A BALTIMORE PIONEER IN PROPRIETARY MEDICINE
By THERESE S. WESTERMEIER
"Krût, steine unde wort hânt an
kreften grôssen hort."
l
These words
from Freidank's Bescheidenheit, a
popular thirteenth century booklet of
everyday remarks and proverbs,
clearly indicate that the healing prop-
erties of plants and herbs were known
at that time. Herbal lore is age old
among the Germanic peoples, as is
evidenced in this statement: "...
Sehr früh treten bei den einzelnen
Völkern auch bestimmte Pflanzen
hervor, die in besonders hohem Masse
für heilkräftig gelten, und daher als
Panacee angesehen werden . . ."²
It is not surprising, therefore, that
the knowledge of the medicinal value
of certain plants was transplanted to
our country over a hundred years
ago by August Vogeler, who, soon
after his arrival in Baltimore in 1840,
became a pioneer in the wholesale
drug business and was recognized as
the oldest merchant in this type of
profession. The following records
from the Baltimore City Directory
show the location of the establish-
ment and briefly summarize its phe-
nomenal growth over a period of
almost fifty years:
1855, Vogeler, August, druggist. 9 S. Liberty
Street.
1865, August Vogeler and Company, druggists.
5, 7 S. Liberty Street.
1870. Vogeler Drug Company (August Voge-
ler and J. H. Winkelmann; C. A. Voge-
ler son of August, salesman). 5, 7 S.
Liberty Street.
1880, August Vogeler and Company, wholesale
drugs. 164-166 West Lombard Street.
Vogeler, Son and Company, drugs. 4, 6,
8 S. Liberty.
Vogeler, Meyer and Company, importers
and manufacturers. 43 S. Sharp Street.
Upon the death of the son, Charles,
in 1882,³ the firm which.bore his name
was taken over by his wife, and the
C. A. Vogeler Company became the
successor of the August Vogeler Com-
pany on West Lombard. Also listed
for this year was: Vogeler, Winkel-
man and Company, (August Vogeler,
J.H. Winkelmann, J. Vogeler younger
son), Wholesale druggists, 6 S. Lib-
erty Street.
At this time the new C. A. Vo-
geler Company, under the guidance
of Christian DeVries, manager and
senior partner, launched an extensive
advertising campaign for the sale of
several patent medicines, among them
St. Jacobs Oil and Hamburg Breast
Tea. Due to advertising and sales,
both at home and abroad, and
through the addition of a printing
department this popularity continued
for at least twenty years. In 1890
the Directory listed these two firms:
Charles A. Vogeler Company, proprietary
medicine. 300, 302 West Lombard Street.
Vogeler, Son and Company, wholesale drug-
gists and perfumers. 8-10 S. Liberty
Street.
By 1900, the former company
added a printing establishment, and
Jerome Vogeler had a perfumery at
602 West Pratt Street. After 1901,
the C. A. Vogeler Company no lon-
ger appeared; the firm of Jerome was
still noted in 1902, and in 1903 the
only business mentioned was the
Bonnert-Vogeler Company, featuring
decorated glassware.
For more detailed information con-
cerning these druggists, the author
refers now to two books, commemo-
rating the growth of Baltimore. The
first, Half Century's Progress of the
City of Baltimore, appeared in 1887,
and the data provided therein is given
here in part:
1
Freidank, Bescheidenheit, III, 6, (Halle, 1902).
2
O. Schräder, Reallexikon der Indogermanischen Altertumskunde, 45, (Strassburg, 1901).
3
Date of death, August 5, 1882, listed in Baltimore Sun Almanac for 1883.
[67]
The Charles A. Vogeler Company, Manu-
facturers of St. Jacob's Oil, Hamburg Drops,
Hamburg Breast Tea, Bed Star Cough Cure,
and other preparations, Nos. 300, 302, and 304
West Lombard Street . . . The present co-
partners of the Company are Christian Devries
and Minnie A. Vogeler. The offices and
works of the firm . . . extend back 170 feet
to a rear public alley. The buildings are of
press brick, Ohio stone, with ornamental iron-
work trimmings, being five stories in height.
The establishment is admirably equipped with
every facility and appliance, which skill, capi-
tal, and science can supply to make it complete
in every respect. The manufacturing and print-
ing departments are supplied with powerful
steam engines and presses necessary for the
conduct of the business on such an immense
scale. Hundreds of hands are employed, and
the works are in full operation night and day.
The Charles A. Vogeler Company prints daily
an immense quantity of pamphlets, calendars,
almanacs, posters, and circulars in twelve
different languages, which are forwarded to all
parts of the world . . . He (Mr. DeVries] is
always to be found in his handsome offices,
constantly at work. The great advertising de-
partment occupies the entire second floor of
the main building. Its methods, all original,
its system the most accurate, it is conceded to
be as near perfection as anything in its line
can approach . . . Adjoining the neat recep-
tion-room is the general office of the advertising
department. All the minutiae in the original
methods of handling a vast and intricate cor-
respondence are here perfectly systematized.
The system of filing letters received and con-
tracts opened and completed is of itself a
system which the manager has made the most
perfect in use. Large cabinet files are arranged
by the States, in alphabetical order, and in the
use of which there is and can be no confusion.
A letter called for is found on the instant by
simply turning to its alphabetical and geo-
graphical place, nor are the clerks delayed in
procuring or returning these. A document
withdrawn, or in the process of reply, when
used, is placed in a basket, which is an attach-
ment of each desk, and an assistant responsible
for the files is also responsible for their careful
replacement and distribution ... In the filing
process there are ample accommodations for
one hundred thousand documents annually.
4
In 1890 appeared Illustrated Balti-
more: The Monumental City. This
has a citation for the firm of Vogeler,
Son and Company at Nos. 8, 10, and
12 South Liberty Street. The physi-
cal structure is mentioned only briefly;
however, the date of August Vogeler's
arrival in Baltimore (July 27, 1840)
is given and also information con-
cerning the international trade of the
house.
5
The two most widely advertised
proprietary medicines were St. Jacob's
Oil and Hamburg Tea; of the two, the
former was hailed as "the wonderful
preparation, so popular and firmly
established in every part of the civil-
ized globe as the greatest pain-curing
and healing remedy known to man-
kind and recognized as the most re-
markable discovery in medical science
of modern times." In the year 1882
at the New Zealand International Ex-
hibition it received "the magnificent
first prize medal . . . together with
the highest diploma for being, accord-
ing to critical tests, the best pain-
curing remedy."
6
The Company established branches
in various parts of the United States
and Canada, also in Mexico, South
America, Australia, and England.
7
Experienced salesmen visited practi-
cally every state in the Union, and
advertising appeared in newspapers
throughout the country.
Some of the ads simply showed a
reproduction of the well-known label
—"a venerable old man, arrayed in
the costume of a monk, and suggest-
ing at once notions of wisdom and
benevolence"
8
— together with the
long list of aches and ailments that a
fifty-cent bottle would cure. Others
were elaborate in voicing attestations
as to the intrinsic worth of the medi-
cine:
(I) Hazael, the champion walker of the
world, said to a New York reporter, "St.
4
Half-Century's Progress of the City of Baltimore, 138-139, (New York. 1887).
5
Illustrated Baltimore: The Monumental City, 93, (New York, 1890).
6
Half-Century's Progress, 138.
7
In Baltimore, Seine Vergangenheit und Gegenwart, (Baltimore, 1887) one of the sketches on Baltimore
German business companies deals with the house of Charles A. Vogeler. After mentioning the fact that
the company had branches in such far distant places as London, San Francisco, Melbourne etc. the text
(p. 309) concludes: "Die Vogeler Comp. kann daher mit Karl V. behaupten, dass in ihren Domänen die
Sonne nie untergeht."
8
Illustrated Baltimore, op. cit., 93.
[68]
Jacobs Oil is a wonderful medicine; I do not
know what pedestrians would do without it,
for it their best friend. A rub of St. Jacobs
Oil after leaving the track makes a new man
out of one and fits him again for the contest."
9
(2) "They that are whole need not a physi-
cian, but they that are sick"; and never was
a physician hailed with more genuine enthu-
siasm than the venerable monk, St. Jacob,
reminding one strangely of the forest odors,
lingering sunsets and the bright green meadows
of far-away Germany. I say welcome, because
he comes, bringing healing and consolation in
his hand to snap the cords of human suffering
and set the pain-racked body free. Like the
ancient Druids, he quickly finds favor with
all classes, and why? Because the remedy is
simple, cheap and effective.
10
For a period of several months
there appeared, almost daily, in a
leading western newspaper, The Den-
ver Republican, a series of limericks,
which, in themselves, are prize mate-
rial for collectors and may, indeed, be
considered as forerunners of modern
radio commercial jingles. Unfortu-
nately, space permits the quoting of
only a few (the author has collected
almost one hundred), which may
serve as typical examples:
(1)
A pain-stricken farmer of Worcester,
Who couldn't walk as he useter,
Tried St. Jacobs Oil,
And this man of toil
Now kicks sky-high if he chooseter.
11
(2)
A mother-in-law out at Pike's Peak,
With sore throat could scarcely speak,
St. Jacobs Oil cured her,
And those who endured her
Say she talked right along for a week.
12
(3)
A lame old nag they called Dot,
Was cured right up on the spot,
And in every race
He got the first place,
St. Jacobs Oil helped him to trot.
13
(4)
A gouty old man in Jamaica
Was kicked by the horse of a baker,
The pain he endured
St. Jacobs Oil cured,
And he cheated the undertaker.
14
Among the various publications of
the Vogeler Company, two were dedi-
cated almost exclusively to the two
above-mentioned patent medicines—
Dr. August Koenigs Hamburger
Familien Kalendar, first printed in
1880, and Vennor's Weather Almanac
which made its initial appearance in
1883.
In the former is portrayed, with
fitting illustrations and verses, a love
affair between a fair damsel and a gal-
lant youth which ensues from a night
quarrel between two cats on the roof:
Laute Liebe macht Verdruss
Für manchen, der es hören muss,
Es hat schon manchen bös gemacht,
Wenn er dadurch vom Schlaf erwacht
Es pflanzt sich die Geschichte fort
Auf selbe Art, nicht weit von dort.
Durch jene, die vom Dache rennen
Lernen sich zwei Menschen kennen.
O zarte Sehnsucht, süsses Hoffen,
Gott Amors Pfeil hat sie getroffen.
Doch Katzen und Mondscheinnacht,
Die haben ihn krank gemacht.
Doch zarte Liebe rettet ihn
Mit Dr. Koenigs Medizin.
Und unsern Lesern völlig glar,
Führt er sie zum Traualtar.
15
Vennor's Weather Almanac extolls
St. Jacob's Oil on every page, and the
reader finds the Great German Rem-
edy marking sea lions on the West
Coast; doctors voting a straight ticket
for it; a British Admiral, in battle
near the city of Alexandria, com-
municating with an American vessel
to secure a supply of the medicine for
the injured of his fleet; and a world
traveler consulting the Sphinx as to a
cure-all for his aches.
16
An enthusi-
astic admirer of St. Jacob's Oil sub-
mits a parody on King Bruce and the
Spider, entitled The Deacon and the
Fly:
Old Deacon Brown had sat him down, in
gloom to meditate,
9
San Francisco Morning Call, June 19, 1882.
10
Ibid., April 12, 1882.
11
The Denver Republican, April 16, 1883.
12
Ibid., April 23, 1883.
13
Ibid., May 24, 1883.
14
Ibid., June 30, 1883.
15
Dr. Koenigs Hamburger Familien Kalendar, 1880.
16
Vennor's Weather Almanac, 1883.
[69]
With solemn "phiz " on Rheumatiz, and
his unhappy fate,
He'd tried enough of worthless stuff—it
did no good, and so
He'd set his face toward the place where
all good deacons go.
A little fly, just passing by, attacked the
Deacon's ear.
Though he "shoo'd" 'twas not subdued,
but still did persevere.
The Deacon blest the little pest and
slapped with all his might;
But all in vain, it came again, to carry
on the fight.
Soon he arose and blew his nose; then
joyfully did cry:
" In vain I've fought, but I've been taught
a lesson by this fly!
No more I'll struggle, nor will I ' shuffle
off this mortal coil,'
But like the fly, again I'll try—I'll use St.
Jacobs Oil."
He used the oil; with little toil he rubbed
his side and arm;
The ailment dread most quickly fled; the
Deacon runs his farm.1'
It is only natural that the phe-
nomenal advertising campaign of, and
the popularity accredited to, these
proprietary medicines aroused the
author's curiosity in respect to the
origin of their titles. Research re-
vealed that senna leaves of the genus
Cassia,
18
a bitter but valuable purga-
tive herb, form the basis of Hamburg
Brust Tea.
19
The intriguing name, St. Jacob's
Oil, bears evidence of long-existent
folklore. The basic ingredient of the
remedy was the herb commonly re-
ferred to as ragwort or groundsel of
the genus Senecio, which has several
subdivisions, among them jacobaea.
This latter term, however, is not
looked upon as the origin of the title
of this medicine, rather it honors a
distinguished Danish botanist, Johann
Adolph Jacobaeus. Senecio jacobaea
is a very common plant or herb in
Europe; it has a rather sharp odor
and a cluster of bright yellow flowers.
In German nomenclature it has a
variety of names—Jacobskraut, Ja-
cobsstab, Johannisblume, Kreuzkraut,
etc. Concerning its medicinal value,
"es war früher Volksmittel gegen
Krampf und Blutungen,"
20
and "eine
beliebte Heilpflanze, die sollte be-
sonders gegen Geschwulst und Wun-
den heilkräftig sein."
21
The naming of plants and flowers
in honor of some particular saint be-
came very popular after the rise of
Christianity and persisted so long
that even the great Linnaeus in his
time (1707-1778) protested against
it.
22
Webster's New International
Dictionary lists some forty plants,
herbs, and flowers bearing a saint's
name, among them, Saint James'
(German Jacobs) wort. The original
reason for this homage to saints was
the hope of gaining their favor, but
later the only significance attached to
such an appellation was the fact that
these plants blossomed on or near the
feast day of a saint.
Saint James' Day falls on July
twenty-fifth and this is, in all proba-
bility, about the time of the blossom-
ing period of the plant that bears his
name, so called "from its being used
for the diseases of horses, of which
this great pilgrim saint was the pa-
tron, or owing to its blossoming on
his festival."
23
The wondrous cures attributed to
oil are also age old. In Deuteronomy
XXXIII, 24 we read, " Let him dip
his foot in oil," and in an old manu-
script of the third century is found
the legend that Adam, in the hour of
a terrible illness, sent his son Seth to
Paradise to fetch oil from the tree of
life to heal his pain.
24
Also, there are
references to various saints in the
Roman Catholic Church from whose
remains a healing oil flows; very well
known among these is Saint Wal-
17
Ibid.
18
Of interest to Marylanders: " The American or wild senna is the Cassia marylandica, a perennial
abundant in the southern United States." See Encyclopedia Americana, XXIV, 564 (Chicago, 1940).
19
R. Dorstewitz and G. Otter bach, Drogenkunde, 37, (Sammlung Göschen 413, Leipzig, 1908).
22
Willard N. Clute, The Common Names of Plants, 74, (Indianapolis, 1942).
20
Der Grosse Brockhaus, XVII, 290, (Leipzig, 1934).
21
Hermann Reling, Unsere Pflanzen in Sage, Dichtung und Geschichte, III, 61, (Gotha, 1904).
23
W. S. Thistleton-Dyer, Folklore of Plants, 260, (London, 1889).
24
Georg Rietschel, Weihnachten in Kirche, Kunst und Volksleben, 136, (Leipzig, 1902).
[70]
burga, niece of the great missionary
Boniface.
25
So much for legend and folklore.
For a sounder basis of the medicinal
value of the oil in plants, one need
only glance through Drogenkunde,
26
which gives over forty of these, all
indigenous to Europe. Since Johan-
nisblume, Jacobskraut, and Hexen-
kraut are listed in Brockhaus as sy-
nonymous terms for the species Se-
necio jacobaea, it is quite possible
that the word "oil" in St. Jacob's Oil
arose from a confusion with the oil of
Johanniskraut and Hexenkraut, de-
scribed in the above mentioned book
as follows, "der wässerige Ausguss ist
seit alters bewährt gegen Blutungen.
Häufiger jedoch wird ein öliger Aus-
guss daraus bereitet-Johannisöl . . .
das wirkt heilende Wirkung aus, be-
sonders bei alten Beinschäden."
27
The Johanniskraut, however, belongs
to the genus Hypericum.
Returning now to Baltimore's pio-
neer druggist in proprietary medicine,
the author was able to discover that
August Vogeler was a member of the
German Society of Maryland, served
as its manager in 1853, and made a
financial contribution in 1877 .
28
Since
all the research for this article was
obtained exclusively from newspapers,
almanacs, directories, and published
reports, it has been impossible to
obtain additional information about
the personality and life of August
Vogeler. However, all respect is due
him and his associates for their pio-
neering work in advertising in an era
without radios, television, and other
convenient methods of communica-
tion, and as for his interest in pro-
prietary medicines, let us look to the
Old Testament: "The Lord hath
created medicines out of the earth
and he that is wise will not abhor
them."
28
SOURCE MATERIAL
The directories, almanacs, calendars, book-
lets, reports, etc. in the Maryland Room of the
Enoch Pratt Library in Baltimore were most
valuable. Except for occasional advertising,
newspapers provided very little information
about the Vogeler Drug Company.
The author's interest in this company was
aroused by the series of limericks in The
Denver Republican; research was carried on in
Baltimore and Washington, D. C. during a
leave of absence in 1951-1952.
25
Related to the author by Lady Abbess Augustina, O. S. B., Convent of St. Walburga, Eichstätt,
Bavaria.
26
Dorstewitz and Otterbach, op. cit.
27
Ibid., 25.
28
Louis P. Henninghausen, History of the German Society of Maryland, 168, 178, (Baltimore, 1909).
29
Apocrypha; Ecclesiasticus, XXXVIII, 4, 5.
[71]
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