About Sylvester Graham (1794-1851)

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For what purpose is man a free agent? Why is it given to him to exercise the right of choice? Why even the power of locomotion, if he is to submit himself like a mere machine to the circumstances which surround him and use no effort to control them, or render them subservient to his improvement – to the highest improvement, even, of which his whole nature, physical, intellectual, social, and moral is capable?
-Sylvester Graham
From the Natural Hygiene News – Feb/Mar 1964

The roots of modern dietary science can be traced back to Sylvester Graham. Prior to his era, there was a significant lack of understanding about what constituted a healthy diet. 

It’s fascinating that the graham cracker and graham bread we know today were named after Dr. Sylvester Graham, a key figure in 19th-century health reform. His teachings may be lesser known, but their impact was profound. 

Born on July 5th, 1794, Graham was the youngest of 17 children and was considered a delicate child. His father passed away when he was two, and his mother fell ill at the same time. Consequently, he spent his childhood moving from one relative’s home to another. One of his relatives ran a tavern, where Graham was put to work. His exposure to drunkenness and its effects on health led him to despise alcohol. This was unusual, as, during that time, everyone drank.

When he was sixteen, he was believed to have “contracted consumption.” He was sent to the countryside and worked as a clerk in a country store in New York. He emphasizes that his improved diet and hygienic lifestyle allowed him to stay alive and healthy for as long as he did.

At one point, when his health was low, he was nursed by a local woman, Sarah Manchester Earl. He fell in love with her, and they married on Sept 19, 1824. Together they had three children (Sarah, Henry, and Caroline). 

After various attempts at other careers, he became a Presbyterian minister in 1829. He studied anatomy, physiology, and general health during this time, ultimately emerging as a great health teacher. He wrote a book on “Chastity” and began showing interest in moral and social reform. He also wrote a book entitled “An Apology” as a response to critics who used his frail constitution as an argument against his teachings.

Shortly after getting married, he made a bold decision to leave the church and dedicate himself to advocating for the Pennsylvania Temperance Society. As a passionate speaker and spokesperson, he emphasized the physical risks of drinking and highlighted specific foods and non-alcoholic beverages that should be avoided. Furthermore, he passionately promoted the practice of fasting, and the Graham Journal of Health and Longevity, published from 1837 to 1839, fervently detailed the numerous benefits of this approach.

The “Crusade for Health and Physiological Reform” was initiated in 1830 by Sylvester Graham through his lectures and writings. He consistently drew audiences of three thousand people or more as he traveled around New England, mostly through word-of-mouth advertising. This was quite an impressive feat considering people had to travel by buggy or on foot. Graham continued lecturing for many years with great success and was always well-received.

During his crusade, Rev. Graham was hired by the Bible Church of Philadelphia, led by Rev. William Metcalfe. During this time, he was introduced to the congregation and learned that all of the church members not only abstained from alcohol, but they did not consume the flesh of animals. What really set the Bible Church apart was during the epidemic of 1832 that ravaged the country: not one of the members died from cholera. Rev. Graham added a “vegetable diet” (a term used for vegetarians) to his crusade for health and physiological reform.

After delivering his lectures, Sylvester Graham gained instant followers. One of them was Mary Gove Nichols, who established a Graham Boarding house. These Graham Houses often functioned as small hotels in New York City, Boston, and Rochester. The focus was on diet, daily cold showers, and getting good sleep. Meals, which consisted of no more than three items, were to be consumed six hours apart at precisely the same time every day. Mary and her husband, Dr. Thomas Nichols, went on to create the American Hydropathic Institute. It was the first medical establishment created to teach the principles of water therapy and supported Graham’s lifestyle. 

In 1837, Graham and David Cambell founded The Graham Journal of Health and Longevity. They aimed to illustrate, using facts and reasoning, the science of human life as taught by Sylvester Graham. Graham became a champion of Natural Hygiene and living reform, boldly asserting that right living is a more specific means to health than resorting to physicians and drugs. During this time, a group of Graham’s converts founded the world’s first physiological society (The American Physiological Society) in Boston to promote Grahamism. Dr. William Alcott was the first President of the Society.

Rev. Sylvester Graham, Dr. William Alcott, Dr. Russell Thacker Trall, and Rev. 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.

From being a crusader against alcohol to becoming a crusader for health reform, Graham developed a lifestyle that included proper diet, regular exercise, chastity, emotional control, sensible clothing, adequate sleep and rest, and equal opportunities for education. These themes garnered both followers and foes. The meat industry felt threatened by his advocacy of vegetarianism, and bakers were concerned about his promotion of homemade bread from unbolted wheat (as in Graham crackers – he wrote the Treatise on Bread and Bread-Making). His Lectures On the Science of Human Life, published in 1839, became a leading text on health reform.

Sylvester Graham died at age 58 on September 6, 1851.

Life in the 1800s

The early 1800s was a time of outbreaks. The leading causes of death for adults during this period were malaria and tuberculosis, while children commonly died from measles, mumps, and whooping cough. The general death rate was high, but for infants and children, it was excessively high. Many mothers died in childbirth or from childbirth fever. 

Grains, bread, pork, and lard pies were central to people’s diets—vegetables and fruits were neglected. Many thought that fruits and vegetables were the cause of cholera. 

Bathing and fresh air were feared. Houses were unventilated and foul-smelling. Sunlight was not permitted to enter lest it fade carpets or tapestries. Sanitation was neglected; tobacco was used almost universally, and disease was rampant.

The medical “art” in America during this period seems incomprehensible today. Physicians frequently bled patients to “force” the disease “out,” and many died in the process. Blistering was also a widespread healing technique. For at least a century, strychnine, a potent poison, was the best remedy the profession had to offer for paralytic conditions. Quinine was frequently used for fever, with such side effects as severe bleeding, kidney damage, irregular heartbeat, and severe allergic reactions.

It was a day of frequent and heroic dosages of toxic drugs and frequent bleeding. In the South, there was a cry of fever during the summer, and calomel (a mercury chloride mineral) was used. By the 19th century, calomel was viewed as a miracle drug. It was used against almost every disease, including syphilis, bronchitis, cholera, ingrown toenails, teething, gout, tuberculosis, influenza, and cancer. These were administered lavishly, thus adding to the horror.

During this time, a popular protest against the bleeding and heroic drug dosing practiced by the “regular or allopathic” medical profession began. Homeopathy and physio-medicalism arose in response to the demand for milder medication, while the Hygienic System came into being and created opposition to all medication whatsoever.”

From the Natural Hygiene News – July, 1976

Henry Burnell Shafer in “The American Medical Profession (1783-1850) says that when cholera appeared in America shortly after 1832, the medical profession cooperated to prevent its development, but shortly had to direct their attention to its cure.

Treatment consisted of castor oil, rhubarb, magnesia and mint water or a dose of calomel, with a few grains of aloes or julap with cream of tartar sufficed, with the second stage treatment of “bleeding, calomel combined, occasionally, with small doses of opium, blisters to the stomach, enemas and friction to restore circulation.

Graham, who advocated the vegetable diet, recorded this standard preventive policy.

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Indeed it seems as if the grand experiment of mankind has been to ascertain how far they can transgress the laws of life; how near they can approach to the very point of death, and yet not die.

Rev. Dr. Sylvester Graham, The Science of Human Life, 1843

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Delusion From False Pleasure

Intent, as all men are, on present enjoyment, they are little inclined to practice present self-denial for the sake of a future good, which they consider, in any possible degree contingent, and will only consent to bear the cross when compelled by necessity, or when they find it the only means of shunning imminent destruction; or of escaping from intolerable evils. Hence, so long as mankind is favored with even a moderate degree of health, they rush into the eagerly desired excitements of their various pursuits, pleasures, and indulgences, and nothing seems to them more visionary and ridiculous than precepts, regulations, and admonitions concerning the preservation of health. While they possess health, they will not believe that they are in any danger of losing it, or if they are, nothing in their habits or practices can have any effect, either in destroying or preserving it, nor can they be convinced of the universal delusion that, if they enjoy health, they have within themselves the constant demonstration, that, their habits and practices conform able to the laws of health, at least, in their own constitutions. They will not consent to be benefited, contrarily to what they regard as necessary to their present enjoyment, either by the experience or the learning of others. 

Sylvester Graham, 1839 –
From the Journal of Natural Hygiene – Nov 1956

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Influences on Graham’s Approach

Cholera swept over the world with terrible devastation. In 1832, Philadelphia was in the middle of a severe cholera epidemic. The death rate was high. 

During this time, the dietary practices of a small sect of Christians, the Bible Christian Church, came to Graham’s attention. They did not consume animal foods, spices, or other flavorings and did not use stimulants such as tea or coffee. They also didn’t consume alcohol or use tobacco. They believed that people should eat from the Garden of Eden. Contrary to what was expected from the medical teachings of the time, not a single member of the Bible-Christian Church died from cholera. This fact made a deep and lasting impression on Graham and caused him to turn his attention to the study of diet.

Graham’s publication (1832), A Lecture on Epidemic Diseases Generally: and Particularly the Spasmodic Cholera, is worthy of note. Rev. Graham firmly believed that the continued abuse of the body reduces its “vital energy” and that the human system will be powerfully predisposed to take on disease. He thought that if people adopted his lifestyle guidelines, they would be in little danger of the disease. He also pointed out that in large cities, humans were in a perpetual state of “low vital energy” and believed this contributed to the spread of the disease. He prescribed liquids and simple foods until the patient recovered. More importantly, he laser-focused on prevention to keep the body healthy through lifestyle: simple food, cleanliness, pure air, and exercise, which became the foundation of the National Health Association. During this epidemic, he researched and could not ascertain that a single individual who had attended his lectures and followed his regime had died of cholera.

Rev. Sylvester Graham became a sought-after lecturer on temperance and the pillars of health. He was as prolific a writer as he was a lecturer. So radical and revolutionary did his lectures seem to the medical profession and educated people of the time that it required a quarter of a century for them to discard false notions about vegetables and fruits causing cholera and concede that Graham may have been right.

Teachings

Hast thou long been afflicted with disease; shouldst thou be induced to try the remedy which I propose, let me caution thee in the outset, to expect no magical or miraculous effect. Remember that no stimulating, wonder-working medicine is employed, which treacherously lulls and soothes thy symptoms while it strengthens thy disease. Thou throwest thyself entirely on the resources of thy constitution, assisted only by such natural and simple means as are conducive to its vital welfare, and tend healthfully to increase its renovating powers. Therefore, be not surprised or disappointed if you should, at first, feel more unwell. If, at the commencement of the new regimen, your symptoms become more troublesome, It Is no proof that thy disease is grow ing worse; it rather Indicates the absence of those artificial or improper means which have too long been used to keep down the symptoms, to the aggravation of the disease, and the great expense of thy vital powers. Therefore, patiently persevere. Obey the laws of thy nature rigidly; and be assured, if any earthly means will give thee health, thou wilt, in the end, recover and enjoy it. 

Sylvester Graham, 1834 – From
Journal of Natural Hygiene, V1, Jun/Jul 1955

Through his lectures and writings, Graham launched a crusade for health and physiological reform. As he described, the “Graham lifestyle system” was explained in books and magazines, such as The Graham Journal of Health and Longevity.

He was best known for his book Lectures On the Science of Human Life. This enormous volume of 650 pages was published in 1843! Considering that it was written over 150 years ago, it is remarkable and a veritable classic on the subject. This text covered practically the entire field of the hygienic reform movement, diving into anatomy, physiology, mortality, regularity in eating, thorough mastication, hygienic cookery, quantity and quality of food, fasting, sleep, air, bathing, and exercise. Scholars have selected this work as being significantly crucial regarding human health. It is a foundation of the knowledge base of health science as we know it today and has been digitally preserved for generations to come.

Graham lectured primarily in New York, Rochester, Providence, Buffalo, and many other cities. People traveled primarily by buggy or foot during this time, yet he attracted large audiences and created a growing following.

He was a revolutionary thinker and far ahead of his peers. He was emphatic that so-called “diseases” could invariably be avoided by those who adopted his reformed lifestyle. He became a pioneer of Natural Hygiene and living reform and provided a foundation for the National Health Association. He boldly asserted that right living is the foundation of health rather than resorting to physicians and drugs. Sylvester Graham was a groundbreaking pioneer well over 150 years ahead of his time.

Graham Boarding Houses, Restaurants, and Bookstores

Considering how difficult it was to find and eat simple foods back then, Grahamites (those following this lifestyle) formed different organizations in various cities and colleges.

In Boston, an organization of Grahamites established the world’s first health food store, and a particular bookstore was established to provide food for thought. A Graham “table” was set at Brook Farm, near Boston. The same thing was true at Oberlin College. 

Many people boarded in homes at this time, and Graham boarding houses sprung up. People instinctively knew they would need support in this lifestyle, and these boarding houses and restaurants filled that need. These houses had definite rules that the boarders followed. Meals were set at 6 a.m., 12 p.m., and 6 p.m. Daily bathing was strongly encouraged. Bedtime was set at 10 p.m. No tea, coffee, alcohol, or tobacco was allowed, and the food was whole, primarily fruits and vegetables. Bread was made precisely, as described in his Treatise on Bread and Bread-Making. He believed the perfect bread is made from whole ingredients and is light, sweet, and well-baked, retaining its nutrient value. Most people during this time depended on bakeries for their bread and used flour stripped of its nutrients and added things like alum (short for aluminum potassium sulfate) and many other sulfates (zinc, magnesium, copper, and ammonia), to name a few. These ingredients were added to make bread light and white, losing its nutritional value.

Though his philosophy was alien to the habits of the Americans in the 1830s, Sylvester Graham instilled a further respect that, in many ways, has not been equal to this day. He had within him the elements needed to attract large audiences and convert a great many of them to a course of living that was natural, or proper, for men.

The books and articles that Rev. Sylvester Graham wrote for 21 years had a great influence not only on the vegetarian and hygiene movements but also on religious groups. He was a forerunner, by many years, of those who are advocating the use of a simple diet because of the vitamins and other nutrients that they contain and are essential for health.    

Though he was castigated and misrepresented in newspapers, periodicals, and medical journals and even attacked by mobs, he nevertheless held fast to his ideas and advocated them all his life. Prominent people from all walks of life were attracted to his concepts, and many were converted to the principles of right living as a result.

Considering life during the 1800s, as noted above, was not health-promoting on any level, these boarding houses and restaurants were an oasis in a world of poor health and nutrient-deficient food. It taught people the foundation of a healthy lifestyle, and doing so a very long time ago!

Graham was a man deeply driven by a genuine desire to do good, marked by unwavering honesty and a tireless commitment to helping humanity. For him, the pursuit of good was not merely a virtue—it was life’s highest calling. When the full and accurate history of nutrition, health, and medical reform is finally told, Graham will rightfully be recognized and honored for the profound contributions that have long gone underappreciated. Dr. Rev. Sylvester Graham will always remain a bright star among the great thinkers of the ages. Take time and read some of his monumental works, as they are linked under publications, and you will see for yourself and obtain inspiration and guidance from a pioneer almost 200 years ago!

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A Tribute to Sylvester Graham

From the Journal of Natural Hygiene – Winter 1957

July 4th is the Birthday anniversary of Sylvester Graham, a man whose stature in the realm of physiological linking and public health education has still not been thoroughly evaluated by those individuals who are not Natural Hygienists but who have, in writing about American life and history, only touched upon this genuinely great man. 

One of the significant faults of some natural hygienists today is the lack of emphasis on the history of natural hygiene. A few professionals in Natural Hygiene have recognized its value and have been laboring to collect the literature and records of the past so that the World can have an accurate view of this grand concept that embraces all of human life.

Of the early men in our movement, Sylvester Graham stands out, not only because of his clear thinking with reference to body function but also because he had the personality to break into orthodox circles and build up a tremendous following.

The program of the Buffalo Convention in 1952 of the American Natural Hygiene Society carries an article from the Democrat and Chronicle of Rochester, New York, for 1839, and therein, one finds evidence of Sylvester Graham’s greatness. The Democrat and Chronicle, in writing a lengthy editorial, recognized the grand stature of Sylvester Graham.

Perhaps the most unfortunate thing that happened to Sylvester Graham was calling what he advocated ‘Grahamism’ and having it closely identified with his personality. I believe that if Sylvester Graham’s work, especially during the few years he was active on the lecture platform, had been identified as part of a great health movement, perhaps more would have attended his lectures, and his audiences would have furnished more converts than they did. It was much easier for the critics of that period to assault Graham in seeking to demolish or discredit the concepts he promulgated. Almost everything Graham did was made to reflect directly on his ideals. In attacking Graham as its leader, the opponents of Natural Hygiene were able to damage the cause he represented, of which he was one.

It is fitting to mention the hardships that this great crusader had to undergo; those of us who are closely allied to him in spirit and who campaign and write today in almost the same way feel a closeness to Sylvester Graham. We understand and emotionally know what he had to undergo in persecution that, at times, generally was very severe. Therefore, I view the struggles of this great Hedth Reformer with a feeling of warmth and compassion. I also understand how his difficulties were the most significant barrier to his making the fullest use of the principles he fought for.

In reading the writings of Sylvester Graham, one is struck by his logical use of language and the facility with which he explained intricate body phenomena. One might assume he did not spend much time on concentrated research, but the opposite is true. Sylvester Graham labored hard to perfect his approach to the subject of human life and physiology and natural hygiene with words that were easily understood but precise. Sylvester Graham had a remarkable talent for psychological investigation. Still, his illness significantly opened his mind to the reality of suffering and the need for constructive action to alleviate human suffering.

Many years ago, I was extremely fortunate to obtain books from Sylvester Graham on physiology, agriculture, the human mind, and religion. My commentary on the marginal notes that 1 studied, written in Sylvester Graham’s own hand, will be published in the future. I shall analyze them to show the greatness of Sylvester Graham as an investigator and student. At this time, in commemoration of his Birthday, I would like to present an unusual phase of his life that created a great stir in lay and medical circles.

“Grahamism “was a cause of insanity.

In April 1836, Dr. Lee issued a statement that “Grahamism “was a cause of insanity.  Of all the things that were said, this was the most inane and contrary to physiological facts. These charges were made by a man who was head of the insane hospital at Charleston, Mass. Sylvester Graham had been forewarned that such an article would be forthcoming and published in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal. Concerning it, Sylvester Graham said, “Dr. Lee has written an article which he intended to publish, and which he had asserted to prove that what is now popularly called the “Graham system” was peculiarly adapted to cause insanity, and it actually produced several cases already.” The article appeared, and after reading it, Sylvester Graham stated, “I acknowledge that my indignation was somewhat excited. It appeared to me to be a wonton and wicked attempt to destroy my influence, in the cause of humanity in which I am engaged, by most palpable, disingenuous and dishonest tissue of groundless, assertion, misrepresentation, and false statements. Yet it has been of such a character as to exhaust its effects on myself alone, I should have regarded it as unworthy of my consideration. But it was not, it was most rightly calculated to effect immense mischief by exciting the fears of the week and the timid, and thus producing the very results he has charged on the “Graham system “. Sylvester Graham regarded the article as dangerous, and since it was thrown before the public he felt duty bound to answer it, because it would terrify his followers.

Sylvester Graham visited Dr. Lee. He altered, as a result of this visit, his reply because of it’s strong wording. Sylvester Graham language was that of a man angered because the cause for which he lived, and was willing to die, had been assaulted in a manner that was crude and faults.

Sylvester Graham’s reply in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal of March 16, 1836, and March 23, 1836, contains much of great value in covering all aspects of our modern movement – the persecution and misrepresentation of motives. Sylvester Graham’s words are in the style of Plutarch, with a sprinkling of Voltarian phrases. This, plus the logic and physiological basis Sylvester Graham makes, is a gem among those great essays written by those who have gone to the defense of a noble cause

Rev. Dr.  Sylvester Graham’s reply to Dr. Lee:

I am sorry to say that in my interview with Dr. Lee, he decidedly refused to give me the names of any individuals alluded to in his article and also refused to provide me with any further particulars regarding the cases he had published. This, it seems to me, was very unfair – for it was putting it entirely out of my power to investigate the cases he had charged upon the “Graham system “and reserving to himself the power of making such a representation to those cases as he chooses. His excuse was that the cases he had stated concerned persons committed to his professional care and whose names he was not at liberty to disclose.   If this is true, Dr. Lee ought to have been exceedingly careful about bringing forward such cases in a matter of such immense importance to mankind as the one under consideration. It is a question too fascinating to society to be lightly handled or hastily decided and still less to be disposed of by widespread prejudice. Society has now a right to most solemnly demand that the charge made by Dr. Lee against the “Graham system “shall be thoroughly investigated – with all the rigorous scruples of a criminal trial. Every circumstance in these cases must be known, by which we can be assisted in ascertaining how far the insanity complained of and how far a mixed result. For by this means only can we genuinely determine how far the 

“Graham system, ” in any or in all of its principles, was a predisposing – an exciting – or preventing cause. Dr. Lee replies to me, “Wait a while, and probably other cases will be made known, which will fully settle the question without any further reference to those which I have named.” But can Dr. Lee suppose that I and my friends, or the honest friends of truth and humanity, will be satisfied with any number of cases made out in the ex parte manner in which he has given his and in which all who will respond to his call, will in all probability give theirs? We can have no confidence in such statements because we know how easily even a candid mind may misapprehend facts in matters of this kind. We also understand how strongly prejudiced minds inevitably misapprehend and state facts in almost every matter. At present, I am sure that if all the particulars and circumstances of each case stated by Dr. Lee can be made known, it will appear, to the satisfaction of every unprejudiced mind, that the “Graham system “is wholly free from any blame. It needs to be said, however, that it is not pretended that it is not possible for anyone who adopts the “Graham system “of living to become insane, sick, or die from any cause whatsoever. When it is considered how large a portion of those who do in any measure adopted, are broken down invalids, who have been many years, afflicted with distressing complaints, and in a significant number of instances with organic diseases of various descriptions, and powerful predisposition to insanity and other diseases, could it be justly regarded as alarming evidence against that system, if some of those who, wholly, or in part, adopted, should become insane and many of them die, despite the conservative influence?

But let us briefly inquire how far a change from a mixed diet of vegetable and animal food, with tea, coffee, etc., to a diet of pure vegetable and animal food, with tea, coffee, etc., to a diet of pure vegetable food and water (which, by the way, constitutes but a small part of the “Graham system”), can possibly be a predisposing cause of insanity.

It is beyond all controversy that every being who abandoned an ordinary diet of vegetables and animal food, tea, coffee, etc. to which he has been accustomed and takes at once to a simple diet of pure vegetable food and water in temperate quantities, will experience a considerable increase of healthy, sensorial power, and mental activity. At the same time, he will suffer a physiological depression commensurate with the degree of access to which he has formally carried the use of flesh, tea, coffee, etc. This physiological depression will more or less be distressing and continue for a longer or shorter time, according to the peculiar condition, circumstances, and habits of the individual. People of vigorous bodies, who are accustomed to active and energetic exercise in the open air, will recover from it in a short time, while those who are of sedentary or studious habits, given much to anxiety and confinement, will far more slowly recover. But, while this physiological depression remains, the portion of our organization, that is more immediately concerned with the operations of the mind partake of the general physical debility of the whole body so that, while the sensorial power and mental activity are increased, the physical power of the intellectual organs to sustain severe and protracted mental action and excitement, is somewhat diminished – or, at least not proportionately increased.

Hence, students, who by ambition or other causes are sometimes induced to make a sudden change in their diet and take to an abstemious vegetable and water diet for the sake of being enabled to dispense with exercise and to make the most outstanding proficiency in their studies in a given time, always find a significant increase of sensorial power and mental activity; but if they apply their minds with extreme severity—and especially if they, at the same time, neglect all exercises, they will soon find—to use their own language—that their minds are becoming weak. Yet if such students, on changing their diet from more to less stimulating food, etc., would refrain from severe mental application till they had recovered from their physiological depression and then continue to govern themselves by a correct general regimen, they would experience nothing of what they call weakness of the mind, but would enjoy a degree of mental vigor and power of endurance which it is impossible for man to attain to in any other manner.

Take another class of people. Most of the laboring and business people in our country—as everywhere else—exercise their intellectual faculties and develop their intellectual powers little beyond what they find immediately necessary for their success in their particular life pursuits. A vast amount of intellectual and moral capability lies wholly undeveloped through their earthly existence, and their intellectual and moral energies are, to a great extent, kept in a state of sluggish inactivity and stupidity by their dietetic habits and sensual excesses. 

Let the habits of these people be suddenly changed and bring them at once to a simple diet of pure vegetable food and water. They will soon experience increased sensorial power and mental activity to astonish them greatly. They will find themselves possessed of faculties and powers that they were scarcely conscious of— and it cannot be surprising that they should be much delighted with this new state of things. However, this change of diet and increased sensorial power and mental activity cannot immediately impart knowledge and discipline to the mind. Therefore, it cannot be expected that these people are to be transformed at once into philosophers and men of science, but their increase of mental activity may only serve to expose more glaringly their want of cognitive education and discipline.

Now, then, while individuals are in this state of physiological depression, with an increase of sensorial power and mental activity, if some new cause should supervene, such as the loss of friends—of property—of character—religious anxiety—projects of ambition—land or other speculations, etc. producing and keeping up intense and continued mental excitement, and causing neglect of most or all of those principles of general regimen which I insist on quite as much as on the quality of the food— insanity might, and perhaps would in some cases, result. This would be far more likely to be the case in those persons whose intellectual faculties were not much cultivated and had not been much accustomed to intellectual effort and excitement. But all such cases- if properly managed, might be easily cured without recourse to flesh, wine, or opium.

While I admit, however, that under these peculiar circumstances, the pure vegetable eater is more likely to be rendered insane by supervening causes that have no necessary relation to his diet than when he is in the most vigorous state of his physiological powers, yet I must in solemn honesty, and upon the most fully ascertained principles of science, deny that it is ever, in any degree, the legitimate tendency of a vegetable diet, of itself, to produce insanity; or that, as a general statement, mankind are more likely to become insane by changing from a mixed diet of vegetable and animal food to one of pure vegetable food and water—while, on the other hand, it is well known that, in civic life at least, the free use of fleshmeat, in itself, tends to produce insanity.

More than two thousand years ago, Theophrastus, the philosopher who studied under Plato and Aristotle—and succeeded the latter in the lyceum— the number of whose hearers, we are told, became two thousand, and who died at the age of 107, asserts, as an unquestionable fact, that “eating much, and feeding upon flesh, makes the mind more dull and drives it to die very extremes of madness.” The same idea is advanced by other ancient philosophers. “Dr. Halloran,” says Dr. Lambe of England, “having been physician to the Lunatic Asylum, of Cork, from the year 1789, says, ‘there are certain festival seasons of the year when the asylum is supplied with flesh-meat. The consequence on these occasions has been uniformly the same. The strictest precautions were necessary to guard against a scene of uproar that was sure to follow. The same was true when the establishment was new and flesh-meat furnished once a week.”

Dr. A. E. Hosack of New York gave me the following statement, in the presence of Dr. Francis, on the 4th of June, 1883, as a matter of his own knowledge. “A very respectable and worthy family of Philadelphia were in the habit of making free use of animal food, generally having it, in some form or other, on the table three times a day and partaking it with considerable freedom. Three out of four brothers of this family became successively insane, and two of them, at least, destroyed their own lives. I am not certain that the third one did. The fourth, with whom I was personally acquainted, began to feel the symptoms of insanity coming upon himself and suffered occasional aberrations of mind. When his mind was rational and undisturbed in this unhappy condition, he was led to reflect on the family’s habits regarding their great affliction. But he could fix upon no probable cause unless it was their free use of flesh meat. He immediately abandoned using animal food entirely, and ate no more during life. His symptoms of insanity ‘ very soon disappeared—his mind became serene and cheerful and vigorous; ) and his health in all respects became good and continued so to the close of his life. He subsisted at least fourteen years on vegetable food, during which time he was an active philanthropist.”

“Mr. B., a tragedian, who has performed with much distinction in all the principal theatres of our country, has for several years past found himself subject to fits of insanity. I have been informed by his personal friends that his only means of avoiding this calamity is an entire abstinence from animal food.

Mr. J. C, a highly respectable gentleman of this State, called on me a few months since and stated to me that insanity had been a hereditary affection in the family to which he belonged—that he found himself seriously threatened with it and had begun to experience many distressing symptoms—that he attended my lectures in the summer of 1832—had strictly adopted the system of living which I recommended—that soon after this he found his health improving in every respect—his mental disorder in a short time wholly disappeared—and he had ever since enjoyed the perfect health of body and mind, with a decided and very considerable increase and vigor and activity of both.

“I might add many instances of this kind, but it is unnecessary. None but those whose knowledge is minimal on this subject can doubt that man can enjoy excellent bodily health and great mental vigor on a well-ordered vegetable and water diet. To say nothing of the ancient philosophers, statesmen, orators, poets, historians, and divines, who subsisted wholly on a vegetable diet, we have in modern times, and our own day, many instances of individuals who have subsisted in this manner, most of their lives, with great advantage to the health and vigor of both body and mind. Thomas Spilletoe, of England, now eighty years old, has lived the last half of his life wholly on a simple diet of vegetable food and water. Though nothing more than an ordinary man in early life, he is now considered very extraordinary for an octogenarian, in point of bodily health and agility, and mental energy and activity. Benjamin Howland, of Rhode Island, was an infirm man at forty years old;—at that age, he adopted a simple vegetable diet; his health and strength soon began to improve, and he has continued to live in this maimer until now. He is now in his eighty-fifth year—is a large farmer, and for the last forty years has led all his hands in the hay and harvest field every season, and they who kept up with him did a good day’s work. All who know Mr. Howland know that he retains his bodily powers and intellectual evident acumen, vigor, and soundness remarkably. But cases of this kind are to be found in almost every part of our country, and there is no proposition in the science of human life more clearly demonstrated than that a well-ordered vegetable diet is most favorable to the highest order of intellectual acumen, activity, power, and soundness. The misfortune is that people generally know nothing about the science of human life, and not one in a hundred, even of the members of the medical profession, has anything more than the most superficial acquaintance with this important science.

It is not with a disposition to return reviling for reviling or to detract from Dr. Lee’s merits as a physician and a man of mind but from an honest conviction of my judgment that I say that his knowledge of the science of human life is minimal. His published article provides the most complete evidence of this to those who can perceive and appreciate it. He writes like a superficial observer and a loose reasoner who hastily draws general conclusions from minimal’ and imperfectly ascertained premises.

Prejudiced men and smatterers may consider his article an able one because it agrees with their prejudices and habits, but found and accurate thinkers— men of deep learning and ripe minds—will perceive at a glance that it is presumptuous, loose, and inconclusive and that it dramatically abounds with at least the appearances of rank prejudice and dishonesty.

Note: 

By sensorial power, l mean that property of the nervous system concerned in mental perception, reflection, memory, etc; and by mental activity, I mean, simply the quality of being active, not mental wealth, knowledge, discipline, etc. By physiological depression, I mean the state of the body resulting from the abstraction of accustomed stimulus, in which the organs are consequently depressed below their usual tone and fall short of their normal energy and action, causing a sense of debility and lassitude and sometimes of great oppression, and in some instances — as when liquor is withheld from the habitual. drunkard— a distressing sense of sinking and extreme exhaustion.

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Historian’s Note: 

After reading A Lecture on Epidemic Diseases Generally, and Particularly the Spasmodic Cholera, the similarities between people dying of COVID and cholera truly struck me. You can go to Pub Med and find any number of reports on COVID-19 (e.g., COVID-19 in Italy: Considerations on Official Data).

The majority of people who died in both epidemics had pre-existing health conditions. The people who did get sick and were able to recover were in good health. Your health is worth working for.

Sylvester Graham was, without a doubt, over 175 years ahead of his time. Truly a groundbreaking pioneer for the National Health Association.

AN ENTREATY BY SYLVESTER GRAHAM

An interesting letter to the people of Rochester, N. Y., written by Sylvester Graham on December 27, 1839. One hundred years after this letter was written, Natural Hygiene in this section suffered from every form of attack that evil men could conceive, except murder. Sporadic defamation evolved into organized persecution that led to trials and imprisonment. The liberality and high-mindedness that Graham mentions about the people of Rochester did not increase manyfold as did the population. This letter is as timely today as it was then. It could be any of the modern counterparts of Sylvester Graham making a plea for himself and his work.
(From the 1952 Conference Program)

TO THE CITIZENS OF ROCHESTER:
You have in common with the rest of my countrymen, been so long accustomed to see and hear my name associated with “bran Bread,” “saw-dust” puddings,” and other ridiculous and disrespectful epithets that it is very extraordinary if you have not largely imbibed the strong prejudice that has everywhere prevailed in relation to me. Much as I have reason to deprecate this prejudice as injurious and unjust in its bearings upon myself, I cannot but regard it as infinitely more mischievous in its effects on those who cherish it, than upon me. From this consideration it is that I now with great deference and respect appeal to your candor, to your sense of justice, to your magnanimity.

All along my journey from New England to this city, I have been told, at every place where I have stopped, that I should find the citizens of Rochester a high minded, liberal people. I have confidence that this statement is true; and this confidence induces me to make this appeal – a measure which I have never taken before in any place. It is several years since some individuals among you first invited me to come to your city, and deliver a course of my lectures on Human Life, Health, etc. That invitation has been frequently repeated and the only answer I have heretofore ever been able to make was that I would comply with it at the earliest opportunity. I am at last among you; prepared to serve you according to the best of my abilities. But I have not come to tell you that you must live on “bread and water.” I have not come to dictate to you any particular mode of living. I shall not presume to tell you what you shall, nor what you shall not eat, or drink or do.

I have devoted the greater part of my life of nearly fifty years, with intense industry – with the utmost cautiousness and conscientiousness, to the inves10 tigations of those great principles on which human life and health and happiness depend, and for the last ten years I have been endeavoring to promulgate those principles as extensively as possible, for the good of my fellow creatures. And without fear of contradiction, I can publicly and boldly say, that my lectures have everywhere been well received by all that have attended a regular course of them; while those who have ridiculed and reviled me and what they suppose to be my doctrines, really know nothing of me, nor of what I actually teach.

Nor is it true as many have supposed, that my hearers have generally consisted of the more unintelligent class of society. Some of the most eminent physicians and other professional gentlemen in the country, and many of the best informed and most refined portions of society have been among my hearers, and it has ever been true that my lectures have been best received and most highly appreciated by the best educated and most intelligent part of my audiences.

I have recently delivered such a course of lectures in Utica as I now propose to give here. Most of the physicians of that city, several members of the bar, and other professional, literary and scientific gentlemen were among my hearers. They, like almost everywhere else, came in at first, from sheer curiosity, with minds strongly prejudiced and expecting to witness a silly display of ultraism and extravagance, or at best, to listen to an ingenious and declamatory attack on the harmless indulgences and habits of society. But they soon found that the whole matter was entirely different from what they had anticipated – that what I had to say so fully commended itself to the reason and common sense of mankind, and withal was of so much importance to human well being, their prejudices at once gave place to conviction, and their only surprise was, first, that principles so evidently true and so exceedingly important had not long ago and everywhere been deduced from the universal experience of the human race; and second, that a prejudice so extensive, so powerful, and so unjust, should ever have been excited against an individual for teaching such principles.

The result was that those who came most strongly prejudiced against me, went away most fully convinced of the general correctness and utility of my doctrines; and many of the most decided friends I acquired in Utica are among the most intelligent and respectable citizens of that place.

Now, then, with great respectfulness, I ask the intelligent citizens of Rochester to give me a hearing and then judge for themselves. Should I claim to be entirely free from that natural selfishness, which in aa greater or less degree, is a moving spring of all human actions, I should not be perfectly honest; but I do with thorough honesty declare that with a reasonable regard to my own welfare, I sincerely and deeply seek the good of others, and for that purpose, earnestly urge them to hear what I have to say. I do not claim to be infallible and therefore neither presume nor expect that every one who shall give me hearing will unhesitatingly and fully approve of every word that I may utter, but this I say with great deference and sincerity, all past experience warrants me in believing that after the intelligent citizens of Rochester have given me a full hearing, they will judge my lectures to be in the main correct, and of great 11 a value, and consider me less deserving of popular prejudice than of the confidence and good will of my fellow creatures.

Very Respectfully, 
S. GRAНАМ Rochester – Dec. 27, 1839.

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Learn more from: (Read Direct Excerpts)

• Graham, S., Trall. R., Shelton, H. (2009). The Greatest Health Discovery. Youngstown, OH. National Health Association. 
• Graham, S. (1833). A Lecture on Epidemic Diseases Generally, and Particularly the Spasmodic Cholera. New York, Mahlon Day. 
• Shelton, H. (1968). Natural Hygiene: The Pristine Way of Life Youngstown, OH. National Health Association. 

The NHA wishes to remind the readers that nothing in this or other publications is intended to constitute medical treatment or advice. Readers should further be aware that in several areas, previous publications do not reflect the current teachings or approach to health of the NHA.

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, fasting.