I seem to remember - tho I can not recall the source - that
Railroad Road pills were supposed to be for motion sickness and were another
type of "snake oil".  Perhaps perusing old medical writings about folk
remedies or bogus medicines.

 

 

Ed Hale

  _____  

From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Lynne
Sent: Monday, September 11, 2006 10:36 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Railroad pills?

 

Hello,

   I staff our small local history museum and am enrolled in a museum
professions graduate program. I am in the middle of the internship that is
required for the graduate program and I am in need of help with a small
research project, please.

   One of the objects in the collection of the museum where I am doing the
internship is a small, ca. 1870, handwritten book of formulas for colognes
and pharmaceuticals. One of the recipes is titled "Rail Road Pills" and
while I don't have the ingredients in front of me, I seem to recall that it
wouldn't help much even if I did, as they were not ingredients I recognized
or could even read. The text below the ingredients mentions that one should
take 2-3 pills per day for 'operation on the bowels' and if one has liver
problems one should take only one pill 'until the bowels become
troublesome.'

    We Googled "Railroad Pills" in an effort to find out exactly what that
means and we found a genealogical inquiry by someone who said her
great-great-great grandfather was a doctor who "fell out of the medical
profession for manufacturing 'railroad pills' and that he apparently 'made
something and had girls selling them up and down the railroad system.' "  

    A second hit was a strange story that seems to be from an 1847 issue of
Scientific American. It mentions a man going into a drug store in Batavia NY
and asking for 'percussion pills.' He is told that the store sells 'Lee's
pills, Smith's pills, Maffat's pills, Railroad pills, High pressure pills,
Headache pills ..." etc.

    Those were the only two apparently-relevant hits on the item and we are
still not sure what they are. Can anyone help us determine what exactly
railroad pills were?

    Thank you.

Lynne

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