R18c US Revenue stamp with Charles Osgood Medicine cancel, Norwich, Connecticut

Dr. Charles Osgood of Norwich, Connecticut invented a remedy about 1830 which he called Cholagogue containing quinine sulfate, leptrandra, podophyllum, stillingia, sassafras and oil of gaultheria. In time the remedy became known as Dr. Osgood’s Indian Cholagogue which was trade­marked in 1848. In the meanwhile, Charles Lee had concocted Lee’s Pills and the two joined forces under the firm name of Lee and Osgood. Lee died in 1870 and the firm name changed to Charles Osgood and Company of Norwich even though New York Offices were opened as early as 1856. Os­good considered his Cholagogue a preventive rather than a cure and thus considered it not subject to the tax act, but in 1871, the government ruled otherwise. Cholagogue was still being manufactured in 1883 but little was heard of the product after 1900.

(Holcombe, Henry w., Stamp and Cover Collector’s Review, 2: 7-11, January, 1938)