He was an American physician and proponent of hydrotherapy and natural hygiene. In 1874, he authored the first vegan cookbook called The Hygeian Home Cookbook. Although the term “vegan” was not coined until 1944, Dr. Trall’s influential book featured vegetarian recipes that did not include milk, eggs, sugar, salt, yeast, acids, alkalies, grease, or condiments of any kind. He believed in providing “pure and palatable food” to all individuals and advocated “eating to live.” Dr. Trall was a vocal opponent of alcohol, coffee, meat, and tea consumption, and he expressed concerns about the potential health risks associated with spices. He successfully treated many patients without using drugs and authored over 40 books, garnering a loyal following in the 19th century. His contributions made him a foundational figure of the National Health Association.
Quote “The system which we endorse and practice is true—in harmony with nature, following the laws of the vital organism, correct in science, sound in philosophy, in agreement with common sense, successful in results, and a blessing to mankind.”
Excerpt From Graham, S., Trall. R., Shelton, H. (2009) The Greatest Health Discovery. Youngstown, OH. National Health Association.
Russell T. Trall was born in Vernon, Connecticut, on August 5, 1812. He was the 7th child of Russell and Tirzah Thatcher Trall. His parents moved to Western New York, which was little more than a wilderness during his infancy. Throughout his youth, he worked on his father’s farm. As he grew into a young man, he began to have issues with his health. This poor health helped him laser-focused his interest in medicine. He was a keen observationist and believed that the doctors who treated him, using methods of the day, caused him more harm than any good. He wasn’t satisfied with their explanations of his illness or the remedies they wanted to use.
He decided to investigate his health issues, wishing to get to the root cause, and thus began his journey to learn about health. Since there were few educational opportunities, he started training as a medical student with a local village physician. He studied the leading schools of therapy, i.e., “regular” (allopathic) medicine, homeopathy, and the eclectic, physico-medical, and chrono-thermal traditions.
During his studies, he began to think that most current medical doctrines were harmful and downright dangerous. He became very skeptical of the so-called medical science of the world.
In 1840, he began a “regular” (allopathic) practice. Discontent with the results of most therapies, he based his practice in increasing measure on the ideas of Vincent PrieBniz(hydrotherapy) andSylvester Graham (health through healthful living).
The Water Cure Institution in New York was founded by Dr. Trall in 1844 and was the first to begin in the United States. His institute was a cross between an urban health farm and a boarding house, offering plain vegetarian meals, hydrotherapy treatments, a gymnasium, public rooms, and, starting in the 1860s, a health food shop selling whole grains, cereals, Graham bread (Trall was a friend ofSylvester Graham), and his books on food reform, hygiene, sex, and physiology. He was genuinely forward-thinking when setting up this institution. He realized that if the next generation were to change, he would have to educate them.
In 1849, Trall, along with Joel Shewand Samuel R. Wells, founded the American Hydropathic Society. Additionally, Trall and Wells established the American Anti-Tobacco Society in the same year.
In 1850, Trall organized a convention for the American Hydropathic Society in New York City, and during that year, the Society evolved into the American Hygienic and Hydropathic Association of Physicians and Surgeons.
Dr. Russell T. Trall,Sylvester Graham, Dr. William Alcott, and William Metcalfe, the pastor of the Bible-Christian Church, founded the American Vegetarian Society (AVS) in Philadelphia. The society held its first official meeting at the Bible-Christian Church in Philadelphia on September 4, 1850, after a founding convention in New York City. However, during the Civil War, the group’s membership and influence declined as the nation’s focus shifted towards the war.
Dr. Trall established the New York Hydropathic and Physiological School, which later became known as theNew York Hygeio-Therapeutic College in 1857. He then moved operations to New Jersey in 1867 with his Hygeian Home. The New York Hydropathic and Physiological School is chiefly notable today as one of the first medical schools in the United States to admit women candidates for the Doctor of Medicine degree. In the first class, the school graduated 50 physicians, about half of which were women.
In 1863, Trall became the editor of “The Water-Cure” journal, which was later renamed “The Herald of Health”. Trall passionately advocated for “hygeiotherapy,” a comprehensive approach that combined hydrotherapy, diet, and exercise, emphasizing fresh air, hygiene, and massage. Although this concept faded after he died in 1877,Rev. Fr. Sebastian Kneipp revived this approach in the 1890s.
In 1863, Trall became the editor of “The Water-Cure” journal, later renamed “The Herald of Health.”
In 1868, James Springer White, Co-Founder of the Seventh-day Adventist, invited Trall to teach a series of health lectures in Battle Creek, MI, during the annual general conference meetings. Trall was then asked to contribute regularly to their publication,The Health Reformer magazine. However, the magazine faced challenges as many readers disagreed with Trall’s strict dietary guidelines, which included avoiding butter, eggs, milk, oil, salt, and sugar. These views were seen as radical, leading to declining subscription rates. In 1871, James White took over as the editor of The Health Reformer and pledged to move away from the extreme dietary ideas. Despite this, Trall continued to write for the magazine.
Trall’s earlier cookbooks promoted vegetarianism. However, “The Hygeian Home Cook-Book,” published in 1874, was the first vegan cookbook in America. This influential book features recipes that do not include milk, eggs, sugar, salt, yeast, acids, alkalies, grease, or condiments of any kind. Trall was a staunch advocate against the consumption of alcohol, coffee, meat, and tea and voiced concerns about the potential health risks associated with spices. Later in Dr. Trall’s life, the trend was to move away from hydropathy, and the emphasis was then placed on Hygiene and health.
Dr. Trall did not believe in administering any drugs, medicines, or alcoholic stimulations of any kind. He believed that the medical profession did more harm than good with drugs and doses. He thought that they would never find a healing solution using drugs, for none exists. In contrast, his hygienic principles reject drugs because they do not heal the body, and he prefers to employ hygienic lifestyle practices because they help the body to heal.
Dr. Russell T. Trall died in Florence, New Jersey, on September 23rd, 1877, at the age of 65.
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“The argument has been offered that Dr. Trall was a hydropath and that his Encyclopediaproves it. The argument is quite true if we focus only on 1851. But as he lived some 26 years longer and his philosophy and practice underwent considerable evolution during that period, it is as inaccurate to judge him by Encyclopedia as it would be to judge him by his degree, Doctor of Medicine.Such an argument would cause one to say that Martin Luther was a catholic priest, for he certainly was before he became the leader of the German reformation movement. Just as Luther became a protestant, so Trall became a Hygienist.”
One of the most significant events of the 1800s was the Civil War. Many soldiers died from illness and infected wounds. During this time, water was often contaminated, medical equipment was not sterilized, and doctors rarely washed their hands. Trall believed that there are but two medical systems in existence–the Drug Medical System and the Hygienic Medical System. He wanted to expose the fallacies of drug medication and explain the truths of the hygienic system. He addressed letters to President Lincoln, the secretaries of State, War, the Navy, the Treasury, and Members of Congress in Washington. He never received a response. Photo: See file page for creator info.
Russell grew up in a time when the US was still unshackling itself from England. Though freed of British influence at this time, America was far from being a nation of men who were unfettered. Man’s living habits were so contrary to natural laws that he was held in bondage by his faulty behavior. Dr. Trall was not only a medical revolutionist; he was also a health and medical reformer dedicated to the emancipation of man through knowledge of physiological and hygienic principles.
One of the most significant events of the 1800s was the Civil War. Many soldiers died from illness and infected wounds. During this time, water was often contaminated, medical equipment was not sterilized, and doctors rarely washed their hands. Dysentery was the worst in the military camps, entering the body through contaminated food or water and attacking the intestines. Hygiene was deplorable, and latrines were often located near drinking water sources. Typhoid was another unsanitary disease that could quickly spread from an infected person. Pneumonia was also responsible for many deaths, as men were unable to breathe as their lungs filled with fluids. Malaria was another factor, but it wasn’t as fatal if treated with quinine. Even measles killed an estimated one in twenty of those who came down with the disease.
Teachings
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“There are but two medical systems: the Drug Medical System and the Hygienic Medical System. One employs poisons as the proper disease remedy; the other employs hygienic materials and agencies.”
—R.T. Trall M.D.
Dr. Trall firmly believed that the proper system of the Healing Art—Hygienic Medication rejects drugs, medicines, or poisons. It rejects them because they are intrinsically bad and employs hygienic agencies (air, light, temperature, water, etc.) because they are inherently good.
Trallbegan the Water Cure Institution in New York in 1844, the first in the United States. He was genuinely forward-thinking in setting up this institution. He realized that if the next generation were to change, he would have to educate them.
From this time, Dr. Trall did not administer any drugs, medicines, or alcoholic stimulations of any kind. He believed that the medical profession harms many with drugs and doses. He thought that they would never find a healing solution using drugs, for none exists. In contrast, his hygienic principles reject drugs because they do not heal the body, and he prefers to employ hygienic lifestyle practices because they help the body to heal.
Drug medication, no matter what disguise, he believed, produced disease in healthy people.
On the contrary, hygienic medication rejects all poisons. Its foundation is the same materials and influences that preserve health and wellness (i.e., clean air, light, temperature, good food, water, etc.).
Trall’s diet was simple, consisting chiefly of Graham’s bread, hard Graham crackers, fruits, and nuts — two meals a day, without salt. He neither drank tea, coffee, or milk but consumed only soft water. He had a solid work ethic and lived on very little sleep.
In 1851, he wrote The Hydropathic Encyclopedia: A System of Hydropathy and Hygiene; In Eight Parts, published by the Army Medical Library. This encyclopedia is an elaborate work of nearly one thousand pages, which not only discusses the theory and practice of Hydropathy but also considers the philosophy and treatment of diseases practiced by the older schools of medicine. This book delves extensively into the anatomy and physiology of the human body, hygiene, preservation of health, dietetic and hydropathic cooking, water treatment, unique pathology, symptoms and treatment of known diseases, surgery, midwifery, and the nursery. It is a fantastic achievement, given the writing tool of the day was the quill. The circulation of the encyclopedia alone exceeded over forty thousand copies!
Recipe from 1873 by Russell T. Trail – The New Hydropathic Cook-Book: with Recipes for Cooking on Hygienic Principles: Containing also a Philosophical Exposition of the Relations of Food to Health.
The Hydropathic Cookbook was a natural outcome of his dietetic system. It includes a compilation of recipes and a scientific treatise on food. Popular Physiologywas a brief but thorough treatise on human physiology and was used as a textbook.
The catalog of his published books includes more than forty volumes, embracing the subjects of physiology, diphtheria, hydropathy, hygiene, vegetarianism, temperance, women’s health, and books to teach women how to create a hygienic home, prepare food, as well as taking care of the sick.
You will find links to his original books in the publication section and a summary. These works have been digitally preserved, which provide a proud legacy and tribute to Dr. Russell T. Trall—a true pioneer and trailblazer of the National Health Association.
Dr. Trall, through illness, learned of hygiene and spent a lifetime advocating the basic tenets of physiology as applied to everyday living. It could be said of him that he was the greatest educator, through his extensive teachings of the gospel of Health, the world has ever known.
“It is very easy to demonstrate that more than one-half of the mental energies, labor and wealth of these United States are devoted to flesh eating, liquor drinking and to tobacco using, neither of which is essential to health or strength. The waste of moral power, sensualization of the whole matter and the stupefaction of the moral sense, consequent on these habits, is beyond all powers of computation.”
This excerpt is from the monumental Hydropathic Encyclopedia (volume 2, page 295) by Russell T. Trail, M.D. (1812-1877), who played a major role in developing the principles of the Natural Hygiene system of health care.
Early Natural Hygiene writings indicate that our pioneers were in the forefront of liberating 19th century women on many levels. This excerpt is one example to illustrate how our early teachers strove to free women from one of the ”restrictions” of those “semi-dark” ages.
Physiologists reckon that an adequate supply of air for an ordinary man to breathe each minute is from seven to ten cubic feet. A hundred persons confined in a room thirty feet in length, breath, and height containing nearly 30,000 cubic feet, would render the whole air unfit for respiration in about five hours.
Imperfect ventilation, therefore, in crowded assemblies, churches, schoolrooms, theaters, factories and workshops, especially in the evening, when any lamps or gas-burners are em ployed, is a common source of debility and disease. An ordinary gas-burner consumes as much oxygen as four adult persons; but the loss of oxygen is not alone the cause of injury resulting from large gatherings of people in ill-ventilated places, for the irrespirable air thrown out from the lungs is rendered still more noxious by the exhalations from the skin.
The artificial habit of lessening the breathing capacity by means of stays, corsets, and tight dresses, is now happily passing away, although the wasp-like waists which deform so many of the gentler sex still adorn the “fashion plates” of the magazines, and caricature the female form in the most of the fashionable shop windows.
Could the women of America – I say nothing of ladies – fully appreciate the importance of dress as connected with respiration, and the relation of this function to their own health and happiness and the welfare of their offspring, the monthly importation of Parisian cuts, turns, twists, fits and misfits, would soon be substituted by “short dresses,” loose as well as short, or something in the way of clothing that would emancipate the lungs from oppression “most foul, strange, and unnatural.” A reform in female dress would not only set free the breathing apparatus, but would confer an in calculable benefit on the human race in another respect. It would enable the wealthy classes to devote more attention to more useful subjects, and think less of the frivolities of ever changing and never satisfying fashions; and diminish the demand upon the kind of work—sewing by day and by night—which is now ruining the constitutions of thousands of poor and industrious females, and sending them rapidly to premature graves.
The person who fails to discover the ease, grace, beauty, and symmetry of the natural figure as contrasted with that of a modem belle, must have a taste as artificial as any mantua-maker could desire. It is perfectly certain that, just to the extent that any female diminishes the circumference of the body around the lungs, just in that ratio will she lessen the number of her days, provided she does not die of violence or disease, which is a hazard she must also encounter.
If there are any young ladies whose excess of approbativeness induces them to strain, and labor, and suffer to produce tapering waists” so as to look “delicately fashionable,” or fashionably “delicate”, for the purpose of attracting the admiration of the other sex, let me assure them they are destined to a sad failure. Noticed the May, indeed, obtain, but admiration in that way, never. I have never heard a young man speak of the habit, except in terms of ridicule; and I’ve never heard any man speak of it, except in language of reprobation, for its manifestly, injurious consequences, and contempt, for its ridiculous appearance.
The contrast appears still stronger, when the diminutive circle of the waist, which beautify as the bell, is placed by the side of the bride, expanded chest, which renders a woman, vigorous and healthy, and consequently, a help meet for man. Such was the model of female beauty, ere sacrilegious hands had marred its fair proportions, and whenever, among the inhabitants of all the parts of the Earth, we find long lived mothers and grandmothers, we are sure to find full, round, chests, and capacious lungs.
Trall was an outspoken critic of allopathic (drug) practices. The following is excerpted from his introductory lecture on “The Problems of Medical Science,” delivered before the 1863-64 class of the New York Hygeio-Therapeutic College. From the Vegetarian Health Science Magazine – Spring 1985
We are not Reformers; we are revolutionists. Medical reform – the world has had quite enough of that. Reforming the drug system by substituting one set of drugs for another is a ridiculous farce. It may, to be sure, substitute a lesser for a greater evil, in many cases, but is like reforming big lies with little falsehoods. It is like reforming swearing with obscene language; or like reforming robbing with cheating.
We have no substitute for drug medicines. We let them alone as evil things, and prescribe good things. We cannot reform or change a falsehood. We have only to teach the truth. Our system is independent of all others. Its premises are original. Its doctrines have never before been taught in medical schools, nor written in medical books, nor recognized by medical men. They go back, (or perhaps forward), of all that has ever heretofore been taught, assumed, or pretended, to the very Laws of Nature themselves and we recognize no textbook of authority although we have many for reference except that written by God’s own hand- the outspread volume of Nature.
FROM THE ARCHIVES: Women Doctors Natural Hygiene and Equal Rights
In 1852, Dr. Russell T. Trall (1812-1877) founded the New York High Therapeutic College, which the New York State Legislature chartered to confer the degree of Doctor of Medicine. In this college, men and women were admitted on an equal basis. What follows is Trall’s assessment of the women doctors of his day. From the Health Magazine – Nov/Dec 1985
Women have the best natural aptitude for the practice of the true healing art, and the business of administering to the sick should be (aside from surgery) chiefly in their hands. And it soon would be where drug medication ought to be – in the state of non-existence. Our experience and observations in teaching medical classes, composed of nearly equal numbers of both sexes, for 15 successive years have confirmed what we believed before. They have demonstrated the fact of women’s equal intellectual capacity to comprehend the principles and grasp the technical details of medical science.
We have, on several occasions, stated that if the best six students of each six were to be selected from our medical class, a number one would not be of the gender masculine. The same remark will apply to our present class. If we were to select one dozen of the best-qualified persons of the present class, qualified to write, lecture, teach, and practice our system, we are confident that most of them would be females. We can say this without any disparagement to our male students. We do not claim from this fact that a woman is a higher animal than a man or a superior being to him, but simply that she is constitutionally better adapted to the business, and the world will find this out if it lives long enough.
From the Gospel of Health, 1867
We suppose women will always have to labor under some disabilities of sex. As to their becoming physicians, we had not considered the case so strong in their favor until the American Male Medical Association argued against them. The course for the profession to take is very plain. If women are deficient in reason, and cannot acquire the knowledge to fit themselves to practice medicine, the requirement of qualifications will exclude them from professional standing. The rule that women of decency cannot learn pathology is too absurd and suicidal for the profession to set up. If the profession excludes women for their sex, without regard to their medical qualifications, the exclusion will have no virtue in the community. Society will not recognize its right or reason. If, as we understand from their reasoning, there are 1000 women now practicing medicine who would apply to be admitted, if the association should open the door to all who possess the requisite medical knowledge, then it is too late for the associated males to keep the profession masculine and their feeble efforts only show impotence.
Russell T. Trail, M.D. (1812-1877), was a prolific writer and prolific writer tireless educator. He founded the first medical school based on the principles of natural hygiene in 1853.tireless educator. He founded the first medical school based on the principles of natural hygiene in 1853. From the Health Science Magazine: Nov/Dec. 1987
For a period of about 3000 years, there has been a medical profession to whom all the world has looked up as the recognized teachers of the laws of life and the conservators of public health. This medical profession has always professed to be in possession of a true science of medicine, whose principles applied to the various circumstances of disease constituted the proper healing art. Through many centuries, its ranks have been honored and distinguished by men of exalted character, extensive learning, great experience, untiring industry, unquestionable benevolence, and honesty. Its schools have been numerous all over the civilized world and richly endowed with libraries, museums, and laboratories, and its hospitals in clinics have afforded ample opportunities for practical instruction for the diagnostician of disease diseases and the administration of remedies.
Yet, what has the world profited by all of this? How much better informed are the people in relation to the laws and conditions of life and health, so far as this medical profession is concerned than it was 3000 years ago? And why is that the most consummate quack, in this enlightened age, is allowed to compete successfully with the educated physician for public confidence and patronage?
These are great questions. Who can answer them? Perhaps a reference to a few authorities will suggest the solution to these problems.
Send the late John Abernathy, MD, of London, known as “Dr. Abernathy, the good, “because of his sterling honesty and true philanthropy in a lecture to a medical class: “There has been a great increase of medical men of late, but, upon my life, diseases have increased in proportion. “
The eminent Dr. Lugol of Paris said, “We are following an erroneous course in our investigations, and we must resort to new modes to be more successful. “
Said Dr. Evans, a fellow of the Royal College of London: “The medical practice of our day is, at the least, most uncertain and unsatisfactory system; it has neither philosophy nor common sense to commend it to confidence. “
Said Professor Gregory of the Edinburgh Medical College to his medical class: “Gentleman, 99 out of every hundred medical facts or medical lies, and medical doctrines are, for the most part, stark, staring nonsense. “
Said the famous English surgeon, Sir Astley Cooper: “The science of medicine is founded on conjecture and improved by murder. “
Said John, Mason, Goode, MD, FRS, the most accomplished medical scholar and author: “The science of medicine is a barbarous jargon, and the effects of our medicine on the human system is in the highest degree uncertain; except, indeed, that they have destroyed more lives than war, petulance, and famine combined.
Says Professor A. H. Stevens, MD, of the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons: “The older physicians grow, the more skeptical they become of the virtues of medicine, and the more they are disposed to trust the powers of nature. “
Says Professor E. R. Peaslee, MD of the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons: “ The Modus Operandi of medicines is still a very obscure subject. We know they operate, but exactly how they operate, is entirely unknown. “
Says Professor S. D. Gross of the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia: “Of the essence of disease, very little is known; indeed, nothing at all. “
Says Professor Paine of the New York University Medical School, and author of “Institute of Medicine “– a work of acknowledged scholarship: “remedial agents act on the system in the same way as due the remote causes of disease. They cure one disease by producing another. “
From these numerous testimonials, which could easily be expanded indefinitely, it becomes clear that the conventional medical profession has failed to guide people toward healthier practices or more beneficial habits. Instead, it has remained content to allow individuals to continue violating the natural laws of life and health. Then, when disease—an inevitable consequence of such transgressions—arises, the medical system responds not by addressing the root causes, but by merely treating the symptoms with drugs, often at great cost to the individual’s well-being.
It is impossible for conventional doctors to serve as true health teachers, as their entire system contradicts the fundamental laws of the human organism. Every dose of medication is an affront to nature and an assault on the body’s constitution. The flawed and misguided dogmas of the pharmaceutical system have never been, and can never be, of genuine benefit to people—only misleading them further from true health.
In 1853, Trall founded the New York Hydropathic and Physiological School, which became the New York Hygeio-Therapeutic College in 1857. His students learned water treatment and nutrition, the virtues of self-discipline, and emotional, sexual, and physical moderation. Men and women were admitted on equal terms, which was then foreign in society.
Trall noted that soldiers in the Civil War were dying from typhoid fever, pneumonia, measles, dysentery, etc., and quite unnecessarily. He knew that the application of hygienic medication would save many lives.
The successful treatment of soldiers in the Civil War was of national importance to Trall. He wanted to present the merits of Hydropathy and Hygieneversus allopathic therapy to the nation. His goal was to extend and share his knowledge throughout the civilized world.
Trall believed that there are but two medical systems in existence–the Drug Medical System and the Hygienic Medical System. He wanted to expose the fallacies of drug medication and explain the truths of the hygienic system. He addressed letters to President Lincoln, the secretaries of State, War, the Navy, the Treasury, and Members of Congress in Washington. He never received a response.
Dr. Trall Goes to Washington
However, he was determined to be heard in Washington and would only leave once he had done so. He was persistent.
His objective was to expose the fallacies of drug medication and explain the truths of the hygienic system in a place and circumstance that would command attention. He faced many obstacles, but his tenacity prevailed, and he lectured at the Smithsonian Institute in 1862.
For over ten years, Trall openly challenged the leading medical men of his day to dispute the veracity of Natural Hygiene practices. Additionally, Trall wanted to disprove the validity of their system. His culminating efforts occurred when he delivered his address at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D. C., which brought out the stark treatment of medical doctors.
The challenge offered a debate on the difference between the standard medical practice and Trall’s hygienic principles. Any professor in an allopathic medical college or the civilized world was allowed to refute or disprove, in any way, hygienic principles. That challenge was never accepted.
Dr. Trall explains in his Water Cure Journal, “I inquired how long a Washington audience could be kept patiently in their seats and was informed that about one hour was the usual length of lectures and that the longest lecture thus far had been one hour and a half. The reader may judge my interest in my subject when I state that the audience listened intently for two hours and a half—from eight to half-past ten.”
Quote: “I conclude with a single remark. All history attests to the fact that wherever the Drug Medical System prevails, desolation marks its track, human health declines, vital stamina diminishes, diseases become more numerous, more complicated, and more fatal, and the human race deteriorates. On the contrary, wherever the Hygienic Healing System is adopted–and there is no exception–renovation denotes its progress, and humanity improves in all the relations of its existence. These are why I value the opportunity to speak for the welfare of the great human family.”
–R. T. Trall, 1862
While Trall gave a powerful lecture at the Smithsonian, his ideas were lost between the war and the country’s recovery post-civil war. Later, he published these concepts in The True Healing Art: Or, Hygienic vs. Drug Medication in 1872.
In the first part, digestion, he discusses nutrition, intestinal digestion, absorption of nutrients, aeration of the food elements, and tobacco. For the ladies, he discussed tight-laced corsets and their impact on digestion! They were indeed tight.
In part II, he goes into dyspepsia, which is indigestion. Dyspepsia originates from Latin and Greek and means ‘difficult to digest.’ He discusses the nature of dyspepsia, its causes, symptoms, and treatment principles related to food, drink, exercise, bathing, clothing, sleep, ventilation, light, temperature, mental influences, and occupation.
The Mother’s Hygienic Handbook was a manual for women to learn home hygienic principles, including the care and management of children. There were few resources for women then.
The Mother’s Hygienic Handbook was a manual for women to learn home hygienic principles, including the care and management of children. It was considered an exceedingly valuable work, as there were few resources for women then.
Why hasn’t this information been passed down and updated as we learned more about the human body?
In 1873, as a follow-up for mothers, he wrote The Hygienic Handbook, a practical guide for dealing with the sick. It was arranged alphabetically and was regarded as an illustrative appendix of hygeio-therapeutic practices.
Dr. Russell T. Trall was an amazingly prolific writer on all things human and was a true pioneer of the National Health Association. His vast work influenced, educated, and healed thousands. Considering this was done well over 150 years ago, his insights were extraordinary.
To clearly define this man and his thinking would require hundreds of pages. The constructive influence that he exerted would require as many more. Dr. Trall was a man of impeccable honesty. He was uncompromising in his dedication to truth. Moral principles animated his work and controlled every move he made in Health reform. His credo was not merely verbal mutterings; any threat that might compromise his hygienic principles, he did not hesitate to counteract.
Today, we can profit greatly from the pioneers in hygiene, such as Russell T. Trall, who drove to preserve the purity of hygienic principles.
In 1856, Russell T. Trail, M.D. petitioned the members of the state of New York legislature for a charter. – Against opposition from medical men, his election was granted and passed by the Senate. But it was lost because the Legislature adjourned. In the winter of 1857, Dr. Trail again prepetitioned the New York Legislature. This time, also, he was opposed medically. But Dr. Trail was adamant, and like all humanitarian firebrands, no opposition could snuff out the flame for truth and humanity that burned within his being.
In his petition, he stated: “The school for which a charter is desired has existed for four years. It has a full complement of teachers and gives a thorough course of instruction in all the branches of a medical education. Its graduates are in good practice in various parts of the U.S. as teachers of the laws of health and practitioners of the healing art. The school will continue to exist, and its graduates will continue to go forth, with or without a charter, with or without justice at the hands of the Legislature, and with or without manly consideration or professional meanness on the part of medical men of a rival system.
But we shall continue to ask you what we can demand as a right. We base our claim to a charter on the following facts, each of which we will prove to your honorable body whenever you give us an audience or other opportunity. Our students are qualified to teach the prevention of disease as well as to practice its cure, a feature unknown to any other medical school.
Our students are taught a more successful method of curing diseases than is taught in any other medical school, the remedial appliances being Hygienic agencies alone, thus dispensing with all the poisons of the apothecary shop and avoiding the horrible drug diseases that are filling the land with miserable wrecks of mortality and broken-down constitutions.
Our school teaches the true science of medicine; the opposition schools teach a false system. Their system is based on false principles; hence, nearly all its problems in pathology and therapeutics are erroneous. They teach a false doctrine of the action of remedies, a false doctrine of the nature of drugs, a false doctrine of the nature of ideology, or the cause of disease, a false doctrine of the laws of vitality, on which all correct medical science must be based.
We have offered, and now through you, repeat the offer, to prove these positions, either in argument before your honorable body, and discussions through the newspaper, or in verbal controversy in public halls, or in any other way that medical gentlemen opposed to our system may appoint, so that the merits or demerits of our respective systems may be brought fully and fairly before the public.
In asking for a charter, we want no favors. We wish merely equality. We ask to give our students legal and regular diplomas whenever they are qualified to practice the healing arts. Their qualifications may be ascertained in any way, and the Legislature may please appoint them. We are willing to be placed under all the obligations of other medical schools, and then we want the same “privileges and immunities.” We do not object to all Allopathic physicians being censors when examining our students. Nor do we ask or expect money from the public treasury. Appropriations may continue to go v/ith the public current. The public purse, heretofore, may be opened liberally to aid and endow the already rich, strong, and powerful—those who would crush us out if they could, simply because we have a better way for preventing and curing disease and the boldness to proclaim it to world.
In June 1857, Dr. Trail announced: “We have gained an institutional victory at last. The New York Hygeio-Therapeutic College is now a chartered institution. Its graduates may henceforth go out “armed and equipped” according to the law. The diploma of the water-cure school will have all the rights, privileges, and immunities, all the technical forces and (if any there be), all the legal sanctities (if these amount to anything), and all the popular eclat (if this is worth anything), which attach and give dignity, character, and influence to other regular medical schools. We are now legal.
The NHA wishes to remind the readers that nothing in this or other publications is intended to constitute medical treatment or advice. Readers should be aware that some previous publications do not reflect the NHA’s current health teachings or approach to health in several areas.
Our Mission
The mission of the National Health Association is to educate and empower individuals to understand that health results from healthy living. We recognize the integration of all aspects of health: personal, environmental, and social.
We communicate the benefits of a plant-based diet, exercise and rest, a healthy environment, psychological well-being, and when indicated, the use of fasting.
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