Paul Joseph Edmond Carton (12 March 1875 – 20 October 1947) was a French physician,

naturopath Naturopathy, or naturopathic medicine, is a form of alternative medicine. A wide array of practices branded as "natural", "non-invasive", or promoting "self-healing" are employed by its practitioners, who are known as naturopaths. Difficult ...

and practitioner of

vegetarianism 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 ...

Biography

Carton was born in

Meaux Meaux () is a Communes of France, commune on the river Marne (river), Marne in the Seine-et-Marne Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region in the Functional area (France), metropolitan area of Paris, Franc ...

. He received his medical education at the Ecole de Medecine de Paris. In 1903, Carton suffered from tuberculosis. He became disillusioned with the medical establishment and took interest in

naturopathy Naturopathy, or naturopathic medicine, is a form of alternative medicine. A wide array of practices branded as "natural", "non-invasive", or promoting "self-healing" are employed by its practitioners, who are known as naturopaths. Difficult ...

and vegetarianism which he claimed helped recover his health. Carton was a vegetarian and promoted "naturist vegetarianism". He was a member of the

French Vegetarian Society The French Vegetarian Society () was a vegetarian organization, formed in 1882 by Gustave Goyard. The aim of the Society was to "propagate vegetarianism and assert the benefits of any order it presents." History In 1880, Abel Hureau de Villene ...

.Sica, Paola. (2016). ''Futurist Women: Florence, Feminism and the New Sciences''. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 67. Naturist vegetarianism was a dieting and health system that involved abstinence from

alcohol Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...

drug A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via insufflation (medicine), inhalation, drug i ...

meat Meat is animal Tissue (biology), tissue, often muscle, that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted and farmed other animals for meat since prehistory. The Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of vertebrates, including chickens, sheep, ...

, processed foods, spices and tea.Atkins, Peter J; Lummel, Peter; Oddy, Derek J. (2016). ''Food and the City in Europe Since 1800''. Routledge. pp. 222-223. It embraced natural hygienic principles,

gymnastics Gymnastics is a group of sport that includes physical exercises requiring Balance (ability), balance, Strength training, strength, Flexibility (anatomy), flexibility, agility, Motor coordination, coordination, artistry and endurance. The movem ...

hydrotherapy Hydrotherapy, formerly called hydropathy and also called water cure, is a branch of alternative medicine (particularly naturopathy), occupational therapy, and Physical therapy, physiotherapy, that involves the use of water for pain relief and ...

and prayer. Carton was influenced by

Hippocrates Hippocrates of Kos (; ; ), also known as Hippocrates II, was a Greek physician and philosopher of the Classical Greece, classical period who is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine. He is traditionally referr ...

and his conception of naturism was entirely opposed to

nudism Naturism is a lifestyle of practicing non-sexual social nudity in private and in public; the word also refers to the cultural movement which advocates and defends that lifestyle. Both may alternatively be called nudism. Though the two terms ar ...

which he equated with moral degradation. He advocated

asceticism Asceticism is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from worldly pleasures through self-discipline, self-imposed poverty, and simple living, often for the purpose of pursuing Spirituality, spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world ...

in relation to clothing, drinking, eating and sex. Carton was opposed to the overfeeding of patients. He believed that strict control of eating would allow patients to be cured. He campaigned against the consumption of

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of Churning (butter), churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 81% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread (food ...

, meat and

white bread White bread typically refers to breads made from wheat flour from which the bran and the germ layers have been removed from the whole wheatberry as part of the flour grinding or milling process, producing a light-colored flour. Nutrition Wh ...

. He operated a sanatorium at Brevannes, near Paris. The sanatorium had a laboratory for testing his dietary and hydropathic ideas. In 1921, he created the Societe Naturiste Francaise' (French Naturist Society) and in 1922 the journal ''La Revue Naturiste'' (''The Naturist Review''). He authored an influential vegetarian cookbook in 1925 which went through many editions. His recipes focused on fresh fruit and vegetables, grains and large quantities of cream and eggs. Carton's ''Consumption Doomed'' and ''Some Popular Foodstuffs Exposed'' were translated by

Dorothy Richardson Dorothy Miller Richardson (17 May 1873 – 17 June 1957) was a British author and journalist. Author of ''Pilgrimage'', a sequence of 13 semi-autobiographical novels published between 1915 and 1967—though Richardson saw them as chapters of o ...

. Students of Carton include André Schlemmer (1890–1973) and Jacques Chauveau.

Philosophy

Carton was a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and held anti-materialist views. His ideas about naturist medicine were influenced by Catholicism and

vitalist Vitalism is a belief that starts from the premise that "living organisms are fundamentally different from non-living entities because they contain some non-physical element or are governed by different principles than are inanimate things." Wher ...

philosophy. His dietary principles became known as Cartonianism. There was a religious element to his dietary principles. His belief in

original sin Original sin () in Christian theology refers to the condition of sinfulness that all humans share, which is inherited from Adam and Eve due to the Fall of man, Fall, involving the loss of original righteousness and the distortion of the Image ...

hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location or state in the afterlife in which souls are subjected to punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history sometimes depict hells as eternal destinations, such as Christianity and I ...

, and the Christian

sacrifice Sacrifice is an act or offering made to a deity. A sacrifice can serve as propitiation, or a sacrifice can be an offering of praise and thanksgiving. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Gree ...

was central to his medical worldview. He held the idea that health should be earned and that pain had a purifying role. Disease was the result of violation of physical and mental laws. Carton was also interested in

occultism The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mystic ...

. He believed that humans are a microcosm reflecting the macrocosm of the universe. He argued that humans are constantly evolving as the universe does and that evolution has endowed people with vast states of conscience. His philosophy combined occultism and vegetarianism into a system of mental and physical health.

Reception

Carton's health views were seen as extreme and were ignored by the medical community of his day. However, he was seen as an original thinker for mixing nutrition and vegetarianism with Christianity, occultism and

Neo-Hippocratism Neo-Hippocratism was an influential movement and was the subject of numerous conversations and theorizations between the seventeenth and mid-nineteenth centuries. The movement saw a revival in popularity with physicians after the First World War. It ...

. Historian Stephen Harp has described Carton, Jacques Demarquette, and the Durville brothers as leading advocates of naturopathy during early 20th-century France. The best-selling novel ''Corps et âmes'' (Bodies and Souls), written by French writer Maxence Van der Meersch and published in 1943, was inspired by the character and medical doctrine of Carton.

Selected publications

*''La Tuberculose par arthritisme. Étude Clinique. Traitement rationnel et pratique'' (1911) *''Les Trois Aliments meurtriers: la viande, le sucre, l'alcool'' (1912), translated ''The Three Lethal Foods: Meat, Sugar and Alcohol'' *''Consumption Doomed'' (translated by Dorothy Richardson, 1913) *''Some Popular Foodstuffs Exposed'' (translated by Dorothy Richardson, 1913) *''La Cure de soleil et d'exercices'' (1917) *''Traité de médecine, d'alimentation et d'hygiène naturistes'' (1920) *''Le Dialogue de la santé'' (1922) *''Le Naturisme dans Sénèque'' (1922) *''Bienheureux Ceux qui souffrent'' (1923) *''L'Essentiel de la doctrine d'Hippocrate'' (1923) *''La Cuisine simple'' (1925), (translated by Elizabeth Lucas as ''Simple Vegetarian Cookery'', 1931) *''Le Faux Naturisme de Jean-Jacques Rousseau'' (1931)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carton, Paul 1875 births 1947 deaths 20th-century French physicians French cookbook writers French medical writers French male non-fiction writers French vegetarianism activists Hydrotherapists Hydrotherapy advocates Naturopaths Orthopaths Simple living advocates Opponents of tea drinking Vegetarian cookbook writers Vitalists