As America moved closer to the end of the 19th century, more and more products loaded store shelves and newspaper pages. Competition for consumer dollars consequently became tougher, so manufacturers resorted to branding their products and some got their product designs and names trademarked.
It was the early years of registered trademarks in the U.S. (the first being issued in 1870), so the art and craft of creating an effective brand went in many directions - some became standards that have lasted into our lives today and many more have gone the way of the dodo - but even those have fascinating and sometimes fun stories to share with us today.
Lots of Lynn medicine makers applied for trademarks and I have featured them in Appendix B of Promising Cures. I will drop them in as blog entries from time to time, starting with this amusingly dramatic scene for Parisian Afro Tonic:

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