His most popular novel was the science fiction or allegorical Etidorhpa, or, the end of the earth: the strange history of a mysterious being and the account of a remarkable journey (1895), illustrated by J. Augustus Knapp.

During 1886 the brothers bought the Merrell and Thorpe Company, renaming it Lloyd Brothers, Pharmacists, Inc. John Lloyd's innovations include a "cold still" for plant extractions and the first buffered alkaloid (made with hydrous aluminium silicate), called alcresta.

Today it is considered by many to house the finest collections in the world devoted to eclectic medicine, medical botany and pharmacy.

[citation needed] During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the eclectic medicine movement was popular, which incorporated the use of medical botany.

Lloyd combined his interests by writing a series of local description novels about the northern Kentucky area.