DeForest Clinton Jarvis (March 15, 1881 – August 15, 1966) was an American physician from

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

. He is best known for drinking vinegar

folk medicine Traditional medicine (also known as indigenous medicine or folk medicine) refers to the knowledge, skills, and practices rooted in the cultural beliefs of various societies, especially Indigenous groups, used for maintaining health and treatin ...

. He recommended a mixture of raw

apple cider vinegar Apple cider vinegar, or cider vinegar, is a vinegar made from cider, and used in salad dressings, marinades, vinaigrettes, food preservatives, and chutneys. It is made by crushing apples, then squeezing out the juice. The apple juice is th ...

and

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several species of bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of pl ...

that has variously been called

switchel Switchel, switzel, swizzle, switchy, ginger-water, or haymaker's punch (of uncertain etymology, but possibly related to ""), is a drink made from water mixed with vinegar and often seasoned with ginger. It is typically sweetened with molasses, alt ...

or honegar, as a health tonic. He promoted the use of vinegar to keep the acidity of the body more acidic than alkaline, which he believed treated medical problems like

burn A burn is an injury to skin, or other tissues, caused by heat, electricity, chemicals, friction, or ionizing radiation (such as sunburn, caused by ultraviolet radiation). Most burns are due to heat from hot fluids (called scalding), soli ...

s and

varicose vein Varicose veins, also known as varicoses, are a medical condition in which superficial veins become enlarged and twisted. Although usually just a cosmetic ailment, in some cases they cause fatigue, pain, itching, and nighttime leg cramps. These ve ...

Biography

Jarvis was born in

Plattsburgh Plattsburgh is a city in and the county seat of Clinton County, New York, United States, situated on the north-western shore of Lake Champlain. The population was 19,841 at the 2020 census. The population of the surrounding (and separately in ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, into a fifth-generation Vermont family and grew up in

Burlington, Vermont Burlington, officially the City of Burlington, is the List of municipalities in Vermont, most populous city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the county seat, seat of Chittenden County, Vermont, Chittenden County. It is located south of the Can ...

. His parents were George Jarvis and Abbie Vincent. He graduated from the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, commonly referred to as the University of Vermont (UVM), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont, United States. Foun ...

Medical College in 1904, and began practicing medicine in Barre, Vermont, in 1909. Jarvis married Pearl Macomber, and they had a daughter, Sylvia Jarvis Smith (b. June 29, 1914, d. December 27, 2009), She graduated from the

in 1936. Jarvis's hobbies included making

jewelry Jewellery (or jewelry in American English) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment such as brooches, ring (jewellery), rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the ...

and playing the

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

, and he managed a children's

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

for 22 years. Jarvis's 1958 book ''Folk Medicine: A Vermont Doctor's Guide to Good Health'' was on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list for two years, ultimately selling over one million copies, more than 245,000 copies in a single year, and was still in print as of 2002. One reviewer wrote, "Pliny, the ancient Roman originator of the doctrine of signatures, used honey and vinegar to cleanse the system and promote good health. D. C. Jarvis, M.D. in ''Folk Medicine'' has re-popularized the use of honey and apple cider vinegar in modern times." He died at the Girouard

Nursing Home A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of older people, senior citizens, or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as care homes, skilled nursing facilities (SNF), or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms ...

in South Barre, Vermont, at the age of 85. The cause of death was a chronic

kidney infection In humans, the kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped blood-filtering organs that are a multilobar, multipapillary form of mammalian kidneys, usually without signs of external lobulation. They are located on the left and right in the retrop ...

, coupled with

cerebral thrombosis A thrombus ( thrombi) is a solid or semisolid aggregate from constituents of the blood (platelets, fibrin, red blood cells, white blood cells) within the circulatory system during life. A blood clot is the final product of the blood coagulatio ...

and

arteriosclerosis Arteriosclerosis, literally meaning "hardening of the arteries", is an umbrella term for a vascular disorder characterized by abnormal thickening, hardening, and loss of elasticity of the walls of arteries; this process gradually restricts th ...

. After his death in 1966, Jarvis's office was dismantled and shipped to the

Shelburne Museum Shelburne Museum is a museum of art, design, and Americana located in Shelburne, Vermont, United States. Over 150,000 works are exhibited in 39 exhibition buildings, 25 of which are historic and were relocated to the museum grounds. It is located ...

, where it was reconstructed and is still displayed, as an example of a small-town Vermont doctor's office.

Reception

In 1960, copies of Jarvis' book ''Folk Medicine'' were seized by the

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respo ...

in connection with sales of "Honegar". Physician

Louis Lasagna Louis Cesare Lasagna (February 22, 1923 – August 6, 2003) was an American physician and professor of medicine, known for his revision of the Hippocratic Oath. Early life and education Lasagna was an internationally recognized and respected e ...

noted that:

In Albany, New York, FDA agents seized $60,000 worth of "Honegar," a mixture of honey and apple cider vinegar, because its labeling failed to bear adequate directions for treating nearly fifty diseases and conditions for which "Honegar" was intended to be used. Seized with the mixture were reprints and quotations from Jarvis' book. (Jarvis was apparently uninvolved in the commercial manufacture of the product.)

Jarvis promoted the idea that apple cider vinegar and honey could be used to cure

arthritis Arthritis is a general medical term used to describe a disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, Joint effusion, swelling, and decreased range of motion of ...

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

high blood pressure Hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, is a long-term medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms itself. It is, however, a major ri ...

, heart disease and many others. Medical authorities dismissed these claims as nonsense and

quackery Quackery, often synonymous with health fraud, is the promotion of fraudulent or Ignorance, ignorant medicine, medical practices. A quack is a "fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill" or "a person who pretends, professionally or public ...

.Schaller, Warren Edward; Carroll, Charles Robert. (1976). ''Health, Quackery & the Consumer''. Saunders. p. 133.

Books

*''Folk Medicine: A Vermont Doctor's Guide to Good Health'' (1958). New York: Holt. *''Arthritis and Folk Medicine'' (1960). New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

References

External links

*
D. C. Jarvis biography
1960

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jarvis, D. C. 1881 births 1966 deaths 20th-century American physicians Apitherapists People from Barre, Vermont People from Plattsburgh, New York Physicians from Vermont Physicians from New York (state) Pseudoscientific diet advocates University of Vermont alumni