Henry Helmbold, a white man, begins stealing and bottling buchu, an African medicinal plant.
Date: 1850s
A Philadelphia drug store manager begins bottling what he claims to be buchu (agathosma betulina) and marketing it as a wonder drug. Within a decade, the remedy will be used in hospitals and Helmbold will be making millions.
In 1878, the Supreme Court will take up the question of the authenticity of the contents of the remedy, contributing to the downfall of patent medicine and medicine shows.