Robert Turlington's Balsam Of Life

[JustGlass]

Balsom instead of Balsam

 

[Road Dog]

Nice bottle. Has a nice readable date too. I like how these bottles jumble the letters around, misalign them and leave out whole words to make things fit. I can't say I've seen that on any other bottle.

 

[baltbottles]

ORIGINAL: deepbluedigger

Three of the most common type of Daffy's bottle: Dicey & Co, London. On the left is sand pontil, probably about 1830 - 40. Middle is solid pontil, but very difficult to date. Possibly very early, maybe as late as the 1850s. The aqua one on the right is 1860s-ish, glass chip pontil.

Jerry The middle one looks kind of like the shard I sent you. The pit that shard was found in was filled in by the 1820s and most of the layer in the pit was earlier.

Chris

 

[deepbluedigger]

Thanks Chris: useful info. You're right. Color is almost identical, and even the pontil marks are very similar (circular, same size, from a glass tipped solid rod). I have another very similar sherd to the one you dug (obtained from another forum member!), which still has the lip, which is the same as the lip on the bottle in the photo above.

 

[deepbluedigger]

All three. The sherd from Chris is on the left. The complete bottle is so whittled that it's difficult to show the embossing in photos.

 

[deepbluedigger]

Lips pretty much identical:

 

[Road Dog]

A couple more Turlington pics.

 

[Road Dog]

another

 

[Road Dog]

Seems to have been different Recipes for Turlingtons Balsam. Found this bit of info

Turlington’s Balsam (of Life)

Consumption p. 5

Noted by Osborn as “Turlington Bals of Lifeâ€.

Balsam for a Pectoral expectorant.

“astumac Disorders and Consumption†p. 10

Noted as “the balsam…â€

Turlington’s Balsam is a proprietary medicine invented in 1744 be Robert Turlington. The original recipe consisted of twenty-seven ingredients. Basically, this medicine is a Compound Tincture of Benzoin. Its advertising, its uses, and, at times, its success, led to its fame as a panacea. Other names have included Balsamum Catholicum, Balsamum Commendatoris, Jesuit’s drops, and Balsamum Equitis Sanctis Victoris (Balsam of the Holy Victorius Knight. It became an official medicine in 1746 when it was accepted as a Wound Balsam and was given the official name Balsamum Traumaticum. Other uses for this medicine included as a cure for the stones, colic, and assorted “inward weaknesses.â€

Early on, during his presentation on how to treat Consumption and “other Astumac Disordersâ€, Dr. Osborn describes his version of Turlington’s Balsam. He lists as its ingredients Aloes, Gum Benzoin, Gum Styrax, Myrrh, and Angelica (root?) and St. John’s Wort, all of which are added to West India Rum and then left to ferment in the sun for ten days.

The simplest recipe is found in Remington’s Pharmacy and consists of Benzoin, Aloe, Storax, and Balsam Tolu. Other recipes noted in the literature are much lengthier.

Osborn’s recipe compares best with those given in Hoblyn’s and Estes Dictionaries. Unlike these, he excludes Balsam Tolu and Balsam Peru. Whereas Hoblyn’s Dictionary notes an extract of Glycyrrhiza, Osborn’s recipe included powdered St. John’s Wort, the reason for which is unknown.

 

[JOETHECROW]

Very good info and cool recipes! Thanks for posting that Rory.