Guess Who With Kevin
Inspired by Paul Harvey’s The Rest of the Story, Kevin has crafted a captivating series of “guess who” articles, which he’s generously sharing with our readers!
Can you guess the ending?
In the first place, Dr. Pemberton wasn’t even a doctor. But who would trust a product called “Mr. Pemberton’s Triplex Liver Pills”? Well, no one actually!
After some careful deliberation, he called it “Dr. Pemberton’s Globe of Flower Cough Syrup” and “Dr. Pemberton’s Extract of Styllinger Blood Medicine.” But if Dr. Pemberton wasn’t a doctor, he also wasn’t a quack. He merely lived in an era, right after the American Civil War, when the corner druggist knew as much about medicines as the national drug manufacturers. And that’s what John Pemberton was. A corner druggist.
It was sometime after moving his business from Columbus, Ohio to Atlanta, Georgia, that this obscure pharmacist started fiddling with a basement brew you’ll want to know about. Most patent medicines in those days contained alcohol. None of that was in John Pemberton’s new concoction. In fact, according to some, he was trying to invent a headache or hangover cure.
He experimented with the extracts of fruits and nuts and leaves, but that was just for taste. If he was going to cure a headache he’d need, perhaps, a stimulant? Yes. Caffeine seemed right. And an analgesic. Some say… a street drug that starts with C.
It was during the summer of 1886, Dr. Pemberton took a jug of the reddish-brown syrup to a pharmacy in Atlanta. He wouldn’t tell them what was in it though. Just mix it with water and that’s it. Well, the clerk who mixed it used carbonated water by mistake. The other ingredients remain basically the same today, although it is still a secret.
So, what did the pharmacist, Asa Candler make? Why Coca-Cola!
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