The apothecary of Dr. Cornelius Stork is an historical fiction based upon the pharmacology of the 18th and century centuries, and the use of prescribed medicines which were equally likely to kill than cure. Elixir waters date from the 1600’s and were still to be available in various guises three hundred years later. A level of lingering sympathetic magic applied to pharmacology still existed in the 18th century, the belief that nature had hidden clues to medically effective drugs in their resemblances to the human body and its parts; for example walnut shells might be good for skull fractures due to their visual semblance. Henceforth Elixir water resonated as the elixir of life, or elixir of immortality as sought by alchemists. This level of occultism, exoticism and mystery was deemed desirable in medicinal advertising of the time including profound claims about the medicines potency to cure all ailments, hence the origin of the term ‘cure alls’. The label is original ofgraveconcern artwork based upon historical medical advertising.