Trask's Magnetic Ointment

Dr. George Trask (b ca 1796) of Fitchburg, Massachusetts was a crusader against tobacco - and a man who clearly was not afraid to speak his mind. Kate Sanborn relates the following anecdote about Trask, in My Favorite Lectures of Long Ago (1888, p. 334): soon after he was married he told his "petite wife" that he was disappointed in her height. To which she responded "No more than I am in your depth."

Trask found the wide-spread use of tobacco in 19th century America to be even more disappointing than Mrs. Trask's height - and he crusaded against the former all his life. He was impassioned about his cause and was the author of the 1852 book Thoughts and Stories on Tobacco for American Lads. It had chapter titles like "James Dixey, the Boy who was made a Manic by Using Tobacco." An illustration from Trask's book is at the right, showing a young man (perhaps James Dixey) Some Way Along the Road to Ruin. The Mountain Dew in that barrel was clearly not the modern lime-green soda of the same name.

Dr. Trask also made patent medicines on the side. He was best known for Trask's Magnetic Ointment, a topical cure for rheumatic and "nervous" afflictions.

At the left is an advertisement for it, from Ransom's Family Receipt Book (1885). The Dr. A. Trask, who is attributed with inventing the ointment, was probably George under another name, or a relative. Soon you will see why George Trask might have wanted to conceal his involvement in creating this particular medicine.

Rev. George Trask was definitely the one selling the ointment: Charles Wilmot Oleson, in Secret Nostrums and Systems of Medicine (1891, p. 181), refers to "'Dr' Trask, the famous anti-tobacconist of Massachusetts" whose ointment contained - well, a most ironic substance:

Trask's Magnetic Ointment was made of chopped-up raisins, lard and - of all things - nicotine. Oleson mentions that there were several cases of nicotine poisoning reported after the use of Trask's ointment. And the recipe seems to have been well known; it was published in several books, including Dr. Alvin Chase's Dr. Chase's Recipes, or Information For Everybody (1866):

Lard, raisins, cut in pieces, and fine-cut tobacco, equal weights; simmer well together, then press and strain out all from the dregs.

Trask never explained what was magnetic about his ointment - and neither did anyone else.

The 1885 ad is at Emergence of Advertising in America, where you can see the rest of Ransom's Family Receipt Book, too. And there is a picture of a Magnetic Ointment bottle here.