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eeSANIlARIUM The Temple of Health A Pictorial History of The Battle Creek Sanitarium by Patsy Gerstner BattleCreek M c h a n i^ i i CAD U C E U S ^ AHumanitiesJournalforMedicine andtheHealthSciences AUTUMN1996 VOLUME12 NUMBER2 Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive in 2011 witii funding from CARL!: Consortium of Academic and Researcii Libraries in Illinois http://www.archive.org/details/caduceushuman1221996unse The Temple of Health A Pictorial History of The Battle Creek Sanitarium by Patsy Gerstner Aspecial issue of CADUCEUS:A HumanitiesJournalfor MedicineandtheHealth Sciences CADUCEUS VOLUME12 NUMBER2 AUTUMN1996 CADUCEUS: A HumanitiesJournalforMedicineandtheHealth Sciences is apeer-reviewedschol- arlyjournal published by the Department of Medical Humanities of Southern Illinois UniversitySchoolofMedicine. Editors DepartmentofMedicalHumanities JohnS. Haller,Jr.,Editor TheodoreR. LeBlang, Chair PhillipV.Davis,DeputyEditor M.LynneCleverdon,AssistanttotheChair MaryEllenMcElligott,ManagingEditor BarbaraMason, Curator, ThePearsonMuseum SarahL. Peters,EditorialAssistant JeanL.Kirchner,SubscriptionManager Cadu£eusisproducedfortheDepartmentofMedicalHumanitiesbytheDivisionofBiomedical Communications,SouthernIllinoisUniversitySchoolofMedicine.LindaClarkRagel,Designer BoardofAdvisors James T. H. Connor, Hannah Institutefor the History ofMedicine; Glen W. Davidson, Doane College; M. Patricia Donahue, College ofNursing University o/Zowa;James Edmonson, Cleveland Health Sciences Library; Christopher Hoolihan, Edward G. MinerLibrary, University ofRochester, Joel Howell, Clinical Scholars Program, University ofMichigan; Ramunas Kondratas, National Museum ofAmerican History; Adrianne Noe, NationalMuseum ofHealth andMedicine; Gretchen Worden,MatterMuseum SubscriptionInformation AnnualratesforCaduceusare$45.00foradirectone-yearindividual(3issues)subscriptionand $60.00 forabrokeredsubscription. International subscribers shouldadd $5.00 to regularsub- scriptionpricestocoverpostageandhandling.AsinglecopyofCaduceusis $20.00. Caduceus is published three times ayearby the Department ofMedical Humanities, Southern IllinoisUniversitySchoolofMedicine. CaduceusisabstractedorindexedbyAmerica:Historyand Life, Current WorksintheHistoryofMedicine, HistoricalAbstracts, IndexMedicus, ModemLanguage Association International Bibliography ofBooks and Articles, Center for Agriculture and Biosciences International, and Medline, the principal online bibliographic citation base ofthe NationalLibraryofMedicine.(Printedonacid-freepaper.) Editorial and subscription communications should be addressed to: CADUCEUS, The DepartmentofMedicalHumanities!113,SouthernIllinoisUniversitySchoolofMedicine, P.O. Box 19230,Springfield,Illinois62794-1113.Phone(217)782-4261;FAX(217)782-9132. Copyright 1996bytheBoardofTrusteesofSouthernIllinoisUniversity. ISSNNo. 0882-6447 Contents Acknowledgments 1 Part 1. From Gentle Obscurity to Worldly Fame, 1866-1902 2 Part 2. The Temple Rises from the Ashes 24 Part 3. The Treatment 38 Part 4. Never Enough Space 62 Part 5. A Moment ofGlory, 1928 andAfter 68 Part 6. The Battle Creek Sanitarium: AnAppraisal 78 Part 7. FurtherReading and Notes 88 Picture Credits 96 About theAuthor 99 In memory of MargaretRuth Clarke Gerstnerand KatherineRuth GerstnerPlank Acknowledgments Thisvolume wouldnothavebeen possi- blewithouttheworkandhelpofmany colleagues and friends. Garth ("Duff") Stoltz ofBatde Creek, Michigan, has been responsible almost single-handedly for the preservation ofthousands ofphotographs and artifacts that bring the Battle Creek Sanitarium tolife. His enthusiasm, hiswill- ingness to share the collection, and his constant readiness to help in the prepara- tion of this history have made the work notonlypossiblebutenjoyable. Part ofthe above collection is owned by DuffStoltz; partis ownedby theAdventist Heritage Ministry, the offices ofwhich are in Silver Spring, Maryland, Alice R. Voorheis, president. I wish to thank both for permission to use photographs from theircollectionsin thisvolume. Ialsowant to thank ElmerJ. Martinson, M.D., of Wayzata, Minnesota, for permission to use photographs of the Sanitarium from the Dr. CarlMartinsonLibrary. Earlyinmyresearch, Ispentadelightful I am indebted to the W. K. Kellogg few hours with Gladys Wyles of Berea, Foundation of Battle Creek for providing FGirg.an1d. PTarhleor, Ohio, a graduate of the Battle Creek funds to assist with travel, photography, BattleCreek Sanitarium Training School for Nurses. and publication. Without that help, this Sanitarium, Her description of the Sanitarium in the workwouldnothavebeenaccomplished. 1880s late 1920s provided a personal sense of The Cleveland Medical Library theSanitarium'shistorythatI mightother- Association made the research andwriting wisehavemissed. Mycorrespondencewith of this monograph possible by encourag- Doris P. Longman, a graduate of the ingscholarshipbystaffmembers. BatdeCreekCollegeinnutrition, andJean Glen Cemer of Battle Creek andJames Stewart Boyd, M.D., who served on the Edmonson of Cleveland, Ohio, donated Sanitarium's Pavlov Institute staff, provid- their time and skills to make copies of ed helpful information and interesting original photographs and published pic- sidelights. turesforuseinthispictorialhistory. Any work on the Sanitarium must rely I hope that each will find this volume a to a great extent on the excellent study of measureofmygratitude. John Harvey Kellogg by Richard W. Schwarz. Hsalth Reform Institute, Battlic Cheek, Mrcrr. This Institution is aflffiirabljr located on a, site of twenty acres, in the highest part of the pleasant and enterprising city of Battle Creek, commanding a fine prospect, and af- fording ample opportunities for entertainment, quiet, and retirement. With a competent corps of Physicians and Helpers, it of- fers to the sick inducements that are oflFered by few others. Diseases are treated in a thorough and scientific manner, and with adegree ofsuccess impossibleunder any other mode of treatment. The principal curative agents employed are Electricity, Water, S^wedisli Movements, Hot -Air Bath, and Russian Tapor Bath. BATTLE CREEK is an important station on the Michigan Central and Chicago & Lake Huron Railroads, and is easy of access from all parts of the country. J5^**For Particulars see Circular, sent Free on application. Address, HEALTH INSTITUTE, Battle Creek, Mich. Fig. 2. ThisadvertisementfortheforerunneroftheBattleCreekSanitariumappeared inthe1870s. Part 1 From Gentle Obscurity to Worldly Fame, 1866-1902 In thelate nineteenthandearlytwentieth centuries, the Battle Creek Sanitarium was known throughout the United States and abroad as the ultimate destination for Fig. 3. John the famous and the ordinary who sought HarveyKellogg relief from nagging physical discomfort inhisearly and the promise of a healthy future. twenties,shortly Thousands came each year to this institu- afterhe assumedthe tion in southern Michigan, affectionately superintendency referring to it simply as "The San." The oftheWestern phenomenal success ofthe Sanitarium can HealthReform be credited to one man, John Harvey Institute Kellogg. In 1876, Kellogg took charge ofa small ten-year-old health establishment operated by Seventh-day Adventists in the tiny ham- let of Battle Creek (fig. 2). He turned it intooneofthegreatesthealthexperiments of all time, creating a place that was revered by its devotees as a temple of health. Under Kellogg (fig. 3), the Battle cured through "biologic living," a concept Creek Sanitarium grew from a modest heralded far and wide as the Battle Creek frame dwelling to an edifice accommodat- Idea. The Battle Creek Idea emphasized a ing seven hundred guests a day at the end healthy diet (preferably vegetarian), exer- of1900. By 1928,fourteenhundredpeople cise, fresh air, water therapies, electrical daily were cared for and catered to by a stimulation (especially of the muscles), staff of eighteen hundred. One author massage, good posture, abstinence from notedinretrospectthattheSanitariumnot such things as alcohol and tobacco, and only offered refreshment for the body, proper clothing that did not require tight mind, and spirit but also provided "the undergarments (such as corsets) and that combined features ofa medical boarding- allowed the body to move in a reasonably house, hospital, religious retreat, country unrestricted manner. The use of those club, tentChatauqua, [and] spa."' measures to restore and maintain health Kelloggbeheved that good health could was part of a health reform movement in be maintained and that illness could be the United States that predated the PatsyGerstner 3 Sanitarium,butKelloggwasfondofnoting Vegetarianism and the other natural that he made the ideas "scientific" for the means of attaining health were popular- benefitofmankind.^ ized through the so-called Graham Boarding Houses and by touring speakers. EarlyHealthReform Many influential lecturers were women, That health reform was ofgreatinterest to who encouraged homemakers to take Americansduringthefirsthalfofthenine- charge of their own health and that of teenth century is not surprising. theirfamiliesbyadoptingtheprinciples of Traditionally trained physicians ofthe day health reform. Despite the popularity of were often unsuccessful in their efforts to such ideas, however, health reform lacked treat illness. Doctors tried to cureby purg- a strong institutional setting in which to ingthebodyofvarious substances thought flourish. Thatbasewas provided in partat toprecipitate orcontribute to illness.They mid-century by a burgeoning number of customarily resorted to bloodletting water-curesanitaria. and/or large doses ofpurgatives, emetics, and laxatives. Some ofthe prescribed sub- TheWaterCure stances,likemercury,wereevenpoisonous. The curative powers of plain water had All-in-all, treatments were not only unsuc- been heralded since antiquity, but it was cessfulbut were often more debilitating or the persuasive work ofVincent Priessnitz deadlythantheillnessitself (1799-1851)inEurope thatcreatedagreat Harsh and unsuccessful treatment international water-cure mania. Priessnitz, encouraged manysufferers to seekalterna- thesonofaSilesianfarmer,sufferedaseri- tive means for cure, some ofwhich were ous injuryas achild. Awagon, asteep hill, based on the simple replacement ofharsh and asudden overturn resulted in crushed substances with mild and relatively harm- ribs. Doctors warned him that he should less drugs. The health reformers, however, not expect to recover fully. Young Vincent refused the use ofany drug, preferring to refused to accept that dire prognosis, how- find relief in only natural means. Many ever, and set out to find his own cure. He such therapies were based on a change in devised a treatment ofcold baths and wet diet. Sylvester Graham, who is immortal- wraps and gradually regained his health. ized by the Graham cracker, argued in the Convincedthathisrecoverywasduetothe 1830s that refined white flour had dam- treatment, hebeganofferingitto othersin aged the average American's health. In its 1826. Priessnitzattractedwidespreadatten- place, he advocated the use of coarser tion, and by 1842 his cure had made its wholewheat(orGrahamflour) asaway to way to England. Within a few months, it restorehealthand safeguardagainstfuture hadcrossedtheAtlantic. Bythemid-1850s, illness. The preferred American diet was more than two hundred water-cure sani- one ofmeat—rich in fat and enormous by taria dotted the landscape from New York today's standards—but Graham and others (fig. 4) to Wisconsin, promotingthe use of recommended a vegetarian diet, arguing water, exercise, fresh air, diet, and proper thatmeatwasanunnaturalstimulant, dirty clothing as the keys to health—a message andpoisonous, thatencourageddisease. that the water-curists promoted in their 4 TempleofHealth