The Devil’s Laxative
In the novel, House of Fate, Harry happens upon a bottle of Sa-Tan-Ic Laxatives. Sounds made up, but no, it was a real product. I stumbled upon it the same way Harry did, tucked inside a case amongst other (more boring) items in a small town historical center/museum. I found it curious. How could something like this be made and marketed without some backlash? Today, it wouldn’t fly; not because it didn’t work (it did. Sort of.), but because of the packaging. Then, I thought during the time, people played a little more fast and loose with His Infernal Majesty than they do today. It stuck with me enough I put it in the novel. However, it left me with questions. How did they get it? Where did it come from? Was it even real? I don’t have the answer for the first question, but I did find them for the others.
The Sa-Tan-Ic Medicine & Manufacturing Co., of Wichita, Kansas, was incorporated in 1915 by W.W. Daniels and B.A. McGaugh. Their aim was to produce remedies for various ailments. Advertisements for their flagship product, Sa-Tan-Ic Tonic Laxative, appeared in Kansas and Oklahoma papers in 1914, and was marketed as a cure-all, promising relief for stomach, kidney, and liver complaints. The branding featured a striking image of the devil himself, standing atop the world, which undoubtedly caught the public's attention.
The company's advertising was as bold as its branding. Sa-Tan-Ic was touted as a "blood purifier" and a tonic that could cleanse the system of waste, biliousness, and fevers. While the product did contain laxative and pain-killing ingredients, their claims were far beyond what it could realistically achieve.
The FDA, still in its early regulatory years, investigated Sa-Tan-Ic shipments in the 1920s for misleading claims. While they didn’t ban the product, they prohibited marketing it as a “cure-all.” After paying $800 in costs, the company continued selling it. Sa-Tan-Ic wasn’t alone. The early 20th century was a golden age for patent medicines with their bold claims, mysterious ingredients, and devil-may-care branding.
Sa-Tan-Ic’s tonic was not their only product. They also offered the following:
**Sa-Tan-Ic Liniment** – Claimed to relieve everything from aches, sprains, cuts, burns. and toothaches. Basically early Ben Gay with questionable application advice.
**Sa-Tan-Ic Ointment** – A general-purpose salve.
**Sa-Tan-Ic Corn Remover** – Self-explanatory, but still oddly branded.
**Sa-Tan-Ic Digestoids** – Mentholated tablets for digestion.
**Sa-Tan-Ic Cleaner** – Promised to remove paint and grease without harming skin.
**Sa-Tan-Ic Gas Saver** – Claimed to boost mileage by 40% and increase power and speed.
The company closed in the 1970s, but the Sa-Tan-Ic brand is a relic of a time when marketing was wild, regulation was young, and the devil could sell you a tonic. It’s a reminder that truth in advertising wasn’t always the law of the land and sometimes, history hides in the strangest bottles.