Nature’s Path: A History of Naturopathic Healing in America

409 Pages·2016·6.46 MB·English

by  Susan E. Cayleff

Nature’s Path
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Nature’s Path
A History of Naturopathic Healing
in America
susan e. c ayleff
Johns Hopkins University Press

Baltimore
© 2016 Johns Hopkins University Press
All rights reserved. Published 2016
Printed in the United States of America on acid- free paper
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Johns Hopkins University Press
2715 North Charles Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21218-4363
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Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Cayleff, Susan E., 1954– , author.
Nature’s path : a history of naturopathic healing in America /
Susan E. Cayleff.
p. ; cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4214-1903-9 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 1-4214-1903-3
(hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4214-1904-6 (electronic)
— ISBN 1-4214-1904-1 (electronic) I. Title.
[DNLM: 1. Naturopathy— history— United States. 2. History, 20th
Century— United States. 3. Holistic Health— history— United
States. WB 935]
RZ440
615.5'350973— dc23 2015018664
A cata log record for this book is available from the British Library.
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Johns Hopkins University Press uses environmentally friendly book
materials, including recycled text paper that is composed of at least
30 percent post- consumer waste, whenever possible.
To Dr. Sue Gonda, storyteller, writer, guide, partner
You make every day a gift
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Contents
Ac know ledg ments ix
Introduction 1
1 Following Nature’s Path and Botanic Healing 13
2 Spokes of a Wheel: The Healing Systems of Naturopathy 25
3 “Nature Takes the Right Road”: Naturopathic Philosophy 51
4 Louisa Stroebele Lust, Benedict Lust, and Their
Yungborn Sanatorium 73
5 Women, Naturopathy, and Power 95
6 C ulture Wars: Ideology, Social Trends, and Competition for Clients 118
7 Medical Monsters: Vivisection and Vaccination 144
8 Legal Battles: Democracy or Autocracy? 178
9 Professionalizing and Defining the Nature Cure 210
10 Deepening Divides, 1945–1969 245
11 The 1970s and Beyond: Cultural Critique and Holistic Health 274
Notes 303
Index 385
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Ac know ledg ments
Often in ac know ledg ments, one of the last lines thanks someone whose support,
work, and belief in the author kept the project going. I am putting first that one
key person: Dr. Sue Gonda, of Grossmont College in El Cajon, California. Her
insights as a historian, editor, writer, compatriot, and stalwart coworker helped
bring this mammoth project to light. The usual thank- you is not enough.
Jackie Wehmueller, at Johns Hopkins University Press, has been an ally and a
valued colleague. Joanne Allen improved this manuscript with her smart, me-
ticulous, and insightful editing. And I thank my colleagues in the Department
of Women’s Studies at San Diego State University for their ongoing support and
encouragement.
I am indebted to the following people who have shared their expertise and
knowledge with me over the years: Friedhelm Kirchfeld, archivist at the National
College of Naturopathic Medicine Library in Portland, Oregon, and coauthor of
the seminal Nature Doctors: Pioneers in Naturopathic Medicine, who gave gener-
ously of his expertise and access to uncata loged sources when I consulted them;
he later corresponded with me as information emerged. I also am indebted to
Sussanna Czeranko, ND, curator of rare books at the NCNM. Lauren Paschal
Proctor, daughter of Leo Lust, Benedict’s brother, has generously supplied me
with memories and photographs of “Uncle Ben” and other family members.
Conversations with Lauren and her sister, Anita Lust Boyd, were inspirational
and informative. The historian George Cody has been generous in sharing his
thoughts with me. I have benefited from the resources shared with me by Peggy
Spranzani, chair of the Butler Museum, in Butler, New Jersey, where Louisa’s
Bellevue Sanitarium was located and where later the couple’s Yungborn cure
developed. Support and encouragement also came from Dean Paul Wong, of the
College of Arts and Letters at San Diego State University, and assorted grants
received by SDSU over the years: Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity,
CAL Micro- grants, and two sabbatical leaves. John Weeks and Harry Swope, of