Formula Bottle -- Turlington's Balsam of Life
primary document · 2023
LINK
SUMMARY
State historic-park museum artifact record, verified by direct fetch, which reproduces the patent-era 27-ingredient formula verbatim ('storax, coriander seeds, aloes, fennell, mastick, cardamums, frankinsence, aniseeds, benjamin, angilica, gum elemy, cinnamon, guiacum, cloves, myrrh, nuttmeggs, araback, winter bark, perue, nettle seeds, tolue, juniper, safron, mace, oyle, Saint john wort, marsh mallows and rectifying spirits'), the 1744 patent's claim to address 'stone, gravel, cholick, and inward weakness,' and the bottle's embossed text ('By The Kings Royal Patent Granted To Robt. Turlington For His Invented Balsom of Life. London Jany. 26, 1754'). No byline is given on the page, but it is not undated: its JSON-LD carries datePublished 2023-05-23T09:33:22+00:00 (dateModified the same day), verified by direct fetch on 2026-08-02, which is the year recorded here. That year is in any case not load-bearing for any dated claim in this case -- the patent date 1744 and bottle date 1754 both come from the artifact's own reproduced text, not from this record's page-publication date.
NOTES
An artifact description from Mackinac State Historic Parks (Michigan) for a period Turlington’s Balsam of Life bottle, reproducing the original 27-ingredient patent formula and the bottle’s embossed patent text. Cited in this case as an institutional museum-record source for the exact ingredient list and the patent’s original four-condition claim (stone, gravel, colic, inward weakness).