Daniel Hartman Kress (born Daniel Hartman Cress; June 27, 1862 – November 2, 1956) was a Canadian medical doctor,

anti-smoking Tobacco control is a field of international public health science, policy and practice dedicated to addressing tobacco use and thereby reducing the morbidity and mortality it causes. Since most cigarettes and cigars and hookahs contain or use ...

activist,

Seventh-day Adventist The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbat ...

missionary and

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

. He advocated a

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products and the consumption of animal source foods, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A person who practices veganism is known as a ve ...

diet on religious grounds; after health issues he promoted a

lacto-ovo vegetarian Lacto-ovo vegetarianism or ovo-lacto vegetarianism is a type of vegetarianism which forbids animal flesh but allows the consumption of animal products such as dairy product, dairy and Egg as food, eggs. Unlike pescetarianism, it does not include ...

diet. He said that meat eating shortens ones lifespan.

Career

Kress was born on June 27, 1862, in

St. Jacobs, Ontario St. Jacobs is an unincorporated suburban community in the township of Woolwich in Waterloo Regional Municipality, Ontario, Canada, known for its very competitive burger patty-flipping contest. It is located north of the city of Waterloo. It is ...

."Kress, Daniel Hartman". In ''American Men of Medicine''. Institute for Research in Biography, 1952. p. 573 He and his wife obtained their M.D. degrees at the same graduation from the

University of Michigan Medical School The University of Michigan Medicine (branded as Michigan Medicine) is the academic medical center of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It consists of the university's Medical School, affiliated hos ...

in 1894. Kress and his wife Lauretta Eby Kress were Seventh-day Adventists who trained at the

Battle Creek Sanitarium The Battle Creek Sanitarium was a world-renowned health resort in Battle Creek, Michigan, United States. It started in 1866 on health principles advocated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church and from 1876 to 1943 was managed by Dr. John Harvey ...

.Amey, Catherine. (2014). ''The Compassionate Contrarians: A History of Vegetarians in Aotearoa New Zealand''. Rebel Press. pp. 41-43. . He specialized in internal medicine at Battle Creek (1894–1898) and was medical director at Meadvale Sanitarium and Hospital at Surrey Hill, London (1898–1900). He was physician-in-chief of Sydney Sanitarium in

Wahroonga Wahroonga is a suburb on the Upper North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, 18 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government areas of Ku-ring-gai Council and Hornsby Shire. ...

(1900–1907). He was the medical director of Washington Sanitarium and Hospital at Takoma (1907–1910). He specialized in neurology (1915–1939). He was a neurologist at the Florida Sanitarium and Hospital in

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

(1939–1948). Kress retired in 1949. Kress was the editor of ''Australasian Good Health'' and the ''Life and Health'' magazine. Kress was a member of the

American Medical Association The American Medical Association (AMA) is an American professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students. This medical association was founded in 1847 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Membership was 271,660 ...

. He married Lauretta Eby in 1884, they had several children. Kress died aged 94.

Anti-smoking activism

Kress was vice-president of the Anti-Cigarette League. In 1913, Kress and Lucy Page Gaston founded a smoking-cure clinic at the Anti-Cigarette League's Chicago headquarters in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. Kress patented a mouthwash which contained a weak nitrate solution which he believed would cure all craving for cigarettes.

Vegetarianism

Kress was originally a

and believed that butter, eggs, meat and milk should be avoided. He argued that plants contained "all the elements needed for the human body". Kress visited

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

in 1901. He worked at the Christchurch Medical and Surgical Sanitarium. He lectured at the Christchurch Art Gallery on food reform, condemning alcohol and meat consumption. Kress was a teetotaller who believed that animal flesh "created a craving for alcoholic drink". He argued that meat-eating shortens ones lifespan. Kress suffered from pernicious anemia and was expected to die in 1901.''Kress, Daniel H. (1862–1956) and Lauretta (Eby) (1863–1955)''. In Denis Fortin, Jerry Moon. (2014). ''The Ellen G. White Encyclopedia''. Review & Herald Publishing. His wife arranged for him to be buried at

Avondale College Avondale College is a state coeducational secondary school located in the central Auckland, New Zealand, suburb of Avondale, Auckland, Avondale. With a roll of students from years 9–13 (ages 12–18), it is the third largest secondary schoo ...

cemetery. However, he received a letter from

Ellen G. White Ellen Gould White (née Harmon; November 26, 1827 – July 16, 1915) was an American author, and was both the prophet and a co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Along with other Adventist leaders, such as Joseph Bates and her husb ...

which advised he be given fresh-beaten eggs in grape juice, as "this will supply that which is necessary for your system". The letter also stated that eggs and milk should be included in the diet as these "cannot at present be dispensed with, and the doctrine of dispensing with them should not be taught".Peden, Pearle. (1968). ''Hand in Hand: A Biography of Doctors Daniel and Lauretta Kress'' Southern Publishing Association. p. 160 He followed the counsel given and slowly recovered. His health had deteriorated from an unbalanced vegan diet. He became a vegetarian, adding dairy and eggs to his diet. He fully recovered and lived another 55 years. Kress made other trips to New Zealand. In 1905, he lectured in Gisborne on dieting and longevity. He promoted a Biblical diet of fruit, grains, nuts and seeds as the original diet of mankind. Kress condemned tobacco smoking as a cause of cancer and a "crime to the community, as it poisons the air". Kress opposed the consumption of mustard, peppers, pickles and spices as they created a thirst for alcohol and were "not designed to be fed into the human body". In 1909, Kress and his wife authored the ''Good Health Cookery Book'' which contains meatless recipes based around cereals, fruits and vegetables. The Kresses advised two meals a day and suggested nutmeat or protose (a mixture of nuts and gluten) as substitutes for meat.

Selected publications

''Diet and Morals''
(1899)
''Cancer: Its Cause and Rational Treatment''
(''Life and Health: The National Health Magazine'', 1909) *''Good Health Cookery Book'' (1909, with Lauretta Eby Kress)
''May We Abandon Meat''
(''Good Health'', 1912)
''A Narcotized World''
(1917)
''Cancer, the Modern: Plague of Civilized Lands''
(''The Medical Evangelist'', 1922)

(1931) *''The Modern Use of Tobacco'' (1940) *''Under the Guiding Hand: Life Experiences of the Doctors Kress'' (1941, with Lauretta Eby Kress)

References

External links