Object Details
- Description
- The indications or uses for this product as provided by the manufacturer are: Ex-Lax the chocolated laxative is widely used with good results in cases of occasional constipation.
- Ex-Lax was invented in 1906 by Max Kiss (1883-1967), a penniless Hungarian Jew who moved to the United States in 1898, and graduated from the Columbia University School of Pharmacy. This new “Excellent Laxative” contained phenolphthalein as the active ingredient, and chocolate for taste. Israel Matz, a Jewish immigrant from Lithuania, provided funding for the new enterprise. In time, Ex-Lax, Inc. became the largest laxative maker in the world, with factories in Brooklyn, Montreal, Wheaton (Ill.), and England.
- Ref: “MAX KISS IS DEAD; CREATED EX-LAX,” New York Times (June 23, 1967), p. 34.
- “ISRAEL MATZ DIES; HEBREW SCHOLAR,” New York Times (Feb. 11, 1950), p. 12.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- Gift of Gary P. and Sandra Baden
- ca 1930
- ID Number
- 1979.0798.100
- accession number
- 1979.0798
- catalog number
- 1979.0798.100
- Object Name
- otc preparation
- Other Terms
- Patent Medicines; Drugs; Non-Liquid
- Measurements
- overall: 1.7 cm x 7.9 cm x 6.7 cm; 11/16 in x 3 1/8 in x 2 5/8 in
- overall: 2 5/8 in x 3 1/4 in x 3/4 in; 6.6675 cm x 8.255 cm x 1.905 cm
- Place Made
- United States: New York, Brooklyn
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Medicine
- Health & Medicine
- Balm of America
- National Museum of American History
- Subject
- Laxatives
- Record ID
- nmah_715720
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ab-76a2-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
