Ex-Lax The Chocolated Laxative
date: label: Date made
content: ca 1930
notes: label: Description
content: 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.
label: Description
content: 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.
label: Description
content: Ref: “MAX KISS IS DEAD; CREATED EX-LAX,” New York Times (June 23, 1967), p. 34.
label: Description
content: “ISRAEL MATZ DIES; HEBREW SCHOLAR,” New York Times (Feb. 11, 1950), p. 12.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: Place Made
content: United States: New York, Brooklyn
topic: label: Subject
content: Laxatives
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Health & Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Balm of America
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Gary P. and Sandra Baden
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1979.0798.100
label: accession number
content: 1979.0798
label: catalog number
content: 1979.0798.100
objectType: label: Object Name
content: otc preparation
label: Other Terms
content: Patent Medicines; Drugs; Non-Liquid
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: 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
label: Measurements
content: 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