Mormon Elders’ Wafers: Images on Mormon Virility in Patent Medicine Ads

Some may be surprised to learn that the stereotypical image of the hyper-virile nineteenth century Mormon male had a special appeal to the “lost manhood” sector of a thriving American patent medicine industry. There was a time when men anxious about the dissipation resulting from an early indiscretion or fearful of a faltering masculinity could turn not just to such products as Glandol, Man Medicine, and Sir John Hampton’s Vital Restorative, but could also experience the rejuvenation of Mormon Elders’ Damiana Wafers, Brigham Young Tablets, and Mormon Bishop Pills. 

[Editor’s Note: For images, see PDF below]

The Mormon Elders’ line appears to have enjoyed the greatest success. Marketed by F. B. Crouch & Company of New York City, the Damiana Wafers were available in pink or white, and sold for $1.00 to $2.00. Their ads appeared in catalogues for two decades or more around the turn of the century. For those with other problems, there were also Mormon Elders’ Attraction and Mormon Elders’ Complexion, as well as a Fruit Laxative, and Sandalwood wafer. 

The therapeutic claims for Mormon Bishop Pills which were available in red, white and blue, are typical. Little is known about this preparation, except that it attracted the passing attention of the Journal of the American Medical Association in a 1906 article on quack medicines. 

Brigham Young Tablets, the most recent of these three, were a product of the West Medicine Company of Denver, Colorado. They appeared in the late Twenties, the creation of one Amos C. West, whose “upstairs” clinic also specialized in a remedy for syphilis called “909.” He was put out of business in 1931 by the U.S. Post Office Department for fraudulent use of the mails.

Alas, none of these products are presently available. For those who keenly feel the loss and would like to prepare a home batch, the ingredients of Brigham Young Tablets were mostly sugar, starch and talc, with green vitriol (ferrous sulphate), baking soda, a little zinc phosphide, and a trace of nux vomica.