"William Rockefeller’s original miracle oil
survived until quite recently as a concoction called Nujol, consisting principally of
petroleum and peddled as a laxative . It was well known that Nujol was merely an
advertising sobriquet meaning "new oil," as opposed, apparently, to "old
oil". Sold as an antidote to constipation, it robbed the body of fat-soluble
vitamins, it being a well-established medical fact that mineral oil coated the intestine
and prevented the absorption of many needed vitamins and other nutritional needs .
Its makers added carotene as a sop to the health-conscious, but it was hardly worth
the bother. Nujol was manufactured by a subsidiary of Standard Oil of New Jersey,
called Stanco, whose only other product, manufactured on the same premises, was the famous
insecticide, Flit."