Rational Hydrotherapy: A Manual of the Physiological and Therapeutic Effects of Hydriatic Procedures, and the Technique of their Application in the Treatment of Disease
John Harvey Kellogg was the 19th century medical practitioner, who is primarily credited with development of a proper nutritious breakfast in the form of flaked cereals, that almost brought a revolution. He was also the founder and the first President of Battle Creek College, and known for his Battle Creek Sanatorium.
Background
Born to John Preston, a farmer, and Ann Janette (Stanley) Kellogg, John was the fourth of the eight children. During the latter part of 1852, his family joined the Seventh-day Adventist movement, which he followed as religion until he was disfellowed in 1907.
Education
Kellogg had done his schooling from Battle Creek public school and later he went to Michigan State Normal School. His higher education was completed from New York University School of Medicine, United States.
Career
In October 1876, Kellogg became director of the Western Health Reform Institute. In 1877, he renamed it the Battle Creek Medical Surgical Sanitarium, cleverly coining the term "sanitarium" to suggest both hospital care and the importance of sanitation and personal health. Kellogg would lead the institution until his death in 1943.
Starting off the career as a medical practitioner, he made great efforts to bring about a revolution in the diet of individuals. As a medical officer of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, he is said to have initiated vegetarian diet, abstinence from alcohol and tobacco, and a regimen of exercise within the domains of the hospital. There, he held classes for homemakers, and patients at the Sanitarium. He engaged themselves in mealtime marches, breathing exercises and a number of other health related aspects. Since he was a loyal supporter of phototherapy, and the sanitarium area made perfect use of all artificial sunbaths.
Being a skilled surgeon Kellogg believed that change in intestinal flora caused most of the diseases, hence, one needs to be extremely cautious of his or her bowel movement. He propagated a balanced vegetarian diet that favor low-protein, high-fiber foods and laxative to help in bowel movement.
He is still remembered for the invention of Corn Flakes, the famous breakfast cereal, in 1878.
Although they are less discussed than his food creations, Kellogg designed and improved upon a number of medical devices that were regularly used at the Battle Creek Sanitarium in surgical operations and in treatment modalities falling under the term "physiotherapy". Many of the machines invented by Kellogg were manufactured by the Battle Creek Sanitarium Equipment Company, which was established in 1890. Dr. Kellogg attempted to popularize these treatment methods, including electrotherapy, hydrotherapy, and motor therapy, in his work The Home Handbook of Domestic Hygiene and Rational Medicine, first published in 1881.
Partly motivated by the overcast skies of Michigan, Kellogg experimented with and worked to develop light therapies, as he believed in the value of the electric light bulb to provide heat penetration for treating bodily disorders.
Kellogg would live for over sixty years after writing Plain Facts. Whether he continued to teach the "facts" in it is not entirely clear, although it appears from the later books he wrote that he moved away from this subject matter.
Kellogg died on December 14, 1943, in Battle Creek, Michigan. He was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Battle Creek, Michigan.
Kellogg was brought up in the Seventh-day Adventist Church from childhood, at a time when members commonly engaged in theological speculation. Selected as a protegé of the Whites and trained as a doctor, Kellogg held a prominent role as a speaker at church meetings.
At times, his views were held in a negative sense by the church, primarily due to his controversial stands. During his stint at Battle Creek Sanitarium, he upheld all beliefs of the church, and hence propagated the concept of vegetarianism.
Politics
Since he was associated primarily with religious theories and health related prospects, Kellogg was not associated with any such political party. Thus, his views in this regard can be termed as neutral. However, he was outspoken on his beliefs on race and segregation issues.
Views
Kellogg was a prominent member of the anti-tobacco consumption campaign, speaking out often on the issue. Though alcoholic beverages were commonly used a stimulant by the medical community during the time that he began his medical practice, he was firm in his opposition to the practice. The usage of alcohol as a remedy to anything was "an evil of stupendous proportions."
Both as a doctor and an Adventist, Kellogg was an advocate of sexual abstinence. As a physician, Kellogg was well aware of the damaging impact of sexually transmissible diseases such as syphilis, which was incurable before the 1910s. Kellogg devoted large amounts of his educational and medical work to discouraging sexual activity on the basis of dangers both scientifically understood at the time - as in sexually transmissible diseases - and those taught by the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
As one of the most well-developed cereals for breakfast, he believed this to be ideal for a person's better health. It would help him abstain from modes of self-abuse as masturbation and sexual inclination. Thus, he was an ideal nutritionist, who though held strict views make betterment of people's health.
Membership
Seventh-day Adventist Church
,
United States
1943
Personality
Kellogg was a person who firmly believed in abstaining from sexual activities, held ‘masturbation’ as the highest form of ‘self-abuse’. Hence, his primary motive of initiating a proper breakfast was to curb this urge. He believed that with a bland nutritious breakfast, one could live healthily and enjoy a better life in comparison to other times. Thus, on the whole, one can consider him to be quite a modest personality in terms of his personal likes, choices and standards. He was also known to be outspoken regarding racial discrimination in the society.
Connections
Kellogg married Ella Ervilla Eaton of Alfred Center, New York, on February 22, 1879. The couple maintained separate bedrooms and did not have any biological children. However, they were foster parents to 42 children, legally adopting at least seven of them, before Ella died in 1920. The adopted children included Agnes Grace, Elizabeth, John William, Ivaline Maud, Paul Alfred, Robert Mofatt, and Newell Carey.