Russell T. Trall

Russell Thacher Trall (August 5, 1812 – September 23, 1877) was an American physician and proponent of hydrotherapy, natural hygiene and vegetarianism. He authored the first American vegan cookbook in 1874.

Biography

Trall was born in Vernon, Connecticut. He trained in medicine and obtained his M.D. in 1835 from Albany Medical College but broke away from conventional medical methods.Whorton, James C. (2002). ''Nature Cures: The History of Alternative Medicine in America''. Oxford University Press. pp. 90-91. Trall practiced alternative medicine in New York City from 1840. He was influenced by the water cure movement and established his own water-cure institution in New York in 1844. In 1849, Trall founded the American Hydropathic Society with Joel Shew and Samuel R. Wells.Nissenbaum, Stephen. (1980). ''Sex, Diet, and Debility in Jacksonian America: Sylvester Graham and Health Reform''. Greenwood Press. pp. 149-150. Trall and Wells also established the American Anti-Tobacco Society in 1849.Brodie, Janet Farrell. (1994). ''Contraception and Abortion in Nineteenth-century America''. Cornell University Press. pp. 147-148. In 1850, he organized a convention for the American Hydropathic Society in New York City and during this year the Society became the American Hygienic and Hydropathic Association of Physicians and Surgeons.

Trall authored the two volume ''Hydropathic Encyclopedia'' in 1851.Agnew, Jeremy. (2019). ''Healing Waters: A History of Victorian Spas''. McFarland. pp. 71-72. He recommended daily bathing and using cool or cold water. In 1853, Trall founded the New York Hydropathic and Physiological School that issued diplomas. It became known as the New York Hygeio-Therapeutic College in 1857. He transferred operations to New Jersey in 1867, with his Hygeian Home. He edited ''The Water-Cure'' journal, which he later renamed ''The Herald of Health''. Trall was an advocate of a system known as "hygeiotherapy", a mixture of hydrotherapy with diet and exercise treatment regimes that included fresh air, hygiene and massage.Baer, Hans A. (2001). ''Biomedicine and Alternative Healing Systems in America: Issues of Class, Race, Ethnicity and Gender''. University of Wisconsin Press. p. 86. It almost disappeared by his death in 1877 but was revived by Sebastian Kneipp in the 1890s.

Relationship with the Seventh-day Adventist church

One of Trall's students was Merritt Kellogg a Seventh-day Adventist who obtained an M.D. degree from his college.Number, Ronald L. (1976). ''Prophetess of Health: A Study of Ellen G. White''. New York: Harper & Row. pp. 117-121 Kellogg formed a union with Trall and he later received approval from James Springer White. Trall was invited to teach a course of health lectures in Battle Creek at the close of annual general conference meetings in 1868. Ellen G. White did not attend Trall's lectures but she spoke with him on daily carriage rides around the streets of Battle Creek and they exchanged ideas of disease, health and hygiene.

Trall earned the Whites trust and he was asked to become a regular contributor to ''The Health Reformer'' magazine. The former editor, Horatio S. Lay was removed and James White re-organized the magazine with an "Editorial Committee of Twelve" with Trall's "Special Department" of articles. Trall disbanded his own monthly ''Gospel of Health'' magazine and turned its subscription list to ''The Health Reformer''. The newly re-organized magazine had high hopes but problems soon emerged. The readers of the magazine resented Trall's extreme dietary strictures against the use of butter, eggs, milk, oil, salt and sugar.Land, Gary. (2014). ''Historical Dictionary of the Seventh-Day Adventists''. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 147. Trall's opinions on diet were regarded by readers as "radical and fanatical" and many gave up becoming subscribers. The Whites were disappointed that readers were cancelling their subscription. In 1871, James White took over editorship of ''The Health Reformer'' and pledged to take away the extreme dietary ideas, however, Trall continued to write for the magazine.

Trall's department remained in the magazine but James had Ellen start a second "Special Department" which clarified in the March 1871 issue that readers
"should not feel disturbed on seeing some things in these departments which do not agree with their ideas of matters and things". The magazine soon became a White family production with advertisements, articles by James and Ellen's monthly department. Within two years, White had successfully raised subscriptions of ''The Health Reformer'' from 3000 to 11,000. Trall remained on good terms with James and Ellen White but resigned from their magazine in 1874. However, John Harvey Kellogg blamed Trall for the magazine's early difficulties. Kellogg became its editor in 1874 and changed the magazine's name to ''Good Health'' in 1878.

Vegetarianism

Trall was an influential promoter of vegetarianism and was Vice-President of the American Vegetarian Society. His ''The Hygeian Home Cook-Book'' published in 1874 is the first known vegan cookbook in America.Smith, Andrew F. (2015). ''Savoring Gotham: A Food Lover's Companion to New York City''. Oxford University Press. p. 617. The book contains recipes "without the employment of milk, sugar, salt, yeast, acids, alkalies, grease, or condiments of any kind." Trall opposed the consumption of alcohol, coffee, meat, tea and the use of salt, sugar, pepper and vinegar. He believed that spices were dangerous to health.

In 1910, physician David Allyn Gorton noted that Trall's diet was "most simple and abstemious, consisting chiefly of Graham bread, hard Graham crackers, fruits, and nuts—two meals a day, without salt."Gorton, David Allyn. (1910)
''The History of Medicine: Philosophical and Critical, From Its Origin to the Twentieth Century, Volume 2''
G. P. Putnam's Sons. p. 192

Selected publications

''The Hydropathic Encyclopedia''
(two volumes, 1851)
* ''Tobacco: Its History, Nature, and Effects, with Facts and Figures for Tobacco-Users'' (1854)
''Fruits and Farinacea: The Proper Food of Man''
( John Smith, with notes and illustrations by R. T. Trall, 1856)
''The New Hydropathic Cook-Book''
(1857)
''Water-Cure for the Million''
(1860)
*''The Scientific Basis of Vegetarianism'' (1860)
''Hand-Book of Hygienic Practice''
(1864)
''The True Healing Art: Hygienic vs. Drug Medication''
(1872)
''The Hygienic Hand-Book'' (1873)''The Hygeian Home Cook-Book''
(1874)
''Popular Physiology''
(1875)

Gallery

New York Hygeio-Therapeutic College.png, New York Hygeio-Therapeutic College, 1857
The Hygeian Home Cook-Book.png, ''The Hygeian Home Cook-Book'', 1874
Russell Thacher Trall.png, Sketch of Trall

References

External links

The First Vegan Cookbook - New York 1874

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trall, Russell Thacher

1812 births
1877 deaths
19th-century American physicians
Albany Medical College alumni
American cookbook writers
American health and wellness writers
American male non-fiction writers
American nutritionists
American vegetarianism activists
Hydrotherapists
Hydrotherapy advocates
Naturopaths
Orthopaths
Pseudoscientific diet advocates
Opponents of tea drinking
Vegan cookbook writers