Article John Harvey Kellogg
Type: Questionable Medicine.
Summary: John Harvey Kellogg was a brilliant surgeon, the creator of corn flakes cereal, and health faddist who bordered on quackery.
Posted by: Elliot Feldman
Brothers John Harvey and Will Keith Kellogg of Battle Creek, Michigan invented the breakfast cereal industry. Will Keith Kellogg was the business genius, and John Harvey was the creative genius. In 1906, John Harvey Kellogg left the company after a bitter dispute with his brother about adding sugar to their cereal products. The two brothers never spoke again.
An acclaimed surgeon, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg went on to devote his life to the Battle Creek Sanitarium and the promotion of healthy living. While many of his ideas and methods were sound and have remained popular to this day, other ideas approached the lunatic fringe.
Kellogg’s Corn Flakes
Dr. John Harvey Kellogg practiced medicine and surgery at Western Health Reform Institute, sponsored by the Seventh-Day Adventist Church which was then headquartered in Battle Creek. The Institute had gained a reputation for its questionable hydrotherapy or “water cures”, thus attracting well-heeled patients
One day a patient, who Kellogg had put on a whole grain diet, complained about breaking her false teeth on a zwieback whole grain cracker. This caused Kellogg to experiment with softer whole grain products, double-cooking them. In the process, he invented the flaked cereal and brought his brother Will Keith in as a partner. With this, Battle Creek’s breakfast cereal industry was launched.
The Battle Creek Sanitarium
In 1906, John Harvey left the company to work full-time as a doctor at the Western Health Reform Institute, which he eventually renamed the Battle Creek Sanitarium. In fact, Kellogg coined the word “sanitarium.”
At the Sanitarium, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg promoted his “Battle Creek Idea”, an unorthodox diet and exercise regimen for good living and wellness. As a result, Kellogg’s reputation and the hospital itself began to grow.
In 1907, the Seventh-Day Adventist Church protested the rapid growth of the hospital, but Kellogg wouldn’t bend to their will. The dispute became so bitter that the Adventists excommunicated him. Even so, he retained control of the Sanitarium.
Quackery?
Despite all the Doctor’s legitimate achievements, accusations of quackery soon surfaced.
Kellogg claimed that 90% of all illnesses originated in the stomach and bowels. Yogurt, both ingested and given as a daily enema, was a central part of his Battle Creek wellness program.
He also took a strong stand against masturbation. One of his most controversial practices was the application of carbolic acid to the clitoris in order to prevent female masturbation. He also advocated celibacy, claiming that intercourse was a chief cause of disease. In fact, Kellogg and his wife slept in separate bedrooms and remained celibate throughout all the years of their marriage. They eventually legally adopted 14 children.
Other “treatments” at the Battle Creek Sanitarium included sessions in a vibrating chair, electric stimulation of various body parts, and immersion in freezing water laced with radium.
By the 1920s, hundreds of wealthy clients from all over the country were waiting to “take the cure.”
Additional controversy
From 1914 to 1916, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg sponsored “Race Betterment Conferences” that supported eugenics and race segregation for “the preservation of the human race.”
Achievements
Kellogg is also credited with inventing the menthol nasal inhaler and the electric blanket.
In 1943, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg died at age 91, his longevity a testament to his regimen.
References
- “Rich Eccentrics”, Fortune Magazine
- http://www.geocities.com/Athens/oracle/9840/kellogg.html
- http://www.biography.com/search/article.do?id=9362099
- http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,728915-1,00.html
- http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,752600-1,00.html
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harvey_Kellogg
- “Evangelical engagements with eugenics”, Dennis Durst, Ethics & Medicine
- “Global Kellogging”, Jay D. Homnick, American Spectator
