Vegetable Diet: As Sanctioned by Medical Men, and by Experience in Ages
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Southern Adventist University KnowledgeExchange@Southern The oodF ies' Guide to Vegetarian Cookery in 19th 1830-1849 Century America 1838 Vegetable Diet: As Sanctioned by Medical Men, and by Experience in Ages. William A. Alcott Follow this and additional works at: https://knowledge.e.southern.edu/foodiesguide-1830 Part of the Food Science Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Alcott, William A., "Vegetable Diet: As Sanctioned by Medical Men, and by Experience in Ages." (1838). 1830-1849. 1. https://knowledge.e.southern.edu/foodiesguide-1830/1 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the The oodF ies' Guide to Vegetarian Cookery in 19th Century America at KnowledgeExchange@Southern. It has been accepted for inclusion in 1830-1849 by an authorized administrator of KnowledgeExchange@Southern. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This is a reproduction of a library book that was digitized by Google as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the information in books and make it universally accessible. https://books.google.com The Arthur and Elizabeth SCHLESINGER LIBRARY on the History of Women in America RADCLIFFE INSTITUTE Gift of The Radcliffe Club of San Francisco in Memory of Helen Lourie Markwett ' Y\ - "t y V Si / * VALUABLE WORKS, PUBLISHED AND FOR SALE BY i a h i ©^FisKr a. h b it t o h j No. 133 Washington Street. Oliver's Physiology ; Caldwell on Physical Education ; Dr. """ Combe """ ononMoral MentalDigestion the Philosophy Constitution Derangement ; ; of Man ; ; Hayward's Outlines of Human Physiology ; Spurzheim's Anatomy of the Brain ; " on Education; " on Insanity, — with Appendix, by Dr. Brigham ; Dr. Brigham's Remarks on the Influence of Mental Cultiva tion on Health ; Dr. Brigham on the Influence of Religion upon Health ; Dr. Howe's Discourse on the Social Relations of Man. — ALSO, FOR SALE, — The Constitution of the American Physiological Society, to which is prefixed a Summary Explanation of the objects of the Society ; Dr. Alcott's Address before the Physiological Society, March 7, 1837 ; Mr. Bird's Address, June 1, 1837 ; First Annual Report of the American Physiological Society, June, 1837; Dr.' Bartlett's Lecture, January 30, 1838 ; Rev. A. G. Duncan's Lecture, February 7, 1838; Dr. Alcott's Young Wife ; " " Young Mother; " " Young Housekeeper ; " " House I Live in ; " " Living on Small Means ; Graham's "" Treatise LecturesLecture onon to Bread-Making;theYoung Spasmodic Men ; Cholera, with an Ap pendix, containing several Testimonials, — Rules of the Gra ham Boarding-House, &c. ; Also, will shortly be published, and for sale as above, GRA HAM'S COMPLETE WORK on the Science of Human Life; VEGETABLE DIET: A3 SANCTIONED BY MEDICAL MEN, AND BY EXPERIENCE IN ALL AGES. WILLIAM A. BY ALCOTT, Author of the " Young Wife," the " House I Live in," &c. 4cc, and Ed itor of the "Library of Health," and the "Annals of Education." BOSTON: MARSH, CAPEN & LYON. 183 8. r Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1838, by William A. Alcott, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. boston: PRINTED BT WK, A. MALL AND CO. PREFACE. The following volume embraces the testimo ny, direct or indirect, of nearly one hundred individuals, — besides that of societies and com munities — on the subject of vegetable diet. Most of this one hundred persons are, or were, per sons of considerable distinction in society ; and more than fifty of them were either medical men, or such as have made physiology, hygiene, anatomy, pathology, medicine, or surgery a leading or favor ite study. As I have written other works besides this — especially the "Young House-Keeper," — which treat, more or less, of diet, it may possibly be ob jected, that I sometimes repeat the same idea. But how is it to be avoided ? In writing for various classes of the community, and presenting my views in various connexions and aspects, I deem it necessary to do so. Writers on theology, or educa tion, or any other important topic, do the same — vi PREFACE. probably to a far greater extent than I have yet done. I repeat no idea for the sake of repeating it. Not a word is inserted but what seems to me necessary, in order that I may be intelligible. Moreover, like the preacher of the truth on many other subjects, it is not so much my object to pro duce something new in every paragraph, as to ex plain, It may illustrate, also andbe thought enforce whatthat I is make already too known. many books. But, as I do not claim to be so much an originator of new things as an instrument for diffusing the old, it will not be expected that I should be twenty years on a volume, like Bish op Butler. I have, however, been collecting my stock of materials for this and other works — pub lished or unpublished — more than twenty-five years. Besides, it might be safely and truly said that the study and reading and writing, in the pre paration of this volume and the "Young House- Keeper," have consumed at least three of the best years of my life, at fourteen or fifteen hours a day. Several of my other works, as the " House I Live in," the " Young Mother," and the " Young Wife," have also been the fruit of years of toil and inves tigation and observation, of which those who think only of the labor of merely writing them out, know nothing. Even the " Mother in her Family," — at PREFACE. vii least some parts of it — though in general a lighter work, has been the result of much care and labor. The circumstance of publishing several books at the same, or nearly the same time, has nothing to do with their preparation. When I commenced putting together the mate rials of this little treatise on diet, — a year and a half ago, — it was my intention simply to show the safety of a vegetable and fruit diet, both for those who are afflicted with many forms of chro nic disease, and for the healthy. But I soon be came convinced that I ought to go farther, and prove its superiority over every other. This I have attempted to do — with what success, the reader must and will judge for himself. I have said, it was not my original intention to prove a vegetable and fruit diet to be any thing more than safe. But I wish not to be un derstood as entertaining, even at that time, any doubts in regard to the superiority of such a diet : the only questions with me were, Whether the pub lic mind was ready to hear and weigh the proofs, and Whether this volume was the place in which to present them. Both these questions, however, as I went on, were settled, in the affirmative. I believed — and still believe — that the public mind, in this country, is prepared for the free discussion of viii PREFACE. all topics — provided they are discussed candidly — which have a manifest bearing on the well-being of man ; and I have governed myself accordingly. An apology may be necessary for retaining, unexplained, a few medical terms. But I did not feel at liberty to change them, in the correspond ence of Dr. North, for more popular language ; and, having retained them thus far, it did not seem desirable to explain them elsewhere. Nor was I willing to deface the pages of the work with explan atory notes. The fact is, the technical terms alluded to, are, after all, very few in number, and may be generally understood by the con nexion in which they appear. Boston, June, 1838. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. ORIGIN OF THIS WORK. Page Experience of the Author, and his Studies. Pamphlet in 1832. Prize-Question of the Boylston Medical Committee. Collection of Materials for an Essay. Dr. North. His Letter and Gluestions. Results. - 1 CHAPTER II. LETTERS TO DR. NORTH. Letter of Dr. Parmly. Dr. W. A. Alcott. Dr. D. S. Wright. Dr. H. N. Preston. Dr. H. A. Barrows. Dr. Caleb Ban nister. Dr. Lyman Terry. Dr. J. M. B. Harden. Joseph Ricketson, Esq. Joseph Congdon, Esq. George W. Ba ker, Esq. John Howland, Jr. , Esq. Dr. Wm: H. Webster. Josiah Bennet, Esq. Wm. Vincent, Esq. Dr. George H. Perry. Dr. L. W. Sherman. - - - 10 CHAPTER III. REMARKS ON THE FOREGOING LETTERS. Correspondence. The " prescribed course of regimen." How many victims to it 7 Not one. Case of Dr. Harden consid ered. Case of Dr. Preston. Views of Drs. Clark, Cheyne, and Lamb, on the treatment of Scrofula. No reports of injury from the prescribed system. Case of Dr. Bannister. Singular testimony of Dr. Wright. Vegetable food for la- X CONTE NTS. Pago borers. Testimony, on the whole, much more favorable to the vegetable system than could reasonably have been ex pected, in the circumstances. 49 CHAPTER IV. ADDITIONAL INTELLIGENCE. Letter from Dr. H. A. Barrows. Dr. J. M. B. Harden. Dr. Joshua Porter. Dr. N. J. Knight. Dr. Lester Keep. Sec ond letter from Dr. Keep. Dr. Henry H. Brown. Dr. Franklin Knox. From a! Physician. Additional statements by the Author 60 CHAPTER V. TESTIMONY OF OTHER MEDICAL MEN, BOTH OF ANCIENT AND MODERN TIMES. General Remarks. Testimony of Dr. Cheyne. Dr. Geoffroy. Vauquelin and Percy. Dr. Pemberton. Sir John Sinclair. Dr. James. Dr. Cranstoun. Dr. Taylor. Drs. Hufeland and Abernethy. Sir Gilbert Blane. Dr. Gregory. Dr. Cullen. Dr. Rush. Dr. Lamb. Prof. Lawrence. Dr. Salgues. Author of " Sure Methods." Baron Curier. Dr. Luther V. Bell. Dr. Buchan. Dr. Whitlaw. Dr. Clark. Prof. Mussey.