Quacks‪!‬

Quacks! contains four complete works, one by Edward Hooker Dewey, M.D., to by John Harvey Kellogg, M.D., and one by the Lydia Pinkham Company, that were generally considered reliable when they were published, but would would be considered wrong and even dangerous by a modern reader.


The complete works included herein are:

“The First Book in Physiology and Hygiene” and “Plain Facts for Old and Young,” by John Harvey Kellogg (yes, that Kellogg), a medical doctor.

“The No-Breakfast Plan and the Fasting-Cure,” by Edward Hooker Dewey, also a medical doctor.

“Food and Health,” by the Lydia Pinkham Company.


Dr, Dewey describes the effects of a no-breakfast diet and a severe fasting cure, both of which are strongly contradicted by modern science.

Dr. Kellogg recommends a diet highly based on grains (no surprise, given that he founded the major cereal company that bears his name) but which will not supply all the nutrition now understood to be necessary.  His advice on both male and female sexuality seems bizarre to even the most unsophisticated modern reader.

The Lydia Pinkham Company made a considerable amount of money selling various “nutritional” supplements.  Read this one carefully. This is the first book in the Fakes, Frauds, and Forgeries Series, for reasons that will be evident to the modern reader.  


Enjoy Quacks!