Cough Drops (1799)

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   "Cough drops" can possibly be included as "candy" in the OXFORD ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN FOOD AND DRINK.
   OED has 1851, but Merriam-Webster has an earlier 1831 for "cough drop."
   The American Periodical Series online has these early hits:

1806, LITERARY MISCELLANY, pg. 358:  "_Cough drops_ and _infallible cures for consumptions_ are manufactured by the disinterested friends of humanity, and our shops are furnished with the means of resuscitation, like the huts on the desolate beach for the shipwrecked mariner."

1 November 1817, THE ATHENEUM, Vol. 2, Iss. 2, pg. 88 title:  _Quack medicines, pectoral balsams, cough drops, and lotions._

10 May 1823, SATURDAY EVENING POST, pg. 3 ad:  DR. MELLEN'S Cough Drops.
(There were many "cough drop" ads in this periodical--ed.)


   This is from the PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE, full text on Accessible Archives:


ITEM #82760
April 17, 1799
The Pennsylvania Gazette

REMOVAL
GEORGE ABBOTT,
Apothecary and Druggist.

HAS removed from No. 69 to 85, Market street, lately occupied by Owen Biddle, deceased, and has for sale, as usual, a general assortment of fresh DRUGS and MEDICINES, of the first quality. Also a valuable assortment of PATENT MEDICINES, amongst which are

Robberds's Balsamic Elixir,
Church's << Cough Drops>> , For consumptions.
Hill's Balsam of Honey,
Coltsfoot Lozenges, for coughs and colds,
Steere's Chemical Opodildock, for sprains, bruises and rheumatism.
Jesuits Antivenerial Drops and electuary.
Keyser's ditto Pills.
Ching's Worm destroying Lozenges.
Gowland's Lotion for the face and skin.
Salt of Lemon, for removing spots and stains, &c.
Likewise Dying and Colouring Drugs, Paints, Oil and Glass.

Prescriptions from medical practitioners particularly attended to, and orders from the country executed with care and dispatch.