Editing Pluto Water

{{short description|Mineral water laxative}}
[[File:Pluto-water.jpg|thumb|right|Antique bottle of Pluto Water]]

'''Pluto Water''' was a [[trademark]] for a strongly [[laxative]] natural water product which was marketed in the [[United States]] in the early 20th century. The water's laxative properties were from its high native content of mineral salts, with the active ingredient listed as [[sodium sulfate|sodium]] and [[magnesium sulfate]], which are known as natural laxatives. The water's high native content of mineral salts generally made it effective within one hour of ingestion, a fact the company emphasized in their promotional literature.  Company advertisements stated the laxative was effective from a half-hour to two hours after ingestion.  In 1919, it took 450 railroad cars to transport the bottler’s output.<ref name="hoosier">Yaël Ksander, "[http://indianapublicmedia.org/momentofindianahistory/water/]," ''Moments of Indiana History'' (accessed May. 8, 2013)</ref>

== Distribution ==
The water was bottled at the [[French Lick Springs Hotel|French Lick Springs]], in [[French Lick, Indiana]], a location with natural [[spring (hydrosphere)|mineral springs]] that was also the source of the competing Sprudel Water.

== Laxative properties ==
The water's high native content of mineral salts generally made it effective as a laxative within one hour of ingestion, a point emphasized in the company's promotional literature. Company advertisements stated the laxative was effective from a half-hour to two hours after ingestion. The active ingredient of Pluto water was listed as [[sodium sulfate|sodium]] and [[magnesium sulfate]], which are known as natural laxatives.  The water also contains a number of other minerals, most notably [[lithium]] salts. The sale of Pluto water was halted in 1971 when lithium became a [[controlled substance]].<ref name="hoosier" />

== Advertising ==
Advertised as "America's Laxative", Pluto Water used the slogan "When Nature Won't, PLUTO Will". The bottle and many advertisements featured an image of [[Pluto (mythology)|Pluto]], the Roman god of the underworld, reflecting the water's underground origin.

== Popular culture ==
* [[Charles Butterworth (actor)| Charles Butterworth]]'s character in the 1931 movie ''[[Illicit (1931 film)|Illicit]]'', mentions Pluto Water, when making a "Toast to water" then listing different waters.
*Pluto Water was the main subject of the novel ''So Cold the River'' (2010) by [[Michael Koryta]].<ref>Janet Maslin, "[https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/01/books/01book.html A Hoosier Haunting: There’s Something in the Water That’s Very Strange]," ''New York Times,'' June 30, 2010 (accessed Nov 13, 2011)</ref>
*In ''[[Sanford and Son]]'' season 3, episode 7, Grady ([[Whitman Mayo]]) mentions Pluto Water to Julio ([[Gregory Sierra]]). Also in season 1 Fred mentions Pluto Water to Lamont.
*[[Louis Armstrong]] writes about his mother giving him Pluto Water to help cure lockjaw in the first chapter of his autobiography, "Satchmo, My Life in New Orleans".
*[[Kurt Vonnegut]] references Pluto water in his first novel, “Player Piano,” in chapter 28, while setting the scene of the dystopian tavern ‘The Dutch,’ where: “in almost every hand was the drink fashionable that season, [[Bénédictine|benedictine]] and Pluto water, with a sprig of mint.”

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:PlutoSpring1903.jpg|"Pluto Spring", French Lick, 1903
File:HoudiniPlutoIndiana.jpg|Escape artist [[Harry Houdini]] (left) posing near Pluto Spring poster, c.1907
File:Pluto Water newspaper ad 1918.tif|Newspaper advertisement, 1918
File:Louis Armstrong, Aquarium, New York, N.Y., ca. July 1946 (William P. Gottlieb 00231) - Cropped.jpg|Louis Armstrong in his dressing room, a bottle of Pluto Water at left, 1946
File:World Famous Pluto Spring, French Lick, Indiana 03.jpg|"America's Greatest Laxative"
File:Grand-stand baseball (graphic) - Pluto Water. America’s greatest physic for constipation, stomach and kidney, liver troubles. 15 (cents). 35 (cents). All drug stores. Ask your doctor. c.1895 (6857386768).jpg|Grand-stand baseball (graphic) - Pluto Water. America’s greatest physic for constipation, stomach and kidney, liver troubles. 15 (cents). 35 (cents). All drug stores. Ask your doctor. c.1895
File:"PLUTO FOR SPANISH INFLUENZA" "Guard against this dread epidemic" "Pluto water, America's physic, is influenza's natural foe" detail, from- Pluto Water 1918 For Spanish Influenza (cropped).jpg|"PLUTO FOR SPANISH INFLUENZA" "Guard against this dread epidemic" "Pluto water, America's physic, is influenza's natural foe" detail, from- Pluto Water 1918 For Spanish Flu
File:Pluto Water ad detail, from- Clinical medicine (1894) (14804442613) (cropped).jpg|Pluto Water ad detail in 1894
File:Pluto Concentrated Water label, French Lick, Indiana, 1901.jpg|Pluto Concentrated Water label, French Lick, Indiana, 1901
</gallery>

==See also==
*[[Lithia water]]


{{Commonscat}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Bottled water brands]]
[[Category:Laxatives]]
[[Category:Orange County, Indiana]]