Ralstonism was a

social movement A social movement is either a loosely or carefully organized effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular goal, typically a Social issue, social or Political movement, political one. This may be to carry out a social change, or to re ...

founded by Webster Edgerly that promoted his

pseudoscientific Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable cl ...

ideas of personal and racial hygiene. It began as the Ralston Health Club, which published Edgerly's writings. It was a hierarchical organization where members were ranked according to the number of "degrees" they had, which ranged from 0 to 100. Members gained in the hierarchy by purchasing and studying Ralston's books, each of which taught five degrees. Edgerly at first published his ideas under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

Everett Ralston, but later used his own name and explained "Ralston" as an

acronym An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial Letter (alphabet), letter of each wor ...

for "Regime, Activity, Light, Strength, Temperation, Oxygen, Nature" Edgerly saw his followers as the founding members of a new race, based on Caucasians, and free from "impurities". He advocated the

castration Castration is any action, surgery, surgical, chemical substance, chemical, or otherwise, by which a male loses use of the testicles: the male gonad. Surgical castration is bilateral orchiectomy (excision of both testicles), while chemical cas ...

of all "anti-racial" (non-Caucasian) males at birth. Edgerly wrote 82 of what would today be called

self-help Self-help or self-improvement is "a focus on self-guided, in contrast to professionally guided, efforts to cope with life problems" —economically, physically, intellectually, or emotionally—often with a substantial psychological basis. When ...

books under the pseudonym ''Edmund Shaftesbury''. They covered subjects including diet, exercise, punctuation, sexual magnetism, artistic deep breathing, facial expressions, and

ventriloquism Ventriloquism or ventriloquy is an act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) speaks in such a way that it seems like their voice is coming from a different location, usually through a puppet known as a "dummy". The act of ventrilo ...

. Although Edgerly publicly claimed that the Ralston Company had no goods for sale, he did sell his books through

mail order Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as: * Sending an order form in the mail * Placing an order by telephone call ...

. In addition to advice like toothbrushing, the books make various recommendations: for example, every young man should engage in a form of probationary marriage with a woman old enough to be his grandmother. Edgerly also created his own language, called the Adam-Man-Tongue, with a 33-letter alphabet. The Magnetism Club of America, another Ralstonite organization, was founded to give its members

mind control Mind control may refer to: Psychology and neurology * Brainwashing, the concept that the human mind can be altered or controlled by certain psychological techniques * Brain–computer interface * Hypnosis * Neuroprosthetics, the technology of cont ...

Ralstonites were to follow strict dietary guidelines. For example, watermelons were supposed to be poisonous to Caucasians. Correct diet and proper physical exercise would help readers attain personal magnetism, which would give them control over the thoughts of others. Much of the physical regime demanded moving in graceful curves and arcs and walking exclusively on the balls of one's feet. Because sudden starts and stops and sharp angular movements caused a "leakage of vital force", Ralstonites were to even pick marbles in continuous circles. There was a proper way to bathe (dry bath), gesture, sit, stand, sleep, talk, and have sex. In 1900, Edgerly joined forces with the founder of Purina Food Company, which took the name Ralston Purina Company (which would later become

Nestlé Purina PetCare Nestlé Purina PetCare Company (), or simply Purina, is an American subsidiary of the Swiss corporation Nestlé, based in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1893 by William H. Danforth. It produces and markets pet food, treats, and cat and dog l ...

). It made

whole wheat A whole grain is a grain of any cereal and pseudocereal that contains the endosperm, germ, and bran, in contrast to refined grains, which retain only the endosperm. As part of a general healthy diet, consumption of whole grains is associated wit ...

cereal that Ralstonites were to consume. The food company Edgerly founded evolved into what is now called

Ralcorp Ralcorp Holdings is an American manufacturer of various food products, including breakfast cereal, cookies, crackers, chocolate, snack foods, mayonnaise, pasta, and peanut butter. The company is based in St. Louis, Missouri. The majority of the ...

which was the original manufacturer of cereal brands including

Chex Chex is an American brand of breakfast cereal currently manufactured by General Mills. It was originally known as Shredded Ralston, first produced in 1936 and owned by Ralston Purina of St. Louis, Missouri, then later renamed Chex in 1950. T ...

and

Cookie Crisp Cookie Crisp is a breakfast cereal that is manufactured to look like chocolate chip cookies. It is produced by General Mills in the United States and Cereal Partners under the Nestlé brand in other countries. Introduced in 1977, it was originall ...

. Between 1894 and 1895, Edgerly bought large areas of farmland along the northern slope of Hopewell Valley,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, where he founded Ralston Heights in 1905. A house he designed was built to contain a community of Ralstonites he meant to be a core of a future City of Ralston. The contours of the estate followed Edgerly's conviction that sudden stops and walking in straight lines would cause leakage of vital force. Edgerly planned to expand to hundreds of lots, sixteen small farms, seven palaces and a Temple of Ralston. This community did not materialize, at least not in the form Edgerly intended. Much of the estate still exists, albeit in ruined condition. In 2020, a novel entitled ''Ralston Heights'' was published by James Betz, an author from nearby

Pennington, New Jersey Pennington is a borough in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The borough is located at the cross-roads between the Delaware Valley region to the southwest and the Raritan Valley region to the northeast. As of the 2020 United St ...

. Albeit supernatural horror, Betz' story was influenced by Webster Edgerly's Hopewell Valley residence along with the Ralstonism movement.

References

* {{cite journal, first= Janet , last= Six , title= Hidden History of Ralston Heights, journal=

Archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

, date= May–June 2004, url= http://archive.archaeology.org/0405/abstracts/ralston.html

External links

Writings of Webster Edgerly
at oddbooks.com
''Life building method of the Ralston Health Club; "All nature" course''
at archive.org
''Book of general membership of the Ralston Health Club''
at archive.org

(formerly at neurolinguistic.com) Health movements Diets Social movements in the United States Social philosophy Pseudoscience Ralston Purina Eugenics White supremacist groups in the United States