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And the Interesting Story of Its Development se opposan x there are not a hun dred persons in the United States who are familiar with the inter esting history of the development of the system which has come to be designated as the “Battle Creek Idea,” though no longer represented in Battle Creek alone, branches having sprung up in many places, while a knowl edge of the prin ciples of this re markable system has become quite widely diffused throughout the civilized world. The “Battle Creek Idea” is not a fad nor a mushroom growth. It is a scien tific system which traces the main roots of its origin far back into the cen turies. It is not the product of a single brain, but of hundreds and thousands of tireless workers and thinkers who have garnered the choicest fruits of generations of experience and have collated the results of centuries of scientific research. A volume might be filled with the interesting story of the development of this wonderful work which has re cently been made conspicuous by the burning of the main buildings of the Battle Creek Sanitarium last year and the recent dedication of the magnifi cent new building which has been erected to take the place of the burned structures, but we have room only for a few choice bits of this Interesting history. The “Battle Creek Idea” In Ancien Greece. Twenty-four centuries ago there lived in Greece a man whose master mind recognized great truthe and formulated other famous English poets also ac cepted the teachings of Pythagoras, which are at the present time taught and practiced in the strichest manner by the famous Russian writer and re former, Count Leo Tolstoi. “The Brook Farm Experiment.” Half a century ago there gathered on a little farm not far from New Haven, Conn., the most remarkable coterie of men and women who have ever been associated in any community in mod ern times. George Ripley, the most famous Unitarian minister of New England at that period, was the found er of the community. The practical realization of the Pythagorian philoso phy was the central idea of the Brook Farm experiment. Among the 140 mem bers of the community, most of whom afterward became eminent in various professions and callings, were Emer son, the philosopher; Bronson Alcott, the transcendentalist; Thoreau, the in terpreter of nature; Margaret Fuller, the educational reformer; Charles Dana, the founder of the New York Sun, and Hawthorne, one of the great est literary lights of the century. The Brook Farm experiment failed for lack of financial management, but the ideals survived. The Wonderful Discovery of a Sile sias Peasant. A little less than 100 years ago a fourteen-year-old peasant boy, who was barely able to read and had not been taught to write, while engaged in cut ting wood on a mountain near his home, observed a wounded deer babb ing its injured leg in one of the numer ous springs which abound in that par ticular region. Day after day the deer came and bathed the damaged parts until entirely healed of its Injury. Priessnitz soon after suffered a severe accident from which the physicians who were consulted declared he could not recover. He tried the deers rem edy, applying water by means of wet cloths placed over the injured parts, and in a few weeks was quite restored to health. He induced others to try his remedy and invented many different mighty principles, the Infuence of which has grown with th iose thme until today their importance universally reconiged. This muh thagoras, numbred among his ples such men of gemios as Sor and Plato. It was he wl rt co ceived the idea of the words of earth and of Its reversion about the sun. The First Mexulth Comm...t . Pythagoras, Uis presteto. Greem philosophers, establed a tealtu « ony which he called Crotena, Ther he gathered about iim benuveds o: ds ciples to whom he taught the sinri rules of life which be thus is followed These comprised abstinence from as unwholesome foods, especially mies for Pythagoras considered the slush ter of animals as sacrilege. ‘There were no slaughter houses or butcb r shops in Crotona. No roasts, sparer bs, beef, steaks or corpses of any kind ever ap peared upon the table of a |ythgoran. Temperance in all things, an active, out of door life, simple dress, purity and uprightness in conduct were strict ly enjoined by this prophet of a new truth, for the decadence of Greece had already begun. Unfortunately theoc trines of Pythagoras were sile appre ciated. The members of his bath col ony were massacred by thes inor:nt and degenerate countrymen, but his no ble philosophy survived, Plutarch, the famous biographer; Seneca, the noble old Roman; the Latin poet Ovid and many of the early church fathers accepted and actively promulgated the teachings of Pythag oras, as many moderns have done, Byron, during the better portions of his life and when doing the literary work which made him famous, strictly fol lowed “the simple life’ In diet and other respects.In writing to his pub lisher he once remarked, “I stick to Pythagoras.” Shelley, Goldsmith and way of applying water by means of baths, douches, packs, compresses and various other methods. Before he was twenty he had become famous. Dur ing the first half of the last century the little village of Graefenberg, where he lived, was thronged with invalids from all over the world, including many phy sicians and notable people of high sta tion, governmnt devils, prince, bad barons, marquises, who sought briefly the employment of water skillfully ap plied by attendants acting under th supervision of its prophet of one method in therapeutics. Institutio’s known as “water cures rapidly sprang up in France, German, England and America, and for tweny five or thirty years prospered greatl Failure came at last because of a lack of knowledge of scientific principes and the employment of crude and empirical methods. The Natural Method of Cure. The “water cure” was the forerunner of something better. It embodied the great principle that “pature heals.” Something more than thirty years ago a small group of men organized in Battle Creek a work which later grew into what is now known as the Battle Creek Sanitarium. The principles recognized by Pythagous and those who have followed his teachings dur ing the last 2,000 years or more were embodied in this movement, together with others wrought out by scientific investigators and observers. The work prospered from the start, and soon after its Incorporation was placed up on a purely philanthropic basis as a self supporting charitable institution, and has since remained as such. The “Battle Creek Idea.” In 1876 the enterprise came to be known as the Battle Creek Sanitarium The scope was enlarged so as to in clude not only hydrotherapy or water treatment, but all sorts of electrical applications, the Swedish system of gymnastics for both the sick and well and various means for the application of light and for the employment of all known natural curative agents. Later, research laboratories were added for studying cases of disease and conducting original researches for the purpose of perfecting methods and de veloping improvements in dietetics and all that pertains to the preservation of health and the cure of disease, A Mecca For the Sick. Gradually, as a result of these ob servations and researches, an elaborate and carefully perfected system, based upon sound scientific principles, was developed and became widely known as the “Battle Creek Method” or the “Battle Creek Idea.” Battle Creek thus became a Mecca for health seek ers, who thronged the place in Increas ing numbers summer and winter until the number of visitors reached an ag gregate of more than 50,000, with an annual total of 6,000 or 7,000, A Disastrous Fire. Then came the fire of Feb. 18, 1902, which destroyed the two main build ings of the institution and started a wave of sympathy which spread throughout the whole civilized world. The work was not extinguished by the fire, however, and the completion of a better building at an expense of about $500,000 marked a new era in medical progress, presenting to the world what may be justly regarded as a model sanitarium structure. Here for the frat time were gathered together In one place and under one management ap pliances for the application of all known rational and natural curative agencies, the final perfection of which is now embodied in the great new structure which was dedicated with imposing ceremonies on the 81st day of May of the present year in the pres ence of many thousands of persons. A formal invitation was sent by the governor of the state acting with oth er prominent state officials to all lead ing state and national officials in the United States. Letters and telegrams expressing congratulation and regret at inability to attend were received from the president of the United States, two members of his cabinet, many governors of states, senators and members of congress and other officials in all parts of the country. A Magnificent Temple of Health. Some idea of the splendid institution which was thus publicly set apart to the service of God and humanity may be gained from the following brief de scription: The building is over 150 feet, or more than a tenth of a mile, in length and seven stories in height, In cluding the basement. There are three large four story buildings connected with the main building by a circular corridor. The length of these added to that of the main part makes the aggre gate length of the building nearly a quarter of a mile. The building is thor oughly fireproof, the construction bein of brick, stone, iron and cement. The floors are of artificial stone covered with marble mosaic. The total floor space is over seven acres. There are five elevators. The arrangements for baths are most elaborate, as also ap plications of electricity, light, heat and all physiological or natural methods in addition to ordinary medical and sur gical means. The Battle Creek Sanitarium is well known and recognized by the medical profession everywhere throughout the civilized world. “The Battle Creek Idea” and the Battle Creek institution have always been kept free from facts and quackish or empirical methods. The work of the institution is thoroughly scientific. It is strictly unsectarian and undenominational, being simply a Nbera Christian enterprise. All the doctors, nurses and managers connect ed with the institution are persons who have devoted their lives to mission ary and philanthropic work and who are full of enthusiasm for the promo tion of the principles of simple, natural living and the employment of natural methods in the cure of disease as well as in the maintenance of health. City Medical Missions. The great training school for mis sionary nurses sends out each year a little army of trained men and women filled with zeal and enthusiasm to preach the doctrine of simple natural living and to act the part of Good Sa maritans wherever there is found any one in need of the skilled service which they are prepared to render to rich and poor. Medical Missions have been estabi shed in Chicago and in various other cities in different parts of the world. Branch establishments, conducted by physicians and nurses trained at the central institution, are located in many parts of the United States and in for eign countries. Numerous unauthor ized and unreliable concerns professing to represent the same methods and ideas have sprung up in the vicinity of Battle Creek and elsewhere, as hap pens to every successful and merito rious enterprise. The authorized branches are located at the following places In the United States: St. Helena, Los Angeles, San Dieu and San Francisco, Cal; Boulder and Colorado Springs, Colo.; College View Lincoln, Neb.; Melrose, Boston, Mass. Portland, Ore.; Spokane, Seattle and Tacoma, Wash.; Des Moines, Ia.; Chi cago and Moline, Hl.; Philadelphia, Pa ; Buffalo, N. Y.; Madison, Wis.; Grays ville and Nashville, Tenn.; Atlant, Ga.; Detroit, Jackson and Grand Rap ids, Mich.; Keene, Tex. Institutions in which the “Battle Creek Idea” is represented are located as follows In foreign countries: Caterham, England; Basle, Switzer land; Skodsboro and Prederikshavn Denmark; Christiania and Orebro, Sweden; Friedensau, Germany; Ganda lajara, Mexico; Bergen, Norway; Ca cutta, India; Sydney and Cooranbonr N. 8. W., Australia; Christchurch, N Z.; Kimberley, 8. Af.; Caire, Egypt; Jaffa and Jerusalem, Palestine. Vincenz Priessnitz, Pes. voy oe Sao Tarim,
Newspaper Details
Paducah Sun
Paducah, Kentucky, US
Thu, Nov 26, 1903
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Alicia C.
USA 29 May 2026
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