In the letter written in 1863 to Dr. J.C. Jackson of Dansville, New York, soon after the instruction in regard to health reform was given to Mrs. White in vision, Elder James White had not only asked him for health literature, but suggested a visit to his medical institution in order to observe his methods of treating the sick. From Dr. Jackson's reply we quote the following, as indicating his hearty spirit of co-operation:
"I advise you to come yourself to our house, and make yourself acquainted with our ways of doing things. I do not see how, with our great family, we could well take care of yourself, wife, and three sons, without subjecting you to such expense as, unless you are a rich man, you could not afford to pay. But we could take care of you by having you lodge out of the house and give you all the information we possibly can at our clergyman's price, which is to charge for board and treatment to clergymen, $2.50 per week, they paying the price of their own lodging. Your lodging will cost you about $1.00 or $1.25 per week. ...
"We shall be happy to do anything we can for you in the way of giving you information, or extending to you any courtesies whereby you may be better qualified and fitted to do your work and to do it well."--Letter of Dr. J.C. Jackson to Elder James White, August 13, 1863.
A New Book Announced
The proposed visit to Dansville was postponed, however, for over a year, and was not made until after Mrs. White had completed the writing of Spiritual Gifts, Vol. IV, in which was included her article entitled "Health." The announcement of this book appeared in the The Review and Herald, August 23, 1864. As to what followed we have Elder White's report:
"We left home August 24 and spent Sabbath with the brethren at Rochester, N.Y. The three following weeks we were at Dansville, N.Y., where we listened with deep interest to the lectures of Drs. Jackson and Hurd and enjoyed the practical illustrations of the principles of hygiene taught at 'Our Home' at their ample table, in the bathroom, and upon their beautiful walks. The three weeks were made still more happy by the society of brethren Dr. Lay and wife, King and daughter, Andrews, Edson, and Hall."--The Review and Herald, November 22, 1864.
The facts we have presented show that by this time the campaign in behalf of health reform among Seventh-day Adventists already had been well launched. However the visit to the Health Institute at Dansville may have influenced that movement, it did not by any means initiate it. This is clearly indicated in these words by Elder White in announcing his plans for visiting the institution:
"The health question is much agitated among our people. The Dansville institution has its warm friends and strong prejudices against it. We wish to investigate as far as we can spare the opportunity to do so, that we may be able to speak more understandingly."--Ibid., September 6, 1864.
Dr. H.S. Lay's Work
At this time Dr. H.S. Lay was one of the five members on the medical staff of "Our Home," at Dansville. He had been deeply impressed by the principles of health and healing as set forth by Mrs. White during her conversation with him soon after the vision at Otsego. After twelve years of medical practice with the usual drugs prescribed by the regular physicians, his confidence in their value had been greatly shaken. The severe illness of his wife now led him to give more serious consideration to drugless and rational methods of treatment. A great improvement in her health resulted, which he attributed to his acceptance and application of the light on health reform. In a letter to Elder White he wrote:
"Julia's health continues slowly but steadily to improve. We believe it is through the blessing of God and the use of His great remedies that she yet lives and is brought to enjoy her present state of health. ... I think I have been brought of late more than ever before to see and feel the necessity of obeying the laws of hygiene as well as the moral law. ... I now see clearer than ever before that while you both have so ardently labored to discountenance the use of tobacco, tea, and coffee among us, you have been doing the work of God."--Letter of Dr. H.S. Lay to James White, October 11, 1863.
Dr. Lay's search for nature's methods of healing, that his wife's health might be restored, led him to study the works of Drs. Jackson, Trall, and others; and in the summer of 1864 he took her to Our Home at Dansville, where he soon accepted an invitation to join the medical staff. That this was a providential experience was made clear by Mrs. White, who wrote a few years later:
"I was shown that God in His providence had directed the course of Dr. H.S. Lay to Dansville, that he might there obtain an experience he would not otherwise have had, for He had a work for him to do in the health reform. As a practicing physician, for years he had been obtaining a knowledge of the human system, and God would now have him by precept and practice obtain a knowledge of how to apply the blessings He has placed within the reach of man, and thus be prepared to benefit the sick, and instruct those who lack knowledge how to preserve the strength and health they already have, and by a wise use of pure water, air, and diet, Heaven's remedies, prevent disease."--Testimony for the Church 11:47. (Vol. I, pp. 490, 491.)
Dr. Jackson's Success
Of the phenomenal success of Dr. Jackson and his associates at Dansville, some of the believers had already received practical evidence. Especially notable was the case of Charles, the only son of Elder J. N. Andrews. At nine years of age this lad had become a cripple, seemingly incurable. One hip and leg were withered, and the ankle joint of the same limb was unduly enlarged and so ossified as to be nearly rigid. "To see this brilliant little fellow literally dragging his leg after him, was enough to touch a heart of stone." How to Live 1:17. He was placed under the care of the physicians at Our Home, and after fifteen weeks had sufficiently improved to be returned to his home. Soon after he left the institution, he was able to "run and skip about the yard as nimbly as other boys"; and his recovery proved to be permanent, for the limb returned to its normal size, and no trace of lameness was left.
At this time the buildings at Dansville were able to furnish accommodations for between three and four hundred patients. The main building, four stories in height, was furnished with bath and dressing rooms. To the north, it was connected by an enclosed corridor three hundred feet long, with Liberty Hall, a commodious room used as a gymnasium, lecture room, and chapel.
In behalf of Our Home, and its forerunner at Glen Haven, New York, Dr. Jackson laid claim to its being the pioneer, and that for some time it was the only institution "where all things which in their nature are health-producing and disease-curing are combined and used upon the largest possible plan, and are made to exercise not an isolated or individual influence, but a collective force." Laws of Life, February, 1862. Of the objectives of the institution and the methods of treatment followed, he said:
"Its object is to restore the sick to health by means of the agencies provided by God for the preservation of health, such as pure air, pure water, sunlight, sleep, proper clothing, healthful food, pleasant social influences, etc., excluding all poisonous drugs, and all other means and agencies, which in their nature tend to injure persons in health; and also to so instruct them in regard to the laws of life, and health, as that they may not be again liable to take on the diseases which are everywhere so prevalent, and which to a very great degree, are the result of false habits of living."--Ibid., March, 1862.
Various forms of water therapy were used, but the "heroic" treatment, involving the use of extremely cold water, which had caused much prejudice against hydrotherapy, had been discarded by Dr. Jackson and his associates. There were general baths, such as the "half bath," the full bath or "plunge," the "dripping sheet," the "pail douche," and the "pack," also local applications of water, including the "sitz bath," the "shallow bath," and the "foot bath." ("How to Take Baths," a tract, Dansville, N.Y., quoted in How to Live 2:14-24.) Compresses and fomentations were also listed among the methods of therapy.
The Reform Diet at Dansville
The reform diet as advocated by Sylvester Graham and other hygienists was adopted at Our Home, and the patients received an abundance of plain and nourishing food which was free from spices, rich gravies, or grease. Provision was made for a gradual change from the popular to a vegetarian diet, but as Elder and Mrs. White had already adopted the reforms, this was not necessary in their case. "As we had lived almost entirely without meat, grease, and spices, for more than a year," he wrote, "we were in a condition to have our wants in the line of food fully met at the tables at Our Home."--How to Live 1:16.
As a health educator Dr. Jackson spared no pains in setting forth the principles of healthful living. The Laws of Life, edited by himself and his adopted daughter, Harriet N. Austin, M.D., was at that time a sixteen-page monthly filled with sensible and practical instruction. At Our Home all who were able to do so were required to attend the morning lectures at Liberty Hall. These were usually given by Dr. Jackson, but occasionally by others on the medical staff.
The two-meal-a-day system was practiced and ably defended by the medical staff. To this practice Dr. Jackson attributed the reason for the physicians' seldom being called out in the middle of the night to attend patients with serious attacks of illness. He asserted that when the patients ate three meals a day, scarcely a night, and never a week, passed without one or more of the physicians being called from their rest to attend upon the sick, but that after changing to the two-meal plan, such an event was very rare.
Although Elder and Mrs. White saw much to commend in those methods of life and treatment of the sick, while at Dansville, there were a few things which they could not approve. In his report Elder White said:
"In all their amusements we could not unite. For the object for which they were intended, and when confined to the institution, these seem less objectionable. But we fear the influence of card playing and dancing upon young men and women, who at the same time profess to be Christians, when they shall leave the institution and be exposed to the vices so common with card players and dancers."--How to Live 1:16.
Lectures on Health
After leaving Dansville, Elder and Mrs. White held some meetings in the eastern states. At each place they spoke upon the subject of health to those in attendance. An indication of the enthusiasm of the speakers and of the deep interest on the part of the hearers is found in the fact that at one place after Elder White had spoken for two hours on this theme, he was followed for another hour by Mrs. White; and, to quote Elder White, "the audience was held for three hours without manifesting the least impatience."--The Review and Herald, November 29, 1864.
Elder J.N. Loughborough, who accompanied Elder and Mrs. White through New England at this time, bears a testimony to the helpfulness of their instruction and of the personal benefits he had received since making the changes in health habits as set forth through the Spirit of prophecy. In rendering his report, he said:
"For the short time I have been striving to live strictly in accordance with the laws of life, I have been greatly benefited. ...
"Never was sleep sweeter, or health better, or my mind more cheerful, since I first started in the service of God at the age of seventeen years, than for the last two months. With the short experience I have had, I would not, for any consideration, go back to the meat, spice, pepper, sweet cake, pickles, mustard, headache, stomach-ache and gloom, and give up the good wholesome fruit, grain, and vegetable diet, with pure cold water as a drink, no headaches, cheerfulness, happiness, vigor, and health.
"But I do not urge these things upon others or judge them about their meat. But I do esteem it a privilege to tell them what a temporal blessing I have found in this direction."--The Review and Herald, December 6, 1864.
In his report of this eastern tour Elder White wrote: "The health question is attracting great attention from our people." And after speaking of a number of matters that demanded attention, he concluded his report by saying: "We also want time to read up and give some lectures to our people on the subject of health. Work increases upon our hands, and we design to be free from every unnecessary burden, so as to labor the most efficiently for the present, as well as the future, good of our fellow men."--The Review and Herald, November 22, 1864.
A Difficult Task for the Leaders
Upon the leadership of the recently organized Seventh-day Adventist Church was now placed not only a great responsibility but a seemingly impossible task. Two decades before that, they had been called of God to lead out in the advocacy of unpopular reforms in religious teachings, and through His blessing the believers had grown to a united people, numbering about ten thousand Sabbath-keeping Adventists. Now they were called upon to unite with these doctrines still other unpopular reforms in physical habits, changes that called for self-denial and a breaking away from popular customs and practices.
They had begun the first task with three public laborers, no publications, and no financial support. They faced the second call to duty with one physician among them, who was a modest, retiring gentleman with no experience either as a public speaker or as a writer. There were among them no trained nurses, no physiologists, and no lecturers in the health field. Points of agreement among them were limited to the certain preliminary reforms, such as discarding the use of tobacco, alcohol, tea, and coffee. Beyond this both leaders and laity were quite ignorant of the evils of many other articles of common use in diet, and of the proper treatment for the common ailments.
Health Education Needed
Obviously the first step in accomplishing the task to which they were commissioned was to become acquainted with the laws of life and educate others concerning them. With no literature of their own, save the article entitled "Health," written by Mrs. White, they rejoiced to find writers and lecturers who had adopted and were advocating sound reforms in health practices.
"Our people are generally waking up to the subject of health," Elder White again wrote in December, 1864. "And," he added, "they should have publications on the subject to meet their present wants, at prices within the reach of the poorest."--The Review and Herald, December 13, 1864.
He realized, however, that in order to give Seventh-day Adventists the education they needed in health principles, more was necessary than for them to read merely the literature that had been produced by others who had blazed the trail before them. Among these heralds of reform there was not always agreement, and there were some errors to be shunned. To avoid extreme or erroneous views, they needed the divine guidance which was supplied as truly as in the advocacy of sound and lasting truths in health reform. True, there was a good library of health works written by advanced thinkers among the physicians and physiologists of the day, who not only urged needed reforms but gave good and logical reasons for their acceptance. It was, however, necessary for Seventh-day Adventists that there should be a stronger appeal than mere factual scientific statements. These reforms were to be seen as "a part of the third angel's message," and "just as closely connected with it as are the arm and hand with the human body."--Testimony for the Church 11:41. (Vol. I, p. 486.)
Elder White might purchase from twenty to twenty-five dollars' worth of books on health, issued by Jackson, Trall, Coles, Shew, Graham, Alcott, and other health reformers. Some of these books might be placed in the book stock of the Review and Herald office and be advertised and recommended. But only a very few of the rank and file of Seventh-day Adventists would either go to the expense of purchasing such voluminous and sometimes technical works, or be interested in reading them. So it was that Elder White recognized the urgent need for Seventh-day Adventists to have publications "to meet their present wants" and "at prices within the reach of the poorest."
As an initial step in meeting these needs, Elder White announced the plan for publishing six pamphlets. Mrs. White was to "furnish a liberal chapter in each number on health, happiness, and miseries of domestic life, and the bearing which these have upon the prospects of obtaining the life to come."
No extravagant claims of "skill as physicians" were to be made. It was the plan to fill the pamphlets with material drawn from "personal experiences from the Word of God, and from the writings of able and experienced health reformers." It was hoped that the information thus disseminated might enable some of the readers to "preserve vital force, live healthfully, save doctor's bills, and be better qualified to bear with cheerfulness the ills of this mortal life."--The Review and Herald, December 13, 1864.
Six Pamphlets on Health
The proposed series of six pamphlets soon appeared, bearing the title "Health, or How to Live." According to a statement made some years later by Elder White, they "were devoted, one each, to the several questions of food, baths, drugs, air, clothing, and proper exercise. They each contained a lengthy article by Mrs. White on 'Diseases and Their Causes.' But they were made up chiefly from the most spirited and valuable articles and extracts from Trall, Jackson, Graham, Dio Lewis, Coles, Horace Mann, Gunn, and many others. A very large edition of these six pamphlets was printed, and a portion of the edition was bound in a neat volume, and has had a large sale. This work was readable and well adapted to the wants of the people. It has also had a wide circulation outside of Seventh-day Adventists, and its influence for good in calling the attention of the people to the subject of health reform can hardly be estimated."--The Health Reformer, February, 1871.
By the end of January, 1865, the first number was ready. In the first article, entitled "Sanctification," Elder White set forth the close relationship of the physical and the spiritual. Six pages devoted to a report of the visit at Dansville concluded with the following counsel from Elder White:
"Critical cases, unless beyond all reasonable hope, we would recommend to the care of the skillful physicians at Dansville. To those who are active, yet suffering from failing health, we urgently recommend health publications, a good assortment of which we design to keep on hand. Friends, read up in time to successfully change your habits and live in harmony with the laws of life.
"And to those who call themselves well, we would say: As you value the blessings of health, and would honor the Author of your being, learn to live in obedience to those laws established in your being by High Heaven. A few dollars' worth of books, that will teach you how to live, may save you heavy doctor bills, save you months of pain upon a sick bed, save you suffering and feebleness from the use of drugs, and perhaps from a premature grave. God has strongly related man to life. If he will live in obedience to the laws of life, and give nature a chance, she will manifest her wondrous power in restoring the sick, and in preserving health to those who are well."--How to Live 1:18.
Suitable Substitutes Provided
Those who were leading out in the health reform movement among Seventh-day Adventists were careful from the first not to advocate the discarding of unwholesome food without giving instruction in the preparation of suitable substitutes. The ladies of the church in Battle Creek, Michigan, were encouraged to make a special study of hygienic cookery and to prepare for publication the results of their investigation and experience. Among those who took part in this pioneer work were Sisters Lockwood, Loughborough, Cornell, Smith, Amadon, Driscall, and Patten. These sisters furnished twenty pages of copy for the first number of "How to Live." In this early treatise were included many recipes for making bread, both leavened and unleavened, as also for mushes, porridges, pies, and puddings. Instruction was given for properly cooking fruits and vegetables.
Some who had acquired skill in hygienic cookery wrote helpful articles for the Review and Herald. In one issue of the paper Mrs. Martha Amadon contributed suggestions on the use of graham flour. The adoption of the whole-wheat flour--bran and all--was one of the first reforms generally accepted; and Mrs. Amadon, who had used it for a number of years, was asked for information as to how it should be prepared. Among the suggestive recipes was one for graham gems to be made in baking irons. So important did these gem irons become that they were advertised and carried in stock by the Review and Herald office.
The Effects of Poisonous Drugs
An uncompromising stand was early taken against the use of the common poisonous drugs so freely prescribed at that time by nearly all physicians. In the third number of the series on "How to Live," Mrs. White's article gave instruction regarding the effects of the popular drugs. She related how in panoramic views typical cases were presented before her, and gave detailed description of the physical effects of the drugs that were administered by the physicians called for advice and treatment. In the first instance a man whose daughter was sick related to the physician the details of the illness and death of his wife, a son, and a daughter, to whom powerful drugs had been administered by attending physicians. The father made a pitiful appeal in behalf of his only remaining daughter. The attending physician left the sickroom without administering any medicine.
In the place of a prescription for powerful drugs, a few simple rules calling for freedom from excitement, a cheerful atmosphere, simple diet, an abundance of pure, soft water to be used as a beverage, frequent bathing, light massage, adequate ventilation, and quiet, undisturbed rest were left with the father.
"Follow my directions," assured the physician, "and I trust in a few weeks to present her to you in a much better condition of health, if not fully restored."--How to Live 3:55.
A patient treated with nux vomica, another with calomel, and a third with opium were next viewed. The scenes were shifted from one case to another, each time revealing the tragic progressive action of the drug taken; and in contrast was shown the steady improvement of the first case, which was treated rationally with no drugs. In the third scene the daughter was seated by the side of her father, with the glow of health upon her countenance, and the doctor said:
"I present to you your daughter restored to health. I gave her no medicine that I might leave her with an unbroken constitution. Medicine never could have accomplished this. Medicine deranges nature's fine machinery and breaks down the constitution and kills, but never cures. Nature alone possesses the restorative powers."--Ibid., 3:57.
In each issue of the series of pamphlets "How to Live," Mrs. White's article on a certain phase of the health reform was buttressed by writings from the pen of other writers on the subject--physicians and reformers. In the second article Mrs. White dealt with the subject of the home, the relations of husband and wife, and proper care of infants and children. It was in this connection that she first counseled against sending the child to school too early. She urged that "during the first six or seven years of a child's life special attention should be given to its physical training, rather than the intellect. After this period, if the physical constitution is good, the education of both should receive attention. Infancy extends to the age of six or seven years. Up to this period children should be left like little lambs, to roam around the house, and in the yards, in the buoyancy of their spirits, skipping and jumping, free from care and trouble."--Ibid., 2:44.
Home Health Instruction Needed
The necessity of a knowledge of simple home remedies was recognized, and articles were included on the use of hydrotherapy, or "bathing," as it was usually termed. Cautions were given against attempting the "heroic" method of the use of cold water, especially for long periods of time. In Mrs. White's article in No. 4 of the series, she gave practical instruction relating to the care of the sick in the home. She stressed the need for strict cleanliness, not only of the patient, but also of the attendants, that they might be fortified against disease. She urged adequate ventilation, and with it the maintenance of an even temperature. "Fresh air will prove more beneficial to the sick," she declared, "than medicine, and is far more essential to them than their food."--Ibid., 4:55.
Such instruction was much needed in those days when, because of an uncanny dread of the "night air," windows and doors were not only closed, but every crack where a possible bit of fresh air might enter was sealed. Mrs. White, in her own experience in caring for her sick neighbors, was sometimes obliged to open windows and doors against the terrified protests of the relatives or of the patient himself. She was led to urge that in self-defence an attendant was justified in refusing to imperil his own health under such circumstances.
"If attendants are awake to the subject of health, and realize the necessity of ventilation for their own benefit, as well as that of the patient, and the relatives, as well as the sick, oppose the admission of air and light into the sick room, the attendants should have no scruples of conscience in leaving the sick room. ... If the sick will fall a victim to their own erroneous ideas, and will shut out of the room the most essential of Heaven's blessings, let them do so, but not at the peril of those who ought to live."--Ibid., 4:57.
Number 5 of "How to Live" and a portion of No. 6 were devoted to the subject of dress, particularly of children and of women. To an understanding of what was written by Mrs. White and others on dress at that time, a picture of the prevailing styles is necessary, and also a knowledge of the steps in dress reform that had already been taken by some.