Pluto Water Bottle
Vintage: 1920s
Resides at the Bona Thompson Memorial Center in Irvington
“WHEN NATURE WON’T, Pluto will!” was the slogan for a laxative tonic bottled in French Lick. The brand lauded the locale as “America’s garden of health.” The spring water’s efficacy came from a high content of mineral salts. The label starred Pluto, Roman god of the underworld, a nod to the product’s subterranean origin. But he looks like the Devil, and perhaps for good reason: The stuff took effect in 30 minutes. Interestingly, folks in the first half of the 20th century seem to have had an inordinate need for this sort of relief. Kurt Vonnegut references it in his first novel, Player Piano: “In almost every hand was the drink fashionable that season, benedictine and Pluto water, with a sprig of mint.” It was sold not only by druggists but at cafes and—for better or worse—on trains at 15 cents for a travel-size bottle. Pluto water went out of business in 1971 when a new ingredient, lithium—added as a mood booster—was classified as prescription-only.
