Antique Ayer's Compound Extract Sarsaparilla ,Lowell, Mass. , Aqua Blown Glass Medicine/Apothecary Bottle

This is a vintage Ayer's Compound Ext. Sarsaparilla,Cork top Aqua Blown Glass Patent Medicine bottle, made in Lowell, Mass.

There are no chips or cracks and it measures 8 1/2" x 2 3/4" x 1 3/4"
Would be beautiful displayed in a window or lit cabinet

In 1843, James Cook Ayer mixed up a cherry cough medicine in a Lowell, Mass., apothecary while his boss was on vacation in Europe.
The cough medicine, known as ‘Cherry pectoral,’ marked Ayer’s first step on the road to a fortune.  It was followed by a strong laxative called Cathartic Pills, a blood medicine called Sarsaparilla that was supposed to cure syphilis, a cure for malaria called Ague Cure, and a hair restorer called Hair Vigor
James Cook Ayer would become the most successful patent medicine manufacturer of his age. He accumulated one of the great fortunes of the era

He was born May 5, 1818 in Groton, Conn. His father died when he was seven, and at 13 he was sent to live with his uncle, a manufacturer who later became a mayor of the new city of Lowell, Mass. At 19 he became an apprentice to an apothecary, Jacob Robbins. He also studied medicine with a local doctor, Samuel Dana, eventually graduating from the University of Pennsylvania with a medical degree in 1860.

Ayer was more interested in selling medicines than in practicing medicine. When he was 22, he bought the apothecary shop for $2,486.61 with money borrowed from his uncle. He paid him back in three years.
Physicians happily prescribed Ayer’s medicines, but the real secret to his success was advertising. He spent $140,000 a year on advertisements that promoted the benefits of his medicines with charming, whimsical illustrations. He distributed millions of free copies of an almanac that hawked his cures.
Cherry pectoral was advertised as a cure for ‘coughs, colds, asthma, croup, laryngitis, bronchitis, whooping cough and consumption.’ Sarsaparilla, his most popular product, was ‘a real blessing that purifies the blood, stimulates the vital functions, restores and preserves health, and infuses new life and vigor throughout the whole system. Sarsaparilla was recommended for jaundice, dyspepsia, pimples, boils, ringworm, female weaknesses and ‘lassitude and debility peculiar to the Spring.’
Ayer built a state-of-the-art factory in Lowell to produce vast quantities of medicines that made him a fortune. He employed 150 people. In one year the factory processed 325,000 pounds of drugs, 220,000 gallons of spirits and 400,000 pounds of sugar. His products were sold around the world, and the factory continued to produce drugs until the 1940s