I recently found a tri-fold brochure for Wampole's Preparation tucked away inside an old book. (I think it might have been a bible.) And so it sent me off on a quest for more information...
Eight things I learned about Henry K. Wampole & Company
1. From the brochure itself: "Originated in 1880 in the laboratories of Henry K. Wampole & Company, Philadelphia, U.S.A., and since continuously manufactured by them, history thus records that WAMPOLE'S PREPARATION is the pioneer -- truly the original and genuine of the tonic preparations of this type."
2. Also from the brochure: The tonic consists of "Extract of Cod Livers, Extract of Malt, Calcium, Iron and Manganese, in readily assimilable form, also Fluidextract of Wild Cherry and other ingredients of tonic value."
The Buffalo Medical Journal (Volume 44) of 1888 further details how this tonic was a breakthrough for Wampole's and the medical industry. It gave doctors a better way to administer
cod liver oil: "Messrs. Henry K. Wampole & Co., of Philadelphia have well-nigh solved this whole problem in furnishing to the profession a preparation in which the oil is so completely disguised as to taste, odor and appearance, that it can be administered to the most delicate person without producing nausea, or other unpleasant after-symptoms. ... It should not be overlooked by any physician in casting about for a remedy to relieve brain-fag
1, headache, and nerve-tire in general."
3. The tonic came in 16-ounce bottles that were sold for $1 by "druggists everywhere." (I'm not sure what year this brochure was published. My guess would be the 1930s.)
4. Some history on the start of the company,
according to Digger Odell Publications and Bottlebooks.com (a nice source for information on old bottles):
"In a small building on Fourth St., near Arch, was started in the early 70s by the late Henry K. Wampole a druggists' outfitting business of modest proportions, but back of this business was such untiring, indomitable energy that its proportions so rapidly if creased that within a few years the location was successively changed to Vine street, to Market, to Fourth and Arch, to Second and Arch, and eventually to Green street, near Fifth, these changes being the result of always of a demand for larger quarters to accommodate the rapidly developing business. Changes too in the character of the business had been made, the outfitting giving way to a wholesale drug business."
5. Also according to Bottlebooks.com, Albert Koch and Samuel Ross Campbell joined Wampole in the business in early 1878.
6. Business boomed and expanded across the planet. A "large and handsomely equipped laboratory" was opened in
Perth, Ontario, in 1905,
(nice building picture here) complementing the Philadelphia laboratory.
Rideau-info.com adds some details: "In 1905 H.K. Wampole & Co. built a 4-storey factory to produce a new tasteless extract preparation of cod liver and other pharmaceutical products. The factory was demolished in 1963 when the Company moved to a modem complex on Dufferin Street along #7 Highway."
7. According to
dairyantiques.com, the company also made something called Wampole's Milk Food:
"It’s makers, Henry K. Wampole & Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, claimed it contained malted cereals, beef and milk2. Company advertisements claimed 'There is nothing in it that is not found in mother’s milk; there is nothing in mother’s milk that is not found in Wampole’s Milk Food'. A 1901 medical paper claimed it was the ideal preparation for the nourishment of persons undergoing treatment for opium or morphine addiction. One wonders how big a market that was."
8. Mr. Wampole met a sad end. According to
the October 1906 issue of "Practical Druggist and Review of Reviews":
"The body of H.K. Wampole, head of the firm of Henry K. Wampole & Co., of Philadelphia, was found floating in the North River off Weehawken on Friday, September 14. On the previous Saturday two physicians started with Mr. Wampole for a sanitarium in the Adirondacks. He had been suffering from a physical breakdown, and it was feared that if he did not get a complete rest his mind would give way. While the three were stopping at a Courtlandt street hotel in New York, Mr. Wampole eluded them and was not seen again by those who knew him utnil [sic] his body was found nearly a week later. His son said that for the past five years it had been evident that his father had been failing mentally. It was thought it was merely a case of overwork, but a long rest seemed to do him no good, so that finally it was deemed best to send him to a sanitarium."
Wampole, who had been born in 1849, was survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter. His surviving partners, Koch and Campbell, continued the firm under his name after his death. The company was acquired by the Denver Chemical Mfg. Co. in September 1957.
All of his has whetted my appetite for more information about Wampole and his company. There don't appear to be any books specifically on Wampole & Co., but there is plenty of information and relics floating around online, including information about an intriguing "Virgin Mary" advertisement that I will write about another time.
In the meantime, also included in the tri-fold brochure were advertisements for Wampole's Pap-Ken (for acid indigestion, sour stomach, gas and heartburn) and Wampole's Creo-Terpin (a stimulating expectorant for coughs due to colds). Those advertisements are shown below:
Addendum
Read more about Wampole's in this October 21, 2011, entry:
Wampole's Creo-Terpin ink blotter from Ensley, Alabama
Footnotes
1. You don't hear that term -- brain-fag -- much these days, do you? It does have its own Wikipedia entry, though.
2. Well, beef and milk do come from the same animal. Actually, here's a fun page that describes "beef tea," "peptonized beef tea" and "milk lemonade." Enjoy.