Dr. Fizz and how soda first got its pop

In the late 1700s, Philadelphia surgeon Philip Syng Physick pioneered the use of a stomach pump, invented surgical instruments, removed cataracts, fought yellow fever, was a role model for medical students, and used autopsy to draw deductions - way before

CSI

.

This year, we toast the bicentennial of another of his achievements: soda pop.

Physick copied experiments being done in England by the Schweppes brothers. While they were the first to force carbon dioxide into water, Physick first found a use for the liquid, prescribing it for relief of gastric distress.

When patients complained about the taste, Physick added fruit syrup, creating the drink that an entrepreneurial New Yorker would later mass-produce. Following Physick's formula, pharmacist Townsend Speakman delivered a daily glass of soda to patients for $1.50 per month.

"That was quite a lot of money back then," says James Delacour Conner, site manager of the Physick House, a stunning Federal townhouse museum in Society Hill.

Now you can quaff the modern version, a black cherry bubbly called Dr. Physick Soda's Pop (soda's pop, get it?). The facsimile costs $2 a bottle at the Physick House (321 S. Fourth St., open Thursdays through Sundays).

"It's delicious," says Conner, who happens to be Physick's great-great-great grandson. "It's selling like crazy."

By the way, the term physician has nothing to do with Physick, but Conner says he wouldn't be surprised if fizz comes from his famous forebear's surname. It inspired a lot of puns, as in this verse:

Sing Physic, sing Physic, for Philip Syng Physick

Is dubbed Dr. Phil for his wounderful skill.

- Marie McCullough