Title
Rexall Internal Pile Remedy
Author
United Drug Co., Boston, Massachusetts
Image
Description
Rexall Internal Pile Remedy was an over-the-counter liquid formula sold to treat “piles,” the period term for hemorrhoids. The label promises relief from pain, swelling, soreness, bleeding, mucous discharge, and irritation. It claims to work in two ways: first, by “regulating” the bowels and making the stool soft so patients wouldn’t aggravate inflamed hemorrhoidal tissue; and second, by an internal astringent effect that would “aid the blood vessels to contract,” theoretically shrinking the hemorrhoids from the inside.
The directions on the bottle are unmistakably medicinal, not cosmetic. Patients were told to take a tablespoon at bedtime, repeat in the morning if they were still constipated, then continue with teaspoon doses three times daily for a week if needed, and afterward “such doses as necessary to keep the bowels regular.” In other words: part laxative regimen, part vascular toner.
The front label also recommends pairing this internal treatment with a local product — “Rexall Pile Ointment” — making this an early example of a branded multi-product protocol: one bottle you swallow, one ointment you apply.
Condition
Clear glass bottle with flared lip and partial neck band still present (“SHAKE WELL…” and “…USING” are still legible around the collar). Front and back paper labels are intact, readable, and still firmly adhered, with edge wear, staining, and small abrasions consistent with age. Bottle appears empty. No major chips or cracks noted in the glass.
Gallery
Historical context
“Piles” (hemorrhoids) were not something polite people talked about in public, but they were absolutely something they bought medicine for. By the late 1800s and early 1900s, hemorrhoid cures were a thriving corner of patent medicine. These products almost always promised: shrinkage of swollen veins, relief of bleeding, soothing of “burning and itching,” and an end to embarrassing leakage.
Rexall was one of the biggest names in American pharmacy in the early 20th century. Rexall wasn’t just a single factory brand — it was a franchised drugstore network under the United Drug Company of Boston. Independent pharmacies could sign on as Rexall stores and then sell a standardized, “house brand” product line. That let Rexall market its internal pile remedy as something you could “depend upon,” backed by a national chain rather than by one sketchy mail-order quack.
Because the Pure Food and Drug Act (1906) began forcing more honest ingredient labeling for certain classes of drugs, large chains like Rexall leaned into the language of respectability: “recommended by us,” “designed to act on the bowels,” “aiding the blood vessels to contract.” It sounds clinical, but it’s still classic patent-medicine promise.
Curious Facts, Ephemera, and Trivia
– The dosing instructions basically admit that constipation is part of the hemorrhoid problem. They’re telling you, in turn-of-the-century politeness, “stop passing bricks and you’ll stop shredding yourself.”
– The bottle explicitly claims it will lessen “bleeding and mucous discharge.” That’s the kind of symptom language modern OTC hemorrhoid products usually dance around, but Rexall just prints it right on the glass.
– “Internal Pile Remedy” plus “Rexall Pile Ointment” is early upsell bundling. Buy the kit, treat inside and outside, and you’ve doubled the ticket at the counter.
– The little neck band with “SHAKE WELL” is still on this specimen. Survival of those thin paper seals is uncommon because people tore them when opening the bottle.
Excerpt
“Is designed to act on the bowels, regulating them and rendering the movements soft, thus lessening irritation, allaying the soreness, diminishing the swelling, lessening bleeding and mucous discharge and, by virtue of a certain astringent action, aiding the blood vessels to contract.
Dose. A tablespoonful taken at bedtime. Repeat in the morning, if bowels have not moved freely. Continue with teaspoonful doses three times a day for one week if necessary; then after such doses as necessary to keep the bowels regular.”
Why it is in the Cabinet
Hemorrhoids are eternal. Ancient Romans wrote about them, Civil War surgeons cut them, and 20th-century drugstores sold bottles that promised to shrink them away. This Rexall Internal Pile Remedy hits several things the Cabinet cares about:
– It’s a beautifully labeled early Rexall house-brand bottle from United Drug Co., not a modern knockoff.
– It documents how chain pharmacies sold internal “hemorrhoid medicine” as something you drink, not just ointment.
– It shows how politely (and bluntly) Americans talked about rectal bleeding a hundred years ago.
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