewash "such as was used on

the east end of the President's house in Washington."

He had a valuable collection of recipes to tempt the epicure.

One seems interesting: "To make peach brandy, take 2 quarts

brandy, 5 pounds sugar, 16 pounds peaches, water sufficient to

dissolve the sugar; in which you boil the peaches till soft and

when cold add the brandy." Other recipes were given for marking

claret, currant wine, gin, cider, and champagne. Here also were

included methods to prepare cocoa, preserve eggs, cook omelets,

pickle fish, dry peaches, figs, or plums, and stew, pickle, or pre-

serve tomatoes. In 1840 there was an entry, copied from Samuel

Johnson's Dictionary, for making "froisels," i.e., fried bacon

enclosed in a pancake.

Prominent citizens and regular customers rated special pre-

scriptions. Thus there was listed a special ointment for Hannah

344 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

344 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Barnard, made of Burgundy, pitch, wax, and olive oil. Some

members of the clergy held decided opinions about certain forms

of medication, and occasionally were given to prescribing. Hence

a special pill was made up for "Rev. L. Windsor." For some

pioneer doctors special prescriptions were compounded. Dr. G.

Wheeler ordered an ophthalmic ointment made up under his

name. Dr. Charles A. Terry's toothache remedy was a mixture

of cloves, cajeput, laudanum, camphor, and ether, a combination

which should relieve any aching tooth. Several formulas were

attributed to other doctors.

For Dr. Robert Johnstone, an Edinburgh graduate of great

promise, who died of "ship fever" at an early age, this pharmacist

compounded "favourite pills" of blue mass, colocynth, and

ipecac. Dr. Brooks had a cough syrup of squills, hyoscyamine,

blood root, lobelia, morphine sulphate, and syrup of tolu. Dr.

Royal Dow also had his own cough remedy. Other outstanding

physicians mentioned include Dr. George Mendenhall, Dr. E. W.

Cowles, and Dr. John Delamater. Mendenhall, a graduate of the

University of Philadelphia, practised from 1835 to 1843 in Cleve-

land, but had to move to Cincinnati because of a respiratory

disease. He prescribed Windham pills, the formula of which

was obtained from the Patent Office in Washington.

Cowles began practice in Austinburg in 1811, practised for a

time in Mantua, moved to Cleveland in 1832, to Detroit and Ann

Arbor in 1834, and returned to Cleveland in 1838, where later he

became a member of the Board of Health. Cowles had a private

formula for "bilious pills," consisting of calomel, aloes, gamboge,

and tartar emetic. Delamater, a member of the first faculty at

Cleveland Medical College, came to Cleveland in 1843. The

prescription prepared for him contained hydriodate of potassium,

iodine, and rain water. In the light of research regarding the

relation of thyroxin to diseases of the thyroid gland his prescrip-

tion must have benefited many people in this goiter belt.

This little recipe book reveals side lights which help in the

appreciation of pioneer conditions a century ago. Early Cleve-

landers were largely dependent upon one another for the neces-

A CLEVELAND DRUG STORE OF 1835

by HOWARD DITTRICK, MD.

Editorial Director, the Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland

This presentation outlines many activities of an early Cleve-

land druggist with some mention of contemporary patrons and

customs. The information is based upon a manuscript volume

which was presented recently to the Howard Dittrick Museum of

Historical Medicine in the Cleveland Medical Library. Written

in long hand, the book deals with drugs, medicine, and a number

of things, with brief reference to persons who have previously

owned the book.

The title page reads "E. F. Punderson, Receipt Book, Cleve-

land, January 7, 1835." The book is 6 x 4 inches in size, the back

is broken, and one cover has disappeared. The 220 pages are

much yellowed with age, but the ink remains distinct and the

writing clear and legible. Written after the manner of some

oriental manuscripts in which one book is written from before

backward and the other from behind forward, the first part deals

with medicine and prescriptions and the other with veterinary

medicine, husbandry, and home economics.

The information contained in the manuscript was assembled

during an era when difficult and uncertain transportation of nec-

essary medicines led to the establishment of drug stores in the

more populated centers along waterways and overland trails. Often

these drug depots were found in the general store or in the post

office. Here the doctor came on horseback to replenish his saddle-

bags with crude drugs, a few liquids, and some powders. Not

infrequently the doctor dispensed remedies from an assortment

of as many as one hundred and fifty preparations. When time

and distance permitted, he instructed his patients to procure their

medication from the nearest drug shop.

Dr. David Long, the first physician in Cleveland (1810), is

said to have opened the first drug store of the settlement adjacent

338