William Howes Comstock was a London, England proprietary medicine manufacturer who had a branch company in the United States as well as Canada, Australia, New Zealand and China. The Comstock Company of Morristown, New York produced Dr. Morse's Indian Root Pills, "a general corrective for people who eat too much and drink too much," Comstock's Dead Shot Worm Pills and Dr. Morse's Compound Syrup of Yellow Dock Root. Private die stamps featuring the likeness of the magnificently sideburned William Howes Comstock were issued from mid-1880 through June 1, 1882. 275,000 were printed on silk paper and 32,297 on watermarked paper. This copy is on watermarked paper.

A trade card for Dr. Morse's Compound Syrup of Yellow Dock Root.

An innovative use for Confederate fifty cent notes. The comment that Indian Root Pills "have been before the public for more than sixty years" would place the use of this advertisement in the 1890's.