John Harvey Kellogg Revisited

[Number Six]

Wikipedia has a useful article on Kellogg, the guy behind the cereal name. An early Seventh-Day Adventist pioneer, he ran a number of health sanitariums where he was free to experiment with an array of highly questionable medical surgeries, removing sections of people's alimentary canals to "cure" constipation.

One of his targets was combatting auto-eroticism is all its nefarious forms:

"Kellogg worked on the rehabilitation of masturbators, often employing extreme measures, even mutilation, on both sexes. He was an advocate of circumcising young boys to curb masturbation and applying phenol (carbolic acid) to a young woman's clitoris. In his Plain Facts for Old and Young,[7] he wrote:

"“ A remedy which is almost always successful in small boys is circumcision, especially when there is any degree of phimosis. The operation should be performed by a surgeon without administering an anesthetic, as the brief pain attending the operation will have a salutary effect upon the mind, especially if it be connected with the idea of punishment, as it may well be in some cases. The soreness which continues for several weeks interrupts the practice, and if it had not previously become too firmly fixed, it may be forgotten and not resumed. ”

further

"“ a method of treatment [to prevent masturbation] ... and we have employed it with entire satisfaction. It consists in the application of one or more silver sutures in such a way as to prevent erection. The prepuce, or foreskin, is drawn forward over the glans, and the needle to which the wire is attached is passed through from one side to the other. After drawing the wire through, the ends are twisted together, and cut off close. It is now impossible for an erection to occur, and the slight irritation thus produced acts as a most powerful means of overcoming the disposition to resort to the practice ”

and

"“ In females, the author has found the application of pure carbolic acid (phenol) to the clitoris an excellent means of allaying the abnormal excitement. ”

"He also recommended, to prevent children from this "solitary vice", bandaging or tying their hands, covering their genitals with patented cages and electrical shock.[7]

"In his Ladies' Guide in Health and Disease, for nymphomania, he recommended

"“ Cool sitz baths; the cool enema; a spare diet; the application of blisters and other irritants to the sensitive parts of the sexual organs, the removal of the clitoris and nymphae..."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harvey_Kellogg

[The Observer]

And why is the above relevant to this forum? Unlike most of the quackery that this forum exposes, I highly doubt that Kellogg, viewed in the perspective of his era, should be considered a "quack."

First off, he was a trained, educated and certified physician. He just was not some guy with a diploma secured through the mail and bag of sugar pills.

Secondly, merely focusing on his theories of treating masturbation and not considering the fact that such beliefs were in line with the lack of knowledge of human sexuality and the religious beliefs of the day is hardly fair and accurate. Granted, his treatment for chronic masturbation was harsh, but the wikipedia article implying that his recommendation was wrong for treatment for phimosis by circumcision is inaccurate: one of the current treatments today for phimosis is circumcision.

Third, much of his physician's practice was focused on the "health food" approach, again not an uncommon view in that timeto treating disease and illness; looking at his methods through the lens of our knowledge today, he seems backward and medically illiterate. But so would most of the doctors of that time whose procedures and practices would be seen as unhealthy or risky in view of our knowledge today.

Finally, Dr. Kellogg is dead. He is no longer practicing and his mad crusade against masturbation is a page in history. I would think that the best use of this forum would be to focus and concentrate on today's modern quacks who have no medical license and training, who sell fraudulent and/or dangerous concoctions to people under the guise that their patent medicine will cure them or make them healthier. That is a far better use of the bandwidth here than just cutting and pasting information from other sites that is just old history.

[Number Six]

I would think it is relevant in terms of the worldwide focus on female genital mutilation. Kellogg went way beyond other professionals with his sanitariums and his theories: from that standpoint he was a pioneer of quackery and medical extremes. The problem may not be the rationale for medical malpractice, but how unethical it is. And his unnecessary surgeries also fit in that category which covers quite a bit of ground today. His surgeries would be grounds today not just for civil charges but criminal as well.

[The Observer]

I would think it is relevant in terms of the worldwide focus on female genital mutilation. Kellogg went way beyond other professionals with his sanitariums and his theories: from that standpoint he was a pioneer of quackery and medical extremes. The problem may not be the rationale for medical malpractice, but how unethical it is. And his unnecessary surgeries also fit in that category which covers quite a bit of ground today. His surgeries would be grounds today not just for civil charges but criminal as well.

But female genital mutilation as practiced throughout the world is done primarily for religious reasons and not for purported medical reasons. That has nothing to do with the focus of this thread, which is about scammers selling phony medical treatments, cures, diets, supplements and medicines under the pretense of such product being beneficial to the victims.

And in regards to Kellogg and whether his surgeries were unnecessary is a historical subject rather than a current topic. As I pointed out, the man is dead and has been for over 60 years, so there is little call to focus attention on him when there are far plenty of living targets out there scamming people.