p. 17 | A Visit to Melrose

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 4, 1912

A Visit to Melrose

In response to an invitation of the New England brethren, it was the writer’s privilege recently to visit the Melrose sanitarium. It was a great satisfaction and pleasure to find a beautifully helpful spirit pervading the institution. Harmony and good will were everywhere in evidence, and this being true, of course prosperity is attending the work of the New England Sanitarium.

Of all the institutions I have visited, with the exception of Gland, Switzerland (which for scenic beauty and natural sanitarium environment probably could not be surpassed anywhere in the world), I think Melrose can claim at least an equal advantage as a charming sanitarium site with that of any of them. Certainly the securing of such a delightful situation should be regarded as a distinct providence.

A problem is being worked out in connection with the New England Sanitarium which should be watched with much interest. In the present great call to work the cities, in order that the highest success may attend the effort, it is evident that it will be necessary that all the various phases of our message shall be fully represented. As a foundation work and an entering wedge the health and temperance phase of the gospel message must be emphasized.

In the winter campaign in Boston through the efforts of Elder G. B. Starr

and other members of the sanitarium staff, a splendid work is being done in bringing the principles of the truth to the attention of the people of Boston and suburbs by means of a medical missionary educational movement. A series of lectures and demonstrations has been arranged which is to continue throughout the winter. The School of Health was formally opened by a banquet and lecture at Tremont Temple in Boston, November 16. The banquet was certainly an unqualified success. One hundred seventy of the leading people of Boston sat down to a delicious repast furnished by the sanitarium, and prepared under the direction and supervision of Brother Geo. E. Cornforth. Perhaps we can not do better than to quote the following account of the afternoon’s proceedings, which appeared in the Boston Globe the day following the banquet:—

“Vegetarians Open Series—Gather at ‘Back to Nature’ Banquet “Dr. Thomason Suggests Rules to Reach Ripe Old Age—Says 600,000 Die From Causes Preventable

“The first of a series of six Pythagorean dinners known as ‘back to nature’ banquets, given as an introduction to the opening of the Institute of Health, a vegetarians’ club, was given in Gilbert Hall, Tremont Temple, yesterday afternoon. The hall was filled.

“The menu included strictly things of a vegetable nature, but was not confined to vegetables. Dr. Thomason, who later addressed the gathering as speaker of the day, explained to a Globe reporter that their diet embraced many things classed as vegetable in its sense as opposed to animal; that the best descriptive term for it was a ‘non-flesh’ diet. Fruits and dishes made with fruit-juices figure very prominently in a menu of this kind. The reason for this, he said, is that fruit-juices are the best stomach disinfectants known, because they can be applied in large enough quantities to do their work of destroying the bacilli, while drugs must be used in such amount that they poison the patient.

“The movement of the Institute of Health is supported by the Seventh-day Adventists, who maintain that the individual must take great care of the body to insure health and prevent disease.

“George B. Starr, the medical evangelist, said:—

‘We eliminate all meats from our diet, and substitute for them a dish made from eggs, wheat, milk, etc., proportionately to the degree that their elements are found in the fiber of meat. For these things exactly take the place of meat.’

“After dinner the guests retired to Chipman Hall, where they were addressed by Dr. Thomason, of Washington, D. C., who said in part:—

‘There are 600,000 people who die annually in this country from causes that are easily preventable. Many of these persons almost literally dig their graves with their teeth by eating those articles of food that ruin the digestive and glandular systems and undermine the constitution. Old age is a disease and Professor Metchnikoff, of Paris, believes that he has discovered the germs of this disease in the bowels.

‘Age in reality is not indicated by the number of years that a man has lived, but by the condition of his blood-vessels, his thyroid gland, and his liver. A man at sixty may be younger than one at forty if his arteries are soft and his thyroid gland working properly. In the case of old age an ounce of prevention is certainly worth a pound of cure.’

“In closing, Dr. Thomason suggested ten rules for a ripe old age. They are as follows: First, good heredity; second, a natural diet composed of grains, fruits, and vegetables; third, thorough mastication of the food; fourth, avoidance of overfeeding; fifth, daily exercise to the point of perspiration in the open air; sixth, seven to eight hours’ sleep in a well-ventilated room; seventh, a cold bath daily, preferably upon rising; eighth, total abstinence from use of alcohol, tea, coffee, tobacco, and condiments; ninth, strict moral integrity; tenth, avoidance of worry—optimism.

“Following the lecture by Dr. Thomason, Mr. Starr finished out the hour with a few words to the audience, after which there was a nurses’ exhibition and a demonstration of foods conducive to old age.”

Favorable reports appeared in other Boston papers, including an illustrated article in the Boston Sunday Post. We are confident that this effort in Boston will prove educational and helpful, not only for the people of Boston, but also for those who engage in it, as valuable in developing better and more successful methods for reaching the people of all our large cities with the great message of salvation for both soul and body.

While on this trip a very delightful day was spent in visiting Dr. B. F. Nicola and Dr. Mary B. Nicola at their beautiful institution at Attleboro, Mass. These workers are earnestly, faithfully, and courageously endeavoring to uphold in their part of the field the great principles of truth to which we are all committed. A few pleasant hours were spent with Dr. Bradford and his wife, of New Bedford. It was a privilege to meet again these associates of former years.

A day was spent in consultation over a patient at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore; part of a day at the office at Washington, and then the journey was continued to Lafayette, Ind., where the sanitarium board had a two days’ session. Thanksgiving was spent here at the Wabash Valley Sanitarium, and something of the splendid influence that this institution is exerting was manifested in the kindly words spoken by present and former patients during the toasts following the Thanksgiving dinner. A number of patients, even with tears in their eyes, spoke of the great good which they had derived from the institution and through carrying out in their lives the principles learned during their stay as patients.

The greatest privilege in the world is to have a part in a work which has power in it to transform men’s lives, “to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them that are sanctified.”