Elmer Lee
Elmer Lee | |
---|---|
Born | Piqua, Ohio,U.S. | March 12, 1856
Died | June 13, 1945 College Hill, Cincinnati,Ohio, U.S. | (aged 89)
Education |
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Occupation(s) | Physician,natural hygieneandvegetarianismadvocate |
Elmer Lee(March 12, 1856 – June 13, 1945) was an American physician and advocate ofnatural hygieneandvegetarianism.He was the founder and editor of the health magazineHealth Culture.
Biography
[edit]Elmer Lee was born in Ohio in 1856;[1]he graduated fromOhio Wesleyan University,in 1877, with anA.B.;Lee received hisA.M.in 1880.[2]He then moved to St. Louis, where he taught in public schools and worked in newspapers.[3]Lee earned hisM.D.from the Missouri Medical College (now theWashington University School of Medicine) in 1880 and hisPh.D.fromSaint Louis Universityin 1886.[2]He then moved to Chicago, where he lived for ten years.[3]Lee studiedcholerain Germany and Russia, living for a time inSaint Petersburg.[4]
Lee started the healthy living magazineHealth Culturein 1894;[5]it heavily promoted aplant-based diet.[6]Lee remained as editor for 23 years,[3]before being succeeded by Arthur Vos;[7]the magazine continued publishing until 1964.[8]: 504 Lee moved to New York City in 1898.[3]He was actingAssistant Surgeonin theSpanish–American War.[1]On November 23, 1898, he testified before a commission investigating conduct in the war.[9]In 1902, Lee patented a reservoir for dispensing liquid soap.[10]
In 1908, Lee authored an article inThe New York Timesabout the founding of a "Hospital of Hygiene".[11]Lee started working as a naturopath in 1910 and developed a health movement known as the "hygienic system", inspired byRussel Trall.[12]In the same year, Lee was the subject of an article byThe New York Times,entitled "Dr. Lee pleads for better foods", in which he advocated for curing disease through a diet of "live organic plant-foods" and asserted that societal maladies, such as drunkenness, were due to people not following a sufficiently nutritious diet;[13]this article has been described as the first known use of the phrase "plant-foods" to describe a vegetarian diet.[14]
In 1910, Lee reprintedRupert H. Wheldon'sNo Animal Food and Nutrition and Diet with Vegetable Recipes,one of the first Britishveganrecipe books; it included a quote from Lee, stating that a "Plant diet with butter, cream, milk, cheese, eggs, lard, fat, suet, or tallow added to it, is not vegetarian; it is mixed diet; the same in effect as if meat were used."[14]Around 1921, Lee invented aplant milk,derived from oats and peanut meal.[8]: 236
Lee served as the Vice-President of the American Academy of Medicine[15]and held offices in theAmerican Medical Associationand theAmerican Social Science Association;[4]he was on the advisory committee of the American Super-Race Foundation[16]and worked as a lecturer for the New York Board of Education.[17]
Lee retired around 1935 and donated his medical books to Ohio Wesleyan University.[4]He died at Cincinnati Sanitarium,College Hill, Cincinnati,on June 13, 1945.[18]
Selected publications
[edit]- "Hydro-therapeutic Principles in the Treatment of Typhoid Fever".Medical Record.53(9). New York. 1891-02-26.
- Lee, E. (September 1894)."The Treatment of Typhoid Fever".The American Journal of Dental Science.28(5): 223–228.PMC6115018.PMID30757396.
- Lee, E. (October 1895)."Treatment of Asiatic Cholera".The American Journal of Dental Science.29(6): 250–258.PMC6118763.PMID30757708.
- "Diphtheria and its antitoxin".The Laryngoscope.1(2): 105–106. August 1896.doi:10.1288/00005537-189608000-00011.S2CID221920462.
- Lee, Elmer (1900-02-24)."Food and Drink"(PDF).JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.XXXIV(8): 465.doi:10.1001/jama.1900.24610080017001g.ISSN0098-7484.
Gallery
[edit]-
Elmer Lee in his laboratory making plant milk made from chopped oats, ground peanuts and water
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Elmer LeeHealth Culturemagazine advert
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Elmer Lee promoting a vegan diet in 1911
References
[edit]- ^abBehncke, F. H. (1996).Pioneer Teachers.Health Research Books. pp. 33–34.ISBN978-0-7873-0087-6.
- ^abAlumni directory of the Ohio Wesleyan University; 1846-1901.Delaware: Ohio Wesleyan University. 1902. p.33.
- ^abcd"Who Remembers Him?".Piqua Daily Call.1935-07-30. p.4.
- ^abcNewdick, Anna (1944-06-14)."Grad of 1877 Reviewed".The Ohio Wesleyan Transcript.Delaware, OH. pp. 1, 4.Retrieved2021-02-24.
- ^Adams, Aubrey Taylor (2014).Hygieia's Feast: The Making of America's Health Food Culture, 1870-1920(PDF)(PhD thesis). University of California, Irvine.
- ^Davis, John."Hygiene cleans up - naturally of course".International Vegetarian Union.Archivedfrom the original on 2015-03-17.Retrieved2021-02-23.
- ^Todd, Jan; Roark, Joe; Todd, Terry (March 1991)."A Briefly Annotated bibliography of English Language Serial Publications in the Field of Physical Culture"(PDF).Iron Game History.1(4–5): 26.
- ^abShurtleff, William (2013). Aoyagi, Akiko; Shurtleff, William (eds.).History of Soymilk and Other Non-Dairy Milks (1226-2013): Including Infant Formulas, Calf Milk Replacers, Soy Creamers, Soy Shakes, Soy Smoothies, Almond Milk, Coconut Milk, Peanut Milk, Rice Milk, Sesame Milk, etc.Soyinfo Center.ISBN978-1-928914-58-7.
- ^Congressional Serial Set.U.S. Government Printing Office. 1900. pp. 2305–2317.
- ^US US708652A,Lee, Elmer, "Reservoir for dispensing liquid soap", published 1902-09-09, issued 1901-05-17
- ^Lee, Elmer (1908-03-29)."Dr. Lee Would Found a Hospital of Hygiene".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved2021-02-23.
- ^Pizzorno, Joseph E.; Murray, Michael T., eds. (2012).Textbook of Natural Medicine.Elsevier Health Sciences. p. 47.ISBN978-1-4557-4014-7.
- ^"Dr. Lee pleads for better foods; Insanity, Drunkenness, Immorality Are Some of the Results of Poor Food, He Declares. Wants Clean, Liberal Diet and Health, Strength, Refinement, and Other Estimable Attributes Will Follow"(PDF).The New York Times.1910-11-06.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved2021-02-23.
- ^abDavis, John (2011)."A History of Veganism from 1806"(PDF).Archived(PDF)from the original on 2021-02-23.Retrieved2021-02-23.
- ^"Expert's Declaration on Cooking Evokes Various Comments".The Charlotte News.1912-10-07. p.7.
- ^The American Super-Race Foundation; an organization preparing the way for the selection and education of superior human beings, each race separately, for the evolvement of a super race.New York City—Rochester, New York: American Super-Race Foundation. 1923. p. 12.
- ^"Oatmeal and Beefsteak".The Bulletin of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences.XXXI:162. 1927-01-15.
- ^"Ex-Piquad Gives Entire Estate to Ohio Wesleyan U".Piqua Daily Call.July 26, 1945. pp.14.
- 1856 births
- 1945 deaths
- 19th-century American inventors
- 19th-century American male writers
- 19th-century American physicians
- 20th-century American inventors
- 20th-century American male writers
- 20th-century American physicians
- Alternative detoxification promoters
- Alternative medicine activists
- American anti-vaccination activists
- American anti-vivisectionists
- American eugenicists
- American food writers
- American health and wellness writers
- American lecturers
- American magazine editors
- American magazine founders
- American medical writers
- American military personnel of the Spanish–American War
- American nutritionists
- American vegetarianism activists
- Naturopaths
- Ohio Wesleyan University alumni
- Orthopaths
- People from Piqua, Ohio
- Pseudoscientific diet advocates
- Saint Louis University alumni
- Washington University School of Medicine alumni