John Harvey Kellogg
Dr.
John Harvey Kellogg (
February 26,
1852 -
December 14,
1943) was an
American medical doctor in
Battle Creek, Michigan who ran a
sanitarium using
holistic methods, with a particular focus on
nutrition,
enemas and
exercise. Kellogg was an advocate of
vegetarianism, and is best known for the invention of the
corn flake breakfast cereal with his brother.
Dr. Kellogg was born in
Tyrone, New York in
1852 to John Preston Kellogg (
1807-?) and Ann Janette Stanley (
1824-?). The family had moved to
Battle Creek, Michigan by 1860 where his father set up a broom factory. John later worked as a
printer's devil in a Battle Creek publishing house.
Kellogg went to the Battle Creek public school system, 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 children of their own, but raised over forty children, legally adopting seven of them, before Ella died in
1920. The adopted children include: Agnes Grace Kellogg; Elizabeth Kellogg; John William Kellogg; Ivaline Maud Kellogg; Paul Alfred Kellogg; Robert Moffatt Kellogg; and Newell Carey Kellogg. Kellogg died in
1943 and was buried in
Oak Hill Cemetery in
Battle Creek, Michigan.
Kellogg gained fame while working at the
Battle Creek Sanitarium which ran on
Seventh-day Adventist Church principles. They believed in a vegetarian diet and a regimen of exercise. Kellogg was against surgery, especially to remove parts of the intestines. In the Preface to Autointoxication, he says that "it is a notorious fact that most of those who have submitted themselves to shortcircutiting and even more radical surgical operations for relief of intestinal stasis, sooner or later, usually within a year after the operation, find themselves suffering from the same distressing symptoms for the relief of which they consented to submit themselves to a mutilating surgical procedure." Kellogg believed that most disease is alleviated by a change in intestinal flora: bacteria that is in the intestines can either help or hinder the body. "Bad" bacteria produce toxins during the digestion of protein that poison the blood. Poor diet also favors harmful bacteria that can then infect other tissues in the body. The intestinal flora is changed by the diet of the individual, and is changed for the better, generally, with a well-balanced vegetarian diet that favors low-protein, laxative and high-fiber foods. This natural change in flora can be sped by enemas seeded with favorable bacteria, or by various regimins of specific foods designed to heal specific ailments.
|
John Harvey Kellogg (1852-1943) |
With his brother,
Will Keith Kellogg, they started the Sanitas Food Company to produce their
whole grain cereals around
1897. A standard breakfast then was eggs and meat eaten by the well off. The poor ate porridge, farina, gruel, and other boiled grains. John and Will eventually argued over the addition of sugar to the cereals and in
1906 Will started his own company called the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company, which eventually became the
Kellogg Company. They never spoke to each other again. John then formed the Battle Creek Food Company to develop and market soy products. John 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 selling a rival brand of corn flakes.
Kellogg was a zealous campaigner against masturbation, recommending extreme methods. In his
Treatment for Self-Abuse and its Effects he wrote:
A remedy for masturbation which is almost always successful in small boys is circumcision. The operation should be performed by a surgeon without administering an anesthetic, as the brief pain attending the operation will have a salutary effect upon the mind, especially if it be connected with the idea of punishment. In females, the author has found the application of pure carbolic acid to the clitoris an excellent means of allaying the abnormal excitement.
Believing that masturbation was a sensual sin of the flesh, self-abuse, and an obsessive habit common to adolescent males and others, he advocated exposing the sensitive glans, which during masturbation would be subject to friction. In addition, the removal of the protective foreskin would further reduce sensory pleasures from the habit. Reducing the sensory pleasure, it was felt, would also reduce boys' rebelliousness to the constraints of Adventism. He also claimed that
masturbation was a primary cause of
acne, among other things, including atrophy of the testes. In at least one case, at the request of a ten-year-old girl's father he performed surgery to remove the girl's clitoris. Scientific advances have since shown that carbolic acid is highly dangerous and can cause mutations, irritations, burning and other unpleasant symptoms if the skin touches on it for any length of time and ingesting the substance can be
fatal.
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Plain Facts For Old And Young: Embracing The Natural History And Hygiene Of Organic Life, 1892 reprint |
* 1877
Plain Facts For Old And Young: Embracing The Natural History And Hygiene Of Organic Life* 1888
Treatment for Self-Abuse and its Effects, Plain Facts for Old and Young* 1893
Ladies Guide in Health and Disease* 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
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*
T. Coraghessan Boyle's
1993 comic novel
The Road to Wellville is a fictionalized story about Kellogg and his sanitarium.
*A filmed version of the book, directed by
Alan Parker, was released in
1994. It starred
Anthony Hopkins as Kellogg.
*
Mel Brooks'
1995 film
Dracula: Dead and Loving it featured a sanitarium boss named "Dr. Jack Seward" (played by
Harvey Korman), 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
Dracula, by Bram Stoker.)
*
Klismaphilia*
Poisonous pedagogy*
Autointoxication, by Dr. Kellogg. This research into the role of intestinal flroa in disease and research into changing of the intestinal flora, will help anyone learn how to reverse the aging process, live a longer and healthier life, have greater endurance and be more mentally alert. It was first published by the Modern Medicine Publishing Co., of Battle Creek, Michigan in 1918, and republished by the Coastalfields Press in 2006. It is available for free online download and in a variety of affordable bindings.*
the Natural Diet of Man, by Dr. Kellogg. This essay, written in response to unscientific arguments to Dr. Kellogg's research, builds on his previous work "Autointoxication." It was first published by the Modern Medicine Publishing Co., Battle Creek, Michigan in 1923, and republished by the Coastalfields Press in 2006. It is available for free online download and in a variety of affordable bindings.*
New York Times Obituary*
Findagrave: John Kellogg*
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*
Free ebook of John Harvey Kellogg at
Project Gutenberg*
Adventist Archives Contains many articles written by Dr. Kellogg
John Harvey Kellogg;
Treatment for Self-Abuse and its Effects, Plain Fact for Old and Young; F. Segner & Co.;
Burlington, Iowa (1888).
