The Battle Creek Sanitarium is a philanthropic and humanitarian institution operating under a perpetual charter which compels the use of all the profits gained to foster the spread of the humanitarian work. More than sixty branches of the parent institution have been established in or near large cities in different parts of the world, under the title of The American Medical Missionary Association, and each of these branches conducts a life-saving business on Good Samaritan principles. The organisation started its medical missionary work some thirty-seven years ago, with almost no capital and only one patient, in a small two-storey frame house, in the then small village of Battle Creek, Michigan. The incorporators were religious enthusiasts who believed that Christianity should be expressed in works as much as in faith, in curing the sick and healing the wounded, and thus preparing the unfortunate for the reception of moral and spiritual inspiration.
The best evidence that this scheme of procedure to attain the ultimate end was a good one is shown by the success of the institution in its growth from such small beginning to the immense proportions of the present time, with one of its buildings nearly a thousand feet in length and five storeys in height and numerous other buildings radiating from the main one and scattered about it in a finely wooded park. Fire came and destroyed the old building and all its contents, but yet it was soon rebuilt, and the concern goes on growing and growing, because the foundation principle of the institution is the beautiful Golden Rule, and the method of treatment employed is taken from the open book of Nature.
While the organisation was primarily based upon a special religious creedal enthusiasm, it has become so broadly altruistic as to suggest a return to original Christianity as defined in the Sermon on the Mount. In such Christian expression honest agnostics, born Buddhists, and the tolerant of all the different Christian creeds may join and say amen!
One of the splendid results of an economic nutrition, attained by following the natural requirements and impulses, is the curing of many diseases, among them several forms of constipation. The writer has a genuine admiration for the spirit that is the motive power of the Battle Creek Sanitarium and firm belief in the Christianity demonstrated in the work, especially in the private experiment of Dr. and Mrs. Kellogg, with their family of adopted waifs. Twenty-four children of unfortunate parents, waifs so unfortunate in their attractability as to be hopelessly neglected, have been gathered under this sheltering roof and are showing their mettle and gratitude by splendid behaviour and brilliant accomplishment in a manner that any proud parent might approve. To miss any opportunity to express gratitude to Dr. and Mrs. Kellogg for giving us such a splendid example of the true meaning of practical Christianity would be showing symptoms of the worst form of constipation; viz., constipation of appreciation and affection.—Horace Fletcher.]
EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF THE INFLUENCE OF MASTICATION AND COOKING OF FOOD, ETC., IN THE LABORATORIES OF THE BATTLE CREEK, MICHIGAN, SANITARIUM, UNDER THE DIRECTION OF DR. J. H. KELLOGG
From Modern Medicine
The table clearly shows the effect of cooking and the effect of mastication upon the salivary digestion of food. Column 1 shows the results obtained after an ordinary test meal consisting of 1½ ounces of water biscuit to 8 ounces of water; column 2, 1½ ounces of water biscuit ground fine, mixed with water and swallowed without chewing; column 3, test meal consisting of 1½ ounces of raw wheat flour and 8 ounces of water; column 4, test meal consisting of 1½ ounces of unground pearled wheat with 8 ounces of water.
| Water biscuit, well chewed. | Water biscuit, not chewed. | Raw flour. | Raw wheat. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| Total acidity (A) | 0.142 | 0.140 | 0.204 | 0.136 |
| Calculated acidity (A´) | 0.156 | 0.132 | 0.186 | 0.128 |
| Total chlorine (T) | 0.296 | 0.284 | 0.332 | 0.272 |
| Free HCl (H) | 0.050 | 0.028 | 0.056 | 0.052 |
| Combined chlorine (C) | 0.106 | 0.104 | 0.130 | 0.076 |
| Fixed chlorides (F) | 0.114 | 0.152 | 0.146 | 0.144 |
| Maltose (M) | 1.088 | 0.272 | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Dextrine and soluble starch (D) | 0.812 | 0.548 | 0.300 | 0.448 |
| COEFFICIENTS | ||||
| Digestion of albumin (a) | 0.82 | 0.97 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Digestion of starch (b) | 0.71 | 0.42 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Salivary activity (c) | 1.17 | 1.11 | 1.14 | 1.37 |
| Fermentation (x) | 5.00 | 11.00 | 6.00 | 6.00 |
| Chlorine liberation (m) | 0.80 | 0.70 | 0.85 | 0.71 |
Several points of interest are to be noted in the above table, the first and most conspicuous of which is the fact that the saliva did not act at all upon the raw flour and raw wheat, as shown by the total absence of maltose in the cases represented in columns 3 and 4. The small amount of dextrine and soluble starch shown was, perhaps, already present in the raw grain, but this point I have not investigated. It is clear, however, that no sugar was produced when raw starch was taken, whereas the amount of sugar produced after the ordinary test meal was more than 1 gram in each 100 c.c. of stomach fluid; in other words, the stomach fluid contained more than one per cent of sugar without taking into account the amount which had been absorbed.
The figures for maltose in column 2 represent a test meal in which little or no saliva was mixed with the test meal, the food being swallowed without chewing, indicating very slight action of the saliva, the amount of maltose found in the stomach fluid being but a trifle more than one-fourth the amount obtained after an ordinary test meal. The amount of soluble starch and dextrine was less than half the normal amount in the case of the raw flour, and but little more in the case of the raw wheat.