In 1915, The Health Series of Physiology and Hygiene published the latest in its series, Making the Most of Life, written by M.V. O’Shea and J.H. Kellogg. O’Shea was a professor of education at the University of Wisconsin; Kellogg was the superintendant of the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan.
Text and photograph from Making the Most of Life.
Making the Most of Life was designed as a student text on health, complete with follow-up questions for each chapter, project suggestions, and a glossary at the end of the book. Chapter titles included “Taking the Measure of a Man,” “The Value of a Life,” and “Handicaps in the Race of Life.” The text is heavily illustrated with graphs, anatomical drawings, and black-and-white photographs which reinforce specific points in the text. For example, look at the image on the right: the photograph is meant to illustrate the relationship between body weight and symmetry of form.
The tone of the volume is lecturing, even hectoring at times, as O’Shea and Kellogg strive to inculcate their future students with contemporary values of health and well-being, including total abstinence from substances including tobacco, alcohol, cocaine, and caffeine. High-protein diets are decried and the benefits of much fresh air, exercise, and yoghurt promoted. Efficiency in modern living is invoked in the introduction to the volume, bringing to mind the concern at the time about American involvement in World War I, to say nothing of changes in working habits and technology.
Making the Most of Life also includes a brief but accurate description of the germ theory of disease and emphasizes the need for hygienic measures to be taken to halt the spread of diseases like tuberculosis. The book ends with a chapter called “Safety First,” which lists 10 rules for healthy living, including frequent handwashing and avoiding anyone with a sore throat.
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Battle Creek is right near my home town! And J. H. Kellogg, in addition to being the superintendant of the sanitarium, was also the man who developed Kellogg’s Corn Flakes. As a Seventh Day Adventist, he was a vegetarian and promoted a diet that was supposed to decrease one’s interest in sex. Probably “less sex” would be one of the “safety first” rules!
Um … can I be the first to say “no thank you!” to that one? Still … this book is a total hoot! Thanks for sharing :)!