Medicine Bottles from Rome, New York

Then and Now: Archeology at Fort Stanwix

Archeology Home		Patent Medicine: Cure or Poison? Patent medicines were very popular in the second half of nineteenth century, but they were not regulated as to whether they actually worked. It wasn't even until 1906 that you could be sure they weren't poison! This didn't stop people from using them, and they used plenty.
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During the nineteenth century, patent medicines were produced to cure all sorts of illnesses, including some that did not exist. There was no way to know what was in these medicines, and no control over whether the cure actually did anything. The phrase "snake oil" was invented to describe some of these so-called cures, some of which were no more than alcohol, sugar, and water. Other medicines actually worked, and did what they said they did. In 1906, the Pure Food and Drug Act was passed to prevent poisons from being sold as medicine, and in 1913 it was expanded to keep people from making claims about their products that weren't true.

This bottle, Renne's Magic Oil, was a pain-killer, like aspirin or ibuprofen of today. William Renne was sole producer of this proprietary medicine. Originally from Pittsfield, Massachusetts, he was listed in the Elmira, New York, business directory in 1874. In 1877, the patent was sold to the Herrick Medicine Company of New York City. Renne's Magic Oil was still advertised for sale in 1935. This may indicate it was an effective medicine as it survived the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act. A variety of different bottles were produced for Renne's Magic Oil, making precise dating difficult. This bottle is about 4 ¾" high.

"Dr. N.C. WHITE'S PULY ELIXIR" was obviously a patent medicine, but no information about either Dr. White or exactly what a puly elixir is could be found. Unlike Renne's Magic Oil, this medicine did not survive the Pure Food and Drug Act.

Another bottle recovered from the privy was Dr. McMunn's Elixir of Opium. This product was first produced in 1842 and was still available in 1900. In 1859, the Folembray Glass Works in France produced eighty million bottles for this product, indicating it was widely used. An advertisement for its use said "Pure and Essential Extract from the Native Plant…To Produce Sleep and Composure; to Relieve Pain and Irritation, Nervous Excitement and Morbid Irritibility of Body and Mind; to Allay Convulsive and Spasmodic Actions, etc….The Elixir of Opium is also greatly superior to Morphine." Opium, while effective as a pain killer, is highly addictive. Opium was usually administered with a syringe.

Not all the bottles found at the Willett Center site can be easily identified. This one marked "SLINGERLAND, ROME" was obviously associated with someone in Rome, but no more information was found during the research about this bottle. Because of the size and shape, it was probably a patent medicine, but that is all we know.

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