New Boston Historical Society
New Boston, New Hampshire
WhiteMountainOil
Patent medicine

"Philbrick's White Mountain Oil or Pain Extractor"
 by Dan Rothman, originally published in the Center of Gravity Gazette, May 2024

For this issue of the Center of Gravity Gazette I would like to use the space that is ordinarily reserved for stories of New Boston's past to tell you instead about a remarkable product that will no doubt be of interest to readers who, like me, are no longer as young as they used to be. I refer of course to "Philbrick's White Mountain Oil or Pain Extractor," bottles of which may be found in your local museum.

As it says right on the label, this elixir is intended "For the instant relief of Headache, Toothache, Earache, Neuralgia, Rheumatic Pains, Burns and Scalds, Chilblains, Bruises, Sprains, Pains in the Back or Stomach, Sore Eyes, Spider Bites, Bee Stings, &c., &c." I don't know about you but that checks a lot of boxes for me!

directions

What's in Philbrick's "White Mountain Oil"? I've no idea. The bottle is too small to list the ingredients, or perhaps they're a secret known only to L.E. Philbrick and the U.S. Patent Office, which issued him a patent in 1869. I do know that the price per bottle is a modest 35 cents.

Who was Lewis E. Philbrick? He was born in Grafton NH in 1826, the tenth child of Samuel and Sarah Philbrick. He lived in New Boston and Weare for his most productive years. The 1860 census shows Lewis and his wife Eunice living in our town. At that time he was a "Manufacturer of Gloves." Ten years later the Philbricks were still in New Boston but by then Lewis described himself as a "Manufacturer of White Mountain Oil."

1870census
Lewis and Eunice Philbrick in the 1870 census for New Boston

In the 1880 census we see that Lewis and Eunice Philbrick have moved to Weare. Lewis reports his occupation as a "huckster," which is a peddler or someone who sells small items. The word "huckster" has a negative connotation today – Merriam-Webster says it means "one who sells or advertises something in an aggressive, dishonest, or annoying way" – but that was not necessarily true in 1880.

Lewis Philbrick is described simply as a "Peddler" on his death record. He died of apoplexy in 1892, when he was 66 years old. We would now say he died of a stroke. Eunice Brooks Philbrick died of "old age" in 1903 just before her 86th birthday. According to her death certificate she had been living in the "Old Ladies' Home" in Bedford NH.

matches
Nelson Philbrick may or may not have been related to Lewis.

I found no record that the Philbricks ever had children. I also could find no family connection between Lewis Philbrick and Nelson N. Philbrick (1826-1915); Nelson was a New Boston farmer who had a sawmill and match factory on the Weare Road in the 1850s.

In all my research I saw only positive references to L.E. Philbrick and his White Mountain Oil, which was advertised in publications far and wide. The oil is a local example of a "patent medicine," described by Wikipedia as a term "used to describe quack remedies of unproven effectiveness and questionable safety sold especially by peddlers in past centuries, who often also called them elixirs, tonics, or liniments."

receipt
An 1870s receipt — $3.00 for a dozen bottles.

Are we smarter than our ancestors with respect to the efficacy of non-prescription drugs? Perhaps not. In September of last year [2023] I read in a post on the Harvard University news website that "a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel concluded last week that the decongestant phenylephrine, contained in many over-the-counter cold remedies – including some formulations of popular brands like Sudafed, Tylenol, and Nyquil – is ineffective when taken orally."

I checked my own medicine cabinet and found a box of Sudafed PE which contains phenylephrine, meaning that it's probably no more effective than Philbrick's White Mountain Oil. If you go to the Sudafed website today [May 2024], you'll see that the manufacturer is still happy to sell you their PE product, at a price thirty times that of White Mountain Oil; they simply added a link to the FDA advisory opinion that it doesn't actually work.

Disclaimer: The author is not a medical professional and is not qualified to offer pharmaceutical advice. Please consult with your doctor or nurse before using Philbrick's White Mountain Oil.

November 2024 update: The Food & Drug Administration has just proposed to end the use of oral phenylephrine as an active ingredient from over-the-counter decongestants. I wonder if they read the Center of Gravity Gazette.