Lewis’s Medicinal Purchases

Whelan’s Invoice

Sometime prior to arriving in Philadelphia early in May 1803, Lewis drew up a long shopping list of mathematical instruments, arms & accoutrements, ammunition, clothing, camp equipage, Indian presents, and other materiel for the expedition. On his arrival in Philadelphia he went to the Army’s purchasing agent or “Purveyor of Public Supplies,” Israel Whelan—also spelled Whelen and Wheelen—at the northwest corner of 4th and Market, and set the process in motion, presenting him with a list of 29 botanical and chemical medicines plus some related equipment and supplies. Whelan hurried to the establishment of George Gillaspy, M.D., and Joseph Strong, M.D., druggists, at the corner of 2nd and High Streets. The order, which came to $90.69, was ready for delivery on the 26th of May.

The contents of Lewis’s list have much to tell us about the medical challenges he expected to face on his journey, and about the state of American pharmacy around the beginning of the nineteenth century.

These supplies were “for the use of M. Lewis Esquire on his tour up the Missisipi River.” At the time the young captain was in Philadelphia, the purpose of his journey was still a carefully (though not quite successfully) guarded secret. To avoid alarming either the Spanish or British government, Jefferson had publicly announced that the objective was to find the source of the Mississippi River, the location of which was still unknown. The purpose of the President’s disinformation was to assure foreign observers that Lewis’s expeditionary force would never leave U.S. jurisdiction, in the hope that he could get to the Pacific and back before anybody caught on. The surprise Louisiana Purchase saved him from potential embarassment—at the very least.

Index of Medicines

Whelan’s invoice lists 28 botanical and chemical medicaments purchased in Philadelphia. More may have been requisitioned at Forts Massac and Kaskaskia, or in St. Louis in the spring of 1804. Those may have included flowers of sulfur, which is not on Whelan’s invoice but was mentioned several times by the journalists. Nowhere, however, are these items listed.

Of the original botanicals and chemicals, 12 were never mentioned in the journals. By no means should we infer they were never used, only that none of the journalists saw any point in documenting them. For instance, mercury ointment was mentioned only two or three times in the journals, but considering the number of cases of venereal disease that apparently afflicted the company, that salve would have been in high demand. We are told, too, that some of their medicinal supplies were ruined by water, but not which ones. After all, Lewis had not been instructed to keep track of that inventory. Nevertheless, we know that some medicines were still on hand at the end of the expedition, when Clark shipped a tin box of leftovers to Louisville from St. Louis.^[1]Moulton, Journals, 8:419.

Israel Wheelen Purveyor
Bought of Gillaspy & Strong

the following articles for the use of M. Lewis Esquire on his tour up the Missisipi River, & supplied by his Order:—Viz

Phila. May 26, 1803^[2]Adapted from Donald Jackson, ed., Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents 1783-1854, 2nd ed. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978), 1:80-81.

Whelan’s invoice raises five questions:

1. What sort of diseases did Lewis expect to face?
2. What were the main therapeutic approaches he planned to use?
3. What did druggists stock and where did these items come from?
4. Do any of the items have special significance?
5. Why were they purchased from Gillaspy & Strong instead of some better-known Philadelphia druggist?

A quick glance at the list of medical supplies elicits an obvious response: First and foremost, Lewis expected to confront “ague” and “intermittent fever”—malaria—and similar indispositions. Fifteen pounds of powdered cinchona bark was about 1500 60-grain doses. This was a fortunate choice, although no one had yet discovered the connection between the insect and the disease.^[3]Erwin H. Ackerknecht, “Malaria in the Upper Mississippi Valley, 1760-1900,” Supplement 4, Bulletin of the History of Medicine (1945), 20-22, 54-55. Cf. Bruce C. Paton, Lewis & Clark: … Continue reading Most physicians at that time were certain that “intermittent fever” was transmitted by the foul air of a swamp, or lowlands in general.

Lewis also expected his men would contract venereal disease. Four of his drugs or medicines were indicated for gonorrhea or syphilis, including calomel, copaiba, and a pound of mercury ointment. Opium and its tincture (laudanum), of course, were added to alleviate pain and induce sleep. And a few pounds of various ointments were included to treat the inevitable wounds and abrasions. For soothing eyes irritated by dry, dusty winds, zinc sulfate and lead acetate were combined with water to make eye wash. The largest set of medicines involved the gastro-intestinal tract—the seat of most diseases of young men—laxatives including jalap and rhubarb, calomel and magnesia, and Rush’s Pills.

The drugs, of course, reflect the therapeutic approach of the captains, which followed the prevailing viewpoint shared by orthodox physicians and laymen alike: Most diseases were caused by imbalances within the body. Whether these imbalances were humoral, chemical, or mechanical, the treatments were pretty much the same—remove the bad through bleeding, vomiting, sweating, or purging—and health would be restored. To accomplish this end, the drugs from the standard materia medica were utilized.^[4]J. Worth Estes, “Patterns of Drug Usage in Colonial America,” in Robert I. Goler and Pascal James Imperato, eds., Early American Medicine: A Symposium (New York City: Frances Tavern … Continue reading

Benjamin Rush was famous (or notorious) for his depletive regimens typified by bleeding and administering his anti-bilious pills of jalap and calomel, which supposedly stimulated the body to excrete excess bile, which was the cause of many ailments.^[5]Alex Berman, “The Heroic Approach in 19th Century Therapeutics,” Bulletin of the American Society of Hospital Pharmacists, 11 (1954): 321-327. Rush apparently provided Lewis with a set of medical instructions, which the captains largely ignored. They did, however, administer Rush’s Pills freely to their men and dosed themselves with them as well.

The 16-page pamphlet shown in the figure was the first-aid manual that accompanied medicine chests specially designed for the emigrant trade by druggists Joel and Jotham Post, of New York City. “To those who are obliged to travel,” the authors explained, “either by sea or land, who live on plantations, or who settle in new countries, remote from any medical assistance, these directions may be of material benefit, as they may be the cause of removing or preventing diseases that otherwise might prove fatal.” Whether Lewis and Clark’s medicine chests contained any sort of guidebook is not known. In any case, as commanding officers, both were responsible for the health of their men, and during their earlier military experience on the frontier had undoubtedly learned to deal with many routine medical situations. Lewis was undoubtedly well qualified in this regard, since his mother was a practicing herbalist. It was Clark, however, who evidently had the more comforting bedside manner, and whose reputation as a “medicine man” spread quickly among the Nez Perce Indians.

In the early republic, druggists were the linchpins of American pharmacy. As wholesalers, they supplied drugs and medicines to general stores, physicians, farmers, plantations, ships, and apothecaries. Apothecary shops were retail establishments selling drugs, patent medicines (remedies with unspecified ingredients), books, flavorings, dyes, spices, and dietary specialties.

In addition to wholesaling, druggists in the early 19th century transformed the retail side of their business operations. Most druggists had always had some small retail sales–selling compact packages of drugs and spices. As commerce became more specialized in the early 1800s, druggists saw that their goods made an excellent mix for retail and opened up “front ends.” Druggists commonly referred to their locations as “drug storehouses,” or simply “drug stores.” This was in direct contrast to the retail establishments of apothecaries, which were called “shops.” The American public soon turned to calling all pharmacy-related businesses “drugstores” and their proprietors “druggists.”

In addition to drugs and medicines, druggists sold surgical supplies, spices, containers, chemicals (including dyes and inks), and medicine chests. The sale of surgical supplies is not surprising, considering that druggists provided most drugs and medicines to physicians for their own dispensing in those days. Few physicians wrote out prescriptions, instead relying on themselves or their apprentices to compound and dispense medicines. Spices were commonly dealt by druggists because they came in through the same importers along the same trade routes as drugs.

Druggists used so many containers in their repackaging and making of basic preparations that they soon became noted as general sources themselves for vials, bottles, and jars.^[6]Gregory J. Higby, In Service to American Pharmacy: The Professional Life of William Procter, Jr. (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1992), 4-7.

Medicine chests—both empty and filled—were staples of the druggists’ trade from the late 18th century through much of the 19th century. Druggists (and later large apothecary shops) made them up in various sizes for physicians, farmers, and ship captains. Surviving directions—booklets some druggists provided for their medicine chests—indicate that Lewis’s list was typical for the times.^[7][Henry Phelps], Directions for the Medicine Chest, . . . (Salem: Thomas Cushing, 1804), 1-18. Edward S. Lang, Medicine Chests: with Suitable Directions, . . . (Salem: Thomas C. Cushing [1800]). For … Continue reading

Philadelphia Druggists

To purchase these drugs and medicines, there was no better place in 1803 than Philadelphia, the center of the young American pharmaceutical industry. As the nation’s leading city of science, with its first medical school and hospital, it is not surprising that a pharmaceutical establishment arose there as well.^[8]Glenn Sonnedecker, ed., Kremers and Urdang’s History of Pharmacy, 4th ed. (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1976): 189-193, 326-327; Joseph W. England, ed., The First Century of the Philadelphia … Continue reading

More importantly, as the famed Quaker City, Philadelphia was home to a number of apothecaries and druggists who used their connections with other Friends back in England to build their pharmaceutical reputations and businesses. From the early 1700s on, members of the Society of Friends in Britain had entered the drug trade and flourished. By the time of the American Revolution, perhaps half of the drug manufacturing in England was controlled by Quakers.^[9]Roy Porter, “The Origins of the English Pharmaceutical Industry,” Bulletin of the Society of Social History of Medicine, No. 41 (1987): 64-65. For a fuller discussion see Roy Porter and … Continue reading Their straightforward and honest approach to business worked well in the drug trade, which was traditionally hampered by shady practices such as adulteration and substitution.

Quaker druggists in the Philadelphia area had access to the best drugs, medicines, and spices from England. In addition, drawing on know-how shared by their English counterparts, American Quakers began the manufacturing of chemicals. In the 1780s the Marshalls of Philadelphia started to manufacture a few fine medicinal chemicals. In 1793, John Harrison, the son of a Philadelphia Quaker, was the first in the United States to produce large quantities of sulfuric acid.^[10]Williams Haynes, American Chemical Industry, 6 vols. (New York: Van Nostrand, 1954), 1:177-178, 187-188. See also, George Urdang, “The Influence of the Quakers on Philadelphia … Continue reading

Like almost all the items sold by Philadelphia druggists, the vast majority of drugs purchased by Lewis for the expedition were of foreign origin, traveling thousands of miles to reach the shelves of Gillaspy and Strong. Although networks had existed since ancient times for trade in spices and drugs, many new medicines entered the Western materia medica during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Some arrived from new lands opened to the West through exploration, while others came out of the laboratories of chemists. Whether animal, vegetable, or mineral in origin, almost all the drugs sold by druggists and apothecaries in the young United States first passed through the hands of British importers.^[11]Haynes, American Chemical Industry, 212.

Why Gillaspy and Strong?

There is no apparent evidence that Joseph Strong met Lewis or Clark during the Ohio Campaign but this connection might explain why Whelan bought his goods from this relatively unknown druggist. If Lewis had heard that Strong was a veteran of General Wayne’s campaign, he may have suggested Gillaspy & Strong. Perhaps it was Strong’s relationship with Rush, who may have referred patients to Gillaspy and Strong to get his anti-bilious pills. Either way, these are two pretty strong connections, and one does not have to speculate too far to explain why this obscure druggist received this commission.

Of course, a modern observer might ask–what is a physician doing as a druggist? In 1803, the lines between apothecary, doctor, and druggist were indistinct. Before the burgeoning of medical schools in the 19th century, most physicians learned their occupation via apprenticeship. Physicians commonly worked out of drugstores, following a model similar to the British apothecary. Strong, for example, apprenticed in such a shop before his one year at Penn. His experience in the military added to his training, which prepared him for the strenuous work of a surgeon in the period before anesthesia. Physicians commonly moved from the apothecary shop to wholesaling to chemical manufacturing and back to medical practice as whim or economic opportunities shifted. As the junior partner in this firm, Strong may have joined Gillaspy in order to promote his tourniquet and sell the products of his other ventures. According to Philadelphia city directories, the firm only lasted 4 or 5 years.^[12]Robinson’s Philadelphia Register and City Directory for 1799 (Philadelphia: James Robinson, 1799); The Philadelphia Directory, for 1800 (Philadelphia: Cornelius Stafford, 1800), 53; The … Continue reading

Conclusions

In conclusion, an examination of the 1803 bill of Gillaspy and Strong reveals that Lewis expected to face various fevers^[13]On 14 September 1803, two weeks and 200 miles down the Ohio River from Pittsburgh, Lewis wrote: “The [intermittent] fever and ague and bilious fevers here commence their baneful oppression and … Continue reading, venereal diseases, and gastro-intestinal ailments during the expedition West. His rather standard list of medical materials shows a balance of strong chemical and botanical medicines, almost all of which were imported.

The pharmaceutical enterprise industry in Philadelphia was composed of a complex cast of characters–physicians, apothecaries, and druggists–who exchanged roles often and easily. After only a few years, Gillaspy and Strong left the druggist business and returned to their individual medical practices.

The Philadelphia-area drug trade, founded in part on its Quaker heritage, would soon expand through patent medicine makers like Thomas Dyott and fine chemical manufacturing firms like Farr & Kunzi to a dominant position in pharmaceuticals that continues to the present day.^[14]Haynes, American Chemical Industry, 213 ff. James Harvey Young, The Toadstool Millionaires (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1961), 34-43; Maryann Feldman and Yda Schreuder, “Initial … Continue reading