John Harvey Kellogg
Encyclopedia
John Harvey Kellogg was an American
medical doctor in Battle Creek, Michigan
, who ran a sanitarium
using holistic methods, with a particular focus on nutrition
, enema
s and exercise. Kellogg was an advocate of vegetarianism
and is best known for the invention of the corn flakes
breakfast cereal
with his brother, Will Keith Kellogg
. He led in the establishment of the American Medical Missionary College
. The College, founded in 1895, operated until 1910 when it merged with Illinois State University.
, to John Preston Kellogg (1806–1881) and Ann Janette Stanley (1824–1893). Kellogg lived with two sisters during childhood. By 1860, the family had moved to Battle Creek, Michigan
, where his father established a broom
factory. John later worked as a printer's devil
in a Battle Creek publishing house.
Kellogg attended the Battle Creek public schools, then attended the Michigan State Normal School (since 1959, Eastern Michigan University
), and finally, New York University
Medical College at Bellevue Hospital. He graduated in 1875 with a medical degree. He married Ella Ervilla Eaton (1853–1920) of Alfred Center, New York
, on February 22, 1879. They did not have any biological children, but raised over 40 children, legally adopting seven of them, before Ella died in 1920. The adopted children include Agnes Grace, Elizabeth, John William, Ivaline Maud, Paul Alfred , Robert Moffatt, Newell Carey, and Harriett Eleanor. Kellogg died in 1943 and was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, in Battle Creek, Michigan, along with his parents, James White
and Ellen White, C.W. Post, W.K. Kellogg, his brother and his brother's wife, Uriah Smith
, and Sojourner Truth
.
Dr. Kellogg expressed his ideas in a creative manner and some members of the church misunderstood what he said. At the Seventeenth Annual Session of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, October 4, 1878, the following action was taken:
At the turn of the century, his views of indwelling divinity seemed like pantheism to many other Adventist leaders. As an example of these controversial ideas, at the 1901 General Conference he said:
The issues that had been simmering came to a head in Dec. 1902 when the
Battle Creek Sanitarium, owned by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, was
destroyed by fire. Ellen G. White told Dr. Kellogg not to rebuild it. He
decided to ignore her advice, and was able to gain control of the board
of directors. He wrote a book titled The Living Temple which he hoped
would pay the costs of reconstruction. When the book was published, it
was sharply criticized by Ellen G. White for what she considered to be
its many statements of pantheism (God is in everything). He made all or
almost all the corrections she suggested. But it didn't work. In 1907 he was
"disfellowshipped."
until mid-life and gained fame while being the chief medical officer of the Battle Creek Sanitarium
, which was owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The Sanitarium was run based on the church's health principles. Adventists believe in a vegetarian diet, abstinence from alcohol and tobacco, and a regimen of exercise, which Kellogg followed, among other things. He is remembered as an advocate of vegetarianism and wrote in favor of it, even after leaving the Adventist Church. His dietary advice in the late 19th century, which was in part concerned with reducing sexual stimulation, discouraged meat-eating, but not emphatically so.
Kellogg was an especially strong proponent of nuts
, which he believed would save mankind in the face of decreasing food supply. Though mainly renowned nowadays for his development of corn flakes
, Kellogg also patented a process for making peanut butter
and invented healthy, "granose biscuits."
At the Battle Creek Sanitarium, Kellogg held classes on food preparation for homemakers. Sanitarium visitors engaged in breathing exercises and mealtime marches to promote proper digestion
of food throughout the day. Because Kellogg was a staunch supporter of phototherapy, the sanitarium also made use of artificial sunbaths.
Kellogg made sure that the bowel of each and every patient was plied with water, from above and below. His favorite device was an enema machine that could rapidly instill several gallons of water in a series of enemas. Every water enema was followed by a pint of yogurt — half was eaten, the other half was administered by enema, “thus planting the protective germs where they are most needed and may render most effective service." The yogurt served to replace the intestinal flora of the bowel, creating what Kellogg claimed was a squeaky-clean intestine
.
Kellogg believed that most disease is alleviated by a change in intestinal flora; that bacteria
in the intestines can either help or hinder the body; that pathogenic bacteria produce toxin
s during the digestion of protein that poison the blood; that a poor diet favors harmful bacteria that can then infect other tissues in the body; that the intestinal flora is changed by diet and is generally changed for the better by a well-balanced vegetarian diet favoring low-protein
, laxative
, and high-fiber
foods; and that this natural change in flora could be sped by enemas seeded with favorable bacteria, or by various regimens of specific foods designed to heal specific ailments.
Kellogg was a skilled surgeon, who often donated his services to indigent patients at his clinic. Although generally against unnecessary surgery
to treat diseases, he did advocate circumcision, allegedly to prevent masturbation
.
He had many notable patients, such as former president William Howard Taft
, composer and pianist Percy Grainger
, arctic explorers Vilhjalmur Stefansson
and Roald Amundsen
, world travellers Richard Halliburton
and Lowell Thomas
, aviator Amelia Earhart
, economist Irving Fisher
, Nobel prize winning playwright George Bernard Shaw
, actor and athlete Johnny Weissmuller
, founder of the Ford Motor Company Henry Ford
, inventor Thomas Edison
, and actress Sarah Bernhardt
.
John Kellogg and his brother Will Keith Kellogg
started the Sanitas Food Company to produce their whole grain
cereals around 1897, a time when the standard breakfast for the wealthy was eggs and meat, while the poor ate porridge
, farina
, gruel
, and other boiled grains. John and Will later argued over the recipe for the cereals (Will wanted to add sugar to the flakes). So in 1906, Will started his own company, the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company, which eventually became the Kellogg Company
, triggering a decades-long feud. John then formed the Battle Creek Food Company to develop and market soy products.
The Kelloggs did not invent the concept of the dry breakfast cereal. That honor belongs to Dr. James Caleb Jackson
, who created the first dry breakfast cereal in 1863, which he called, "Granula
." A patient of John's, Charles William Post, would eventually start his own dry cereal company, Post Cereals
, selling a rival brand of corn flakes. Dr. Kellogg later would claim that Charles Post stole the formula for corn flakes from his safe in the Sanitarium office.
. He set out his views on such matters in one of his larger books, published in various editions around the turn of the 20th century under the title Plain Facts about Sexual Life and later Plain Facts for Old and Young. Some of his work on diet was influenced by his belief that a plain and healthy diet, with only two meals a day, among other things, would reduce sexual feelings. Those experiencing temptation were to avoid stimulating food and drinks, and eat very little meat, if any. Kellogg also advocated hydrotherapy
and stressed the importance of keeping the colon clean through yogurt enemas.
and expressed support for the work of Anthony Comstock
. He appears to have followed his own advice; it has been suggested he worked on Plain Facts during his honeymoon.
He was an especially zealous campaigner against masturbation
; this was an orthodox view during his lifetime, especially the earlier part. Kellogg was able to draw upon many medical sources' claims such as "neither the plague, nor war, nor small-pox, nor similar diseases, have produced results so disastrous to humanity as the pernicious habit of onanism," credited to one Dr. Adam Clarke. Kellogg strongly warned against the habit in his own words, claiming of masturbation-related deaths "such a victim literally dies by his own hand," among other condemnations. He felt that masturbation destroyed not only physical and mental health, but the moral health of individuals as well. Kellogg also believed the practice of "solitary-vice" caused cancer of the womb, urinary diseases, nocturnal emissions, impotence, epilepsy, insanity, and mental and physical debility; "dimness of vision" was only briefly mentioned.
(carbolic acid) to a young woman's clitoris
. In his Plain Facts for Old and Young, he wrote
and
He also recommended, to prevent children from this "solitary vice", bandaging or tying their hands, covering their genitals with patented cages, sewing the foreskin shut and electrical shock.
In his Ladies' Guide in Health and Disease, for nymphomania, he recommended
and others during those years had a strong influence on all fields of Science and may have as well reached Dr.Kellogg. One source, taking a positive view of his nutritional and anti-smoking work, suggests he "dropped his obsession with the evils of sex" around 1920, which would be consistent with the last edition of Plain Facts being apparently published in 1917, but another, highly critical source maintains he "never retracted his claims." He did continue to work on healthy eating advice and run the sanitarium, although this was hit by the Great Depression
and had to be sold. He ran another institute in Florida, which was popular throughout the rest of his life, although it was a distinct step down from his Battle Creek institute.
and Charles Davenport
, Kellogg founded the Race Betterment Foundation, which became a major center of the new eugenics
movement in America. Kellogg was in favor of racial segregation and believed that immigrants and non-whites would damage the gene pool.
records that the nonagenarian J.H.K. prepared a letter seeking to reopen the relationship, but that his secretary decided her employer had demeaned himself in it and refused to send it. The younger Kellogg did not see it until after his brother's death.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
medical doctor in Battle Creek, Michigan
Battle Creek, Michigan
Battle Creek is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan, in northwest Calhoun County, at the confluence of the Kalamazoo and Battle Creek Rivers. It is the principal city of the Battle Creek, Michigan Metropolitan Statistical Area , which encompasses all of Calhoun county...
, who ran a sanitarium
Sanatorium
A sanatorium is a medical facility for long-term illness, most typically associated with treatment of tuberculosis before antibiotics...
using holistic methods, with a particular focus on nutrition
Nutrition
Nutrition is the provision, to cells and organisms, of the materials necessary to support life. Many common health problems can be prevented or alleviated with a healthy diet....
, enema
Enema
An enema is the procedure of introducing liquids into the rectum and colon via the anus. The increasing volume of the liquid causes rapid expansion of the lower intestinal tract, often resulting in very uncomfortable bloating, cramping, powerful peristalsis, a feeling of extreme urgency and...
s and exercise. Kellogg was an advocate of vegetarianism
Vegetarianism
Vegetarianism encompasses the practice of following plant-based diets , with or without the inclusion of dairy products or eggs, and with the exclusion of meat...
and is best known for the invention of the corn flakes
Corn flakes
Corn flakes are a popular breakfast cereal originally manufactured by Kellogg's through the treatment of maize. A patent for the product was filed on May 31, 1895, and issued on April 14, 1896.-History:...
breakfast cereal
Breakfast cereal
A breakfast cereal is a food made from processed grains that is often, but not always, eaten with the first meal of the day. It is often eaten cold, usually mixed with milk , water, or yogurt, and sometimes fruit but sometimes eaten dry. Some cereals, such as oatmeal, may be served hot as porridge...
with his brother, Will Keith Kellogg
Will Keith Kellogg
Will Keith Kellogg, generally referred to as W.K. Kellogg was an American industrialist in food manufacturing, best known as the founder of the Kellogg Company, which to this day produces a wide variety of popular breakfast cereals...
. He led in the establishment of the American Medical Missionary College
American Medical Missionary College
American Medical Missionary College was a Seventh Day Adventist College in Battle Creek, Michigan. It grew out of classes offered at the Battle Creek Sanitarium. It existed from 1895 until 1910. It also ran classes in Chicago, Illinois...
. The College, founded in 1895, operated until 1910 when it merged with Illinois State University.
Personal life
Kellogg was born in Tyrone, MichiganTyrone Township, Livingston County, Michigan
Tyrone Township is a civil township of Livingston County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 8,459 at the 2000 census.It was named after County Tyrone in Northern Ireland.-Communities:...
, to John Preston Kellogg (1806–1881) and Ann Janette Stanley (1824–1893). Kellogg lived with two sisters during childhood. By 1860, the family had moved to Battle Creek, Michigan
Battle Creek, Michigan
Battle Creek is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan, in northwest Calhoun County, at the confluence of the Kalamazoo and Battle Creek Rivers. It is the principal city of the Battle Creek, Michigan Metropolitan Statistical Area , which encompasses all of Calhoun county...
, where his father established a broom
Broom
A broom is a cleaning tool consisting of stiff fibers attached to, and roughly parallel to, a cylindrical handle, the broomstick. It is thus a variety of brush with a long handle. It is commonly used in combination with a dustpan....
factory. John later worked as a printer's devil
Printer's devil
A printer's devil was an apprentice in a printing establishment who performed a number of tasks, such as mixing tubs of ink and fetching type...
in a Battle Creek publishing house.
Kellogg attended the Battle Creek public schools, then attended the Michigan State Normal School (since 1959, Eastern Michigan University
Eastern Michigan University
Eastern Michigan University is a comprehensive, co-educational public university located in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Ypsilanti is west of Detroit and eight miles east of Ann Arbor. The university was founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School...
), and finally, New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
Medical College at Bellevue Hospital. He graduated in 1875 with a medical degree. He married Ella Ervilla Eaton (1853–1920) of Alfred Center, New York
Alfred (town), New York
Alfred is a town in Allegany County, New York, United States. The population was 5,140 at the 2000 census.The Town of Alfred has a village named Alfred in the center of the town....
, on February 22, 1879. They did not have any biological children, but raised over 40 children, legally adopting seven of them, before Ella died in 1920. The adopted children include Agnes Grace, Elizabeth, John William, Ivaline Maud, Paul Alfred , Robert Moffatt, Newell Carey, and Harriett Eleanor. Kellogg died in 1943 and was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, in Battle Creek, Michigan, along with his parents, James White
James Springer White
James Springer White , also known as Elder White was a co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and husband of Ellen G. White...
and Ellen White, C.W. Post, W.K. Kellogg, his brother and his brother's wife, Uriah Smith
Uriah Smith
Uriah Smith was a Seventh-day Adventist author and editor who worked for the Review and Herald for 50 years....
, and Sojourner Truth
Sojourner Truth
Sojourner Truth was the self-given name, from 1843 onward, of Isabella Baumfree, an African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist. Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, New York, but escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826. After going to court to recover her son, she...
.
Theological Views
While a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Dr. Kellogg held a prominent role as a speaker at church meetings. He promoted a practical, common sense religion.Dr. Kellogg expressed his ideas in a creative manner and some members of the church misunderstood what he said. At the Seventeenth Annual Session of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, October 4, 1878, the following action was taken:
"WHEREAS, The impression has gone out from some unknown cause that J. H. Kellogg, M.D., holds infidel sentiments, which does him great injustice, and also endangers his influence as physician-in-chief of the Sanitarium; therefore
"RESOLVED, That in our opinion justice to the doctor and the Institute under his medical charge, demand that he should have the privilege of making his sentiments known, and that he be invited to address those assembled on this ground, upon the harmony of science and the Sacred Scriptures.
"This resolution was unanimously adopted, after which the Conference
adjourned to the call of the chair.
"[Note.--In accordance with the foregoing resolution, Dr. Kellogg gave,
before a large audience, October 6, an able address on the harmony of science
and the Bible, for which the congregation tendered him a vote of thanks.]"
At the turn of the century, his views of indwelling divinity seemed like pantheism to many other Adventist leaders. As an example of these controversial ideas, at the 1901 General Conference he said:
- "Take the sunflower, for example. It looks straight at the sun. It watches and follows the sun all day long, looking straight at it all the time; and as the sun dips down below the horizon, you see that sunflower still looking at it; and as the sun turns around and comes up in the morning, the flower is looking toward the sun rising. It is God in the sunflower that makes it do this…
"Some of you have watched a flower winding up a string, a morning glory winding around a string. Perhaps you have seen a vine climbing up a lattice, and you have watched the end coming out, and turning in, back and forth, between the interstices of the lattice. How does the vine know what to do? There is an intelligence that is present in the plant, in all vegetation…
"The heart is a muscle. The heart beats. My arm will contract and cause the fist to beat; but it beats only when my will commands. But here is a muscle in the body that beats when I am asleep. It beats when my will is inactive and I am utterly unconscious. It keeps on beating all the time. What will is it that causes this heart to beat? The heart can not beat once without a command. To me it is a most wonderful thing that a man's heart goes on beating. It does not beat by means of my will; for I can not stop the heart's beating, or make it beat faster or slower by commanding it by my will. But there is a will that controls the heart. It is the divine will that causes it to beat, and in the beating of that heart that you can feel, as you put your hand upon the breast, or as you put your finger against the pulse, an evidence of the divine presence that we have within us, that God is within, that there is an intelligence, a power, a will within, that is commanding the functions of our bodies and controlling them…"
The issues that had been simmering came to a head in Dec. 1902 when the
Battle Creek Sanitarium, owned by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, was
destroyed by fire. Ellen G. White told Dr. Kellogg not to rebuild it. He
decided to ignore her advice, and was able to gain control of the board
of directors. He wrote a book titled The Living Temple which he hoped
would pay the costs of reconstruction. When the book was published, it
was sharply criticized by Ellen G. White for what she considered to be
its many statements of pantheism (God is in everything). He made all or
almost all the corrections she suggested. But it didn't work. In 1907 he was
"disfellowshipped."
Battle Creek Sanitarium
Kellogg was a Seventh-day AdventistSeventh-day Adventist Church
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...
until mid-life and gained fame while being the chief medical officer of the Battle Creek Sanitarium
Battle Creek Sanitarium
The Battle Creek Sanitarium, in Battle Creek, Michigan, United States, first opened on September 5, 1866, as the Western Health Reform Institute, based on the health principles advocated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. In 1876, John Harvey Kellogg became the superintendent, and his brother, W....
, which was owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The Sanitarium was run based on the church's health principles. Adventists believe in a vegetarian diet, abstinence from alcohol and tobacco, and a regimen of exercise, which Kellogg followed, among other things. He is remembered as an advocate of vegetarianism and wrote in favor of it, even after leaving the Adventist Church. His dietary advice in the late 19th century, which was in part concerned with reducing sexual stimulation, discouraged meat-eating, but not emphatically so.
Kellogg was an especially strong proponent of nuts
Nut (fruit)
A nut is a hard-shelled fruit of some plants having an indehiscent seed. While a wide variety of dried seeds and fruits are called nuts in English, only a certain number of them are considered by biologists to be true nuts...
, which he believed would save mankind in the face of decreasing food supply. Though mainly renowned nowadays for his development of corn flakes
Corn flakes
Corn flakes are a popular breakfast cereal originally manufactured by Kellogg's through the treatment of maize. A patent for the product was filed on May 31, 1895, and issued on April 14, 1896.-History:...
, Kellogg also patented a process for making peanut butter
Peanut butter
Peanut butter is a food paste made primarily from ground dry roasted peanuts, popular in North America, Netherlands, United Kingdom, and parts of Asia, particularly the Philippines and Indonesia. It is mainly used as a sandwich spread, sometimes in combination as in the peanut butter and jelly...
and invented healthy, "granose biscuits."
Digestion
Digestion is the mechanical and chemical breakdown of food into smaller components that are more easily absorbed into a blood stream, for instance. Digestion is a form of catabolism: a breakdown of large food molecules to smaller ones....
of food throughout the day. Because Kellogg was a staunch supporter of phototherapy, the sanitarium also made use of artificial sunbaths.
Kellogg made sure that the bowel of each and every patient was plied with water, from above and below. His favorite device was an enema machine that could rapidly instill several gallons of water in a series of enemas. Every water enema was followed by a pint of yogurt — half was eaten, the other half was administered by enema, “thus planting the protective germs where they are most needed and may render most effective service." The yogurt served to replace the intestinal flora of the bowel, creating what Kellogg claimed was a squeaky-clean intestine
Intestine
In human anatomy, the intestine is the segment of the alimentary canal extending from the pyloric sphincter of the stomach to the anus and, in humans and other mammals, consists of two segments, the small intestine and the large intestine...
.
Kellogg believed that most disease is alleviated by a change in intestinal flora; that bacteria
Bacteria
Bacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...
in the intestines can either help or hinder the body; that pathogenic bacteria produce toxin
Toxin
A toxin is a poisonous substance produced within living cells or organisms; man-made substances created by artificial processes are thus excluded...
s during the digestion of protein that poison the blood; that a poor diet favors harmful bacteria that can then infect other tissues in the body; that the intestinal flora is changed by diet and is generally changed for the better by a well-balanced vegetarian diet favoring low-protein
Protein
Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...
, laxative
Laxative
Laxatives are foods, compounds, or drugs taken to induce bowel movements or to loosen the stool, most often taken to treat constipation. Certain stimulant, lubricant, and saline laxatives are used to evacuate the colon for rectal and/or bowel examinations, and may be supplemented by enemas under...
, and high-fiber
Fiber
Fiber is a class of materials that are continuous filaments or are in discrete elongated pieces, similar to lengths of thread.They are very important in the biology of both plants and animals, for holding tissues together....
foods; and that this natural change in flora could be sped by enemas seeded with favorable bacteria, or by various regimens of specific foods designed to heal specific ailments.
Kellogg was a skilled surgeon, who often donated his services to indigent patients at his clinic. Although generally against unnecessary surgery
Surgery
Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...
to treat diseases, he did advocate circumcision, allegedly to prevent masturbation
Masturbation
Masturbation refers to sexual stimulation of a person's own genitals, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation can be performed manually, by use of objects or tools, or by some combination of these methods. Masturbation is a common form of autoeroticism...
.
He had many notable patients, such as former president William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...
, composer and pianist Percy Grainger
Percy Grainger
George Percy Aldridge Grainger , known as Percy Grainger, was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist. In the course of a long and innovative career he played a prominent role in the revival of interest in British folk music in the early years of the 20th century. He also made many...
, arctic explorers Vilhjalmur Stefansson
Vilhjalmur Stefansson
Vilhjalmur Stefansson was a Canadian Arctic explorer and ethnologist.-Early life:Stefansson, born William Stephenson, was born at Gimli, Manitoba, Canada, in 1879. His parents had emigrated from Iceland to Manitoba two years earlier...
and Roald Amundsen
Roald Amundsen
Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He led the first Antarctic expedition to reach the South Pole between 1910 and 1912 and he was the first person to reach both the North and South Poles. He is also known as the first to traverse the Northwest Passage....
, world travellers Richard Halliburton
Richard Halliburton
Richard Halliburton was an American traveler, adventurer, and author. Best known today for having swum the length of the Panama Canal and paying the lowest toll in its history—thirty-six cents—Halliburton was headline news for most of his brief career...
and Lowell Thomas
Lowell Thomas
Lowell Jackson Thomas was an American writer, broadcaster, and traveler, best known as the man who made Lawrence of Arabia famous...
, aviator Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart
Amelia Mary Earhart was a noted American aviation pioneer and author. Earhart was the first woman to receive the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross, awarded for becoming the first aviatrix to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean...
, economist Irving Fisher
Irving Fisher
Irving Fisher was an American economist, inventor, and health campaigner, and one of the earliest American neoclassical economists, though his later work on debt deflation often regarded as belonging instead to the Post-Keynesian school.Fisher made important contributions to utility theory and...
, Nobel prize winning playwright George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
, actor and athlete Johnny Weissmuller
Johnny Weissmuller
Johnny Weissmuller was an Austro-Hungarian-born American swimmer and actor best known for playing Tarzan in movies. Weissmuller was one of the world's best swimmers in the 1920s, winning five Olympic gold medals and one bronze medal. He won fifty-two US National Championships and set sixty-seven...
, founder of the Ford Motor Company Henry Ford
Henry Ford
Henry Ford was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry...
, inventor Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
, and actress Sarah Bernhardt
Sarah Bernhardt
Sarah Bernhardt was a French stage and early film actress, and has been referred to as "the most famous actress the world has ever known". Bernhardt made her fame on the stages of France in the 1870s, and was soon in demand in Europe and the Americas...
.
Breakfast cereals
Will Keith Kellogg
Will Keith Kellogg, generally referred to as W.K. Kellogg was an American industrialist in food manufacturing, best known as the founder of the Kellogg Company, which to this day produces a wide variety of popular breakfast cereals...
started the Sanitas Food Company to produce their whole grain
Whole grain
Whole grains are cereal grains that contain cereal germ, endosperm, and bran, in contrast to refined grains, which retain only the endosperm. Whole grains can generally be sprouted while refined grains generally will not sprout. Whole-meal products are made by grinding whole grains in order to make...
cereals around 1897, a time when the standard breakfast for the wealthy was eggs and meat, while the poor ate porridge
Porridge
Porridge is a dish made by boiling oats or other cereal meals in water, milk, or both. It is usually served hot in a bowl or dish...
, farina
Farina (food)
Farina is a cereal food, frequently described as mild-tasting, usually served warm, made from cereal grains. In contemporary American English use, the word usually refers to Cream of Wheat made from soft wheat. Wheat farina is a carbohydrate-rich food, often cooked in boiling water and served warm...
, gruel
Gruel
Gruel is a food preparation consisting of some type of cereal—oat, wheat or rye flour, or rice—boiled in water or milk. It is a thinner version of porridge that may be more often drunk than eaten and need not even be cooked...
, and other boiled grains. John and Will later argued over the recipe for the cereals (Will wanted to add sugar to the flakes). So in 1906, Will started his own company, the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company, which eventually became the Kellogg Company
Kellogg Company
Kellogg Company , is a producer of cereal and convenience foods, including cookies, crackers, toaster pastries, cereal bars, fruit-flavored snacks, frozen waffles, and vegetarian foods...
, triggering a decades-long feud. John then formed the Battle Creek Food Company to develop and market soy products.
The Kelloggs did not invent the concept of the dry breakfast cereal. That honor belongs to Dr. James Caleb Jackson
James Caleb Jackson
James Caleb Jackson was the inventor of the first dry, whole grain breakfast cereal which he called granula.-Biography:...
, who created the first dry breakfast cereal in 1863, which he called, "Granula
Granula
Granula was the first manufactured breakfast cereal invented by James Caleb Jackson in 1863. Granula was an early version of Grape-Nuts, consisting of heavy grains of bran-rich Graham flour. The grains had to be soaked overnight before use....
." A patient of John's, Charles William Post, would eventually start his own dry cereal company, Post Cereals
Post Cereals
Post Foods, LLC, also known as Post Cereals is a food company that was founded by C.W. Post in 1895 with the first Postum, a "cereal beverage," developed by Post in Battle Creek, Michigan. The first cereal, Grape-Nuts, was developed in 1897. Post has its headquarters in the Bank of America Plaza...
, selling a rival brand of corn flakes. Dr. Kellogg later would claim that Charles Post stole the formula for corn flakes from his safe in the Sanitarium office.
Views on sexuality
As an advocate of sexual abstinence, 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 ChurchSeventh-day Adventist Church
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...
. He set out his views on such matters in one of his larger books, published in various editions around the turn of the 20th century under the title Plain Facts about Sexual Life and later Plain Facts for Old and Young. Some of his work on diet was influenced by his belief that a plain and healthy diet, with only two meals a day, among other things, would reduce sexual feelings. Those experiencing temptation were to avoid stimulating food and drinks, and eat very little meat, if any. Kellogg also advocated hydrotherapy
Hydrotherapy
Hydrotherapy, formerly called hydropathy, involves the use of water for pain-relief and treating illness. The term hydrotherapy itself is synonymous with the term water cure as it was originally marketed by practitioners and promoters in the 19th century...
and stressed the importance of keeping the colon clean through yogurt enemas.
"Warfare with passion"
He warned that many types of sexual activity, including many "excesses" that couples could be guilty of within marriage, were against nature, and therefore, extremely unhealthy. He drew on the warnings of William ActonWilliam Acton
William Acton was a British medical doctor and book writer. He was known for his books on masturbation.-Biography:Acton was a native of Shillingstone and he enrolled as a resident apprentice at St Bartholomew's Hospital....
and expressed support for the work of Anthony Comstock
Anthony Comstock
Anthony Comstock was a United States Postal Inspector and politician dedicated to ideas of Victorian morality.-Biography:...
. He appears to have followed his own advice; it has been suggested he worked on Plain Facts during his honeymoon.
He was an especially zealous campaigner against masturbation
Masturbation
Masturbation refers to sexual stimulation of a person's own genitals, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation can be performed manually, by use of objects or tools, or by some combination of these methods. Masturbation is a common form of autoeroticism...
; this was an orthodox view during his lifetime, especially the earlier part. Kellogg was able to draw upon many medical sources' claims such as "neither the plague, nor war, nor small-pox, nor similar diseases, have produced results so disastrous to humanity as the pernicious habit of onanism," credited to one Dr. Adam Clarke. Kellogg strongly warned against the habit in his own words, claiming of masturbation-related deaths "such a victim literally dies by his own hand," among other condemnations. He felt that masturbation destroyed not only physical and mental health, but the moral health of individuals as well. Kellogg also believed the practice of "solitary-vice" caused cancer of the womb, urinary diseases, nocturnal emissions, impotence, epilepsy, insanity, and mental and physical debility; "dimness of vision" was only briefly mentioned.
Drastic measures
Kellogg worked on the rehabilitation of masturbators, often employing extreme measures, even mutilation, on both sexes. He was an advocate of circumcising young boys to curb masturbation and applying phenolPhenol
Phenol, also known as carbolic acid, phenic acid, is an organic compound with the chemical formula C6H5OH. It is a white crystalline solid. The molecule consists of a phenyl , bonded to a hydroxyl group. It is produced on a large scale as a precursor to many materials and useful compounds...
(carbolic acid) to a young woman's clitoris
Clitoris
The clitoris is a sexual organ that is present only in female mammals. In humans, the visible button-like portion is located near the anterior junction of the labia minora, above the opening of the urethra and vagina. Unlike the penis, which is homologous to the clitoris, the clitoris does not...
. In his Plain Facts for Old and Young, he wrote
and
He also recommended, to prevent children from this "solitary vice", bandaging or tying their hands, covering their genitals with patented cages, sewing the foreskin shut and electrical shock.
In his Ladies' Guide in Health and Disease, for nymphomania, he recommended
Later life
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. The studies and advances done on human sexuality by Sigmund FreudSigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
and others during those years had a strong influence on all fields of Science and may have as well reached Dr.Kellogg. One source, taking a positive view of his nutritional and anti-smoking work, suggests he "dropped his obsession with the evils of sex" around 1920, which would be consistent with the last edition of Plain Facts being apparently published in 1917, but another, highly critical source maintains he "never retracted his claims." He did continue to work on healthy eating advice and run the sanitarium, although this was hit by the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
and had to be sold. He ran another institute in Florida, which was popular throughout the rest of his life, although it was a distinct step down from his Battle Creek institute.
Race Betterment Foundation
Kellogg was outspoken on his beliefs on race and segregation, though he himself adopted a number of black children. In 1906, together with Irving FisherIrving Fisher
Irving Fisher was an American economist, inventor, and health campaigner, and one of the earliest American neoclassical economists, though his later work on debt deflation often regarded as belonging instead to the Post-Keynesian school.Fisher made important contributions to utility theory and...
and Charles Davenport
Charles Davenport
Charles Benedict Davenport was a prominent American eugenicist and biologist. He was one of the leaders of the American eugenics movement, which was directly involved in the sterilization of around 60,000 "unfit" Americans and strongly influenced the Holocaust in Europe.- Biography :Davenport was...
, Kellogg founded the Race Betterment Foundation, which became a major center of the new eugenics
Eugenics
Eugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...
movement in America. Kellogg was in favor of racial segregation and believed that immigrants and non-whites would damage the gene pool.
Relationship with W. K. Kellogg
Kellogg had a long personal and business split with his brother after fighting in court for the rights to cereal recipes. The Foundation for Economic EducationFoundation for Economic Education
The Foundation for Economic Education is one of the oldest free-market organizations established in the United States to study and advance the freedom philosophy. Murray Rothbard recognizes FEE for creating a "crucial open center" that he credits with launching the movement...
records that the nonagenarian J.H.K. prepared a letter seeking to reopen the relationship, but that his secretary decided her employer had demeaned himself in it and refused to send it. The younger Kellogg did not see it until after his brother's death.
Selected publications
- 1893 Ladies Guide in Health and Disease
- 1880, 1886, 1899 The Home Hand-Book of Domestic Hygiene and Rational Medicine
- 1903 Rational Hydrotherapy
- 1910 Light Therapeutics
- 1914 Needed -- A New Human Race Official Proceedings: Vol. I, Proceedings of the First National Conference on Race Betterment. Battle Creek, MI: Race Betterment Foundation, 431-450.
- 1915 "Health and Efficiency" Macmillan M. V. O'Shea and J. H. Kellogg (The Health Series of Physiology and Hygiene
- 1915 The Eugenics Registry Official Proceedings: Vol II, Proceedings of the Second National Conference on Race Betterment. Battle Creek, MI: Race Betterment Foundation.
- 1922 Autointoxication or Intestinal Toxemia
- 1923 Tobaccoism or How Tobacco Kills
- 1927 New Dietetics: A Guide to Scientific Feeding in Health and Disease
- 1929 Art of Massage: A Practical Manual for the Nurse, the Student and the Practitioner
Popular culture
- T. Coraghessan BoyleT. Coraghessan BoyleTom Coraghessan Boyle is a U.S. novelist and short story writer. Since the mid 1970s, he has published twelve novels and more than 100 short stories...
's 1993 comic novel The Road to WellvilleThe Road to WellvilleThe Road to Wellville is a 1993 novel by American author T. Coraghessan Boyle. Set in Battle Creek, Michigan during the early days of breakfast cereals, the story includes a historical fictionalization of John Harvey Kellogg, the inventor of corn flakes....
is a fictionalized story about Kellogg and his sanitarium. - A filmed version of the bookThe Road to Wellville (film)The Road to Wellville is a 1994 American comedy-drama film adaptation of T. Coraghessan Boyle's novel of the same name, which tells the story of the doctor and clean-living advocate John Harvey Kellogg and his methods as employed at the Battle Creek Sanitarium at the start of the 20th Century...
, directed by Alan ParkerAlan ParkerSir Alan William Parker, CBE is an English film director, producer, writer and actor. He has been active in both the British cinema and American cinema and was a founding member of the Directors Guild of Great Britain.-Life and career:...
, was released in 1994. It starred Anthony HopkinsAnthony HopkinsSir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...
as Kellogg. - Mel BrooksMel BrooksMel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...
' 1995 film Dracula: Dead and Loving ItDracula: Dead and Loving ItDracula: Dead and Loving It is a 1995 comedy film starring Leslie Nielsen, directed by Mel Brooks. It is a parody of the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, and of some of the films it inspired....
featured a sanitarium boss named "Dr. Jack Seward" (played by Harvey KormanHarvey KormanHarvey Herschel Korman was an American comedic actor who performed in television and movie productions beginning in 1960...
), who would recommend enemas for every conceivable ailment. The character was clearly based on Kellogg, and in one scene is seen eating corn flakes. (Dr. Seward is the name of a character in the novel DraculaDraculaDracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
, by Bram StokerBram StokerAbraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula...
.)
Further reading
- Schwarz, Richard W. John Harvey Kellogg: Pioneering Health Reformer. Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald, 2006
- Deutsch, Ronald M. The Nuts Among the Berries. New York, Ballantine Books, 1961, 1967
External links
- Photo Gallery (1000+ images) related to Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and the Battle Creek Sanitarium
- New York Times Obituary, December 16, 1943 J. H. Kellogg Dies; Health Expert, 91
- Etext of Plain Facts For Old And Young
- Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and Battle Creek Foods: Work with Soy from the Soy foods Center
- Dr. John Harvey Kellogg from the Battle Creek Historical Society
- Adventist Archives Contains many articles written by Dr. Kellogg
- John Harvey Kellogg: Interview Concerns his dispute with his church in 1907