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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