Daniel H. Kress

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Daniel Hartman Kress
D. H. Kress.png
BornJune 27, 1862
St. Jacobs, Ontario
DiedNovember 2, 1956
Orange County, Florida
OccupationPhysician

Daniel Hartman Kress (June 27, 1862 – November 2, 1956) was a Canadian physician, anti-smoking activist, Seventh-day Adventist missionary and vegetarian.

Career[]

Kress was born on June 27, 1862 in St. Jacobs, Ontario.[1] He obtained his M.D. from University of Michigan in 1894. Kress and his wife Lauretta Eby were Seventh-day Adventists who trained at the Battle Creek Sanitarium.[2] He specialized in internal medicine at Battle Creek (1894–1898) and was medical director at Meadvale Sanitarium and Hospital at Surrey Hill, London (1898–1900).[1]

He was physician-in-chief of Sydney Sanitarium in Wahroonga (1900–1907).[1] He was the medical director of Washington Sanitarium and Hospital at Takoma (1907–1910). He specialized in neurology (1915–1939).[1] He was a neurologist at the Florida Sanitarium and Hospital in Orlando, Florida (1939–1948). Kress retired in 1949.[1]

Kress was the editor of Australasian Good Health and the Life and Health magazine.[3][4] Kress was a member of the American Medical Association.[1] He married Lauretta Eby in 1884, they had several children.[1] Kress died aged 94.[1]

Anti-smoking activism[]

Kress was vice-president of the Anti-Cigarette League.[5] In 1913, Kress and Lucy Page Gaston founded a smoking-cure clinic at the Anti-Cigarette League's Chicago headquarters in Chicago.[6] Kress patented a mouthwash which contained a weak nitrate solution which he believed would cure all craving for cigarettes.[7][8]

Vegetarianism[]

Kress was originally a vegan and believed that butter, eggs, meat and milk should be avoided. He argued that plants contained "all the elements needed for the human body".[2] Kress visited New Zealand in 1901. He worked at the Christchurch Medical and Surgical Sanitarium.[2] He lectured at the Christchurch Art Gallery on food reform, condemning alcohol and meat consumption.[2] Kress was a teetotaller who believed that animal flesh "created a craving for alcoholic drink".[2]

Kress suffered from pernicious anemia and was expected to die in 1901.[9] His wife arranged for him to be buried at Avondale College cemetery. However, he received a letter from Ellen G. White which advised he be given fresh-beaten eggs in grape juice, as "this will supply that which is necessary for your system".[9] He followed the counsel given and slowly recovered. His health had deteriorated from an unbalanced vegan diet. He became a vegetarian, adding dairy and eggs to his diet. He fully recovered and lived another 55 years.[9] Kress made other trips to New Zealand.[2] In 1905, he lectured in Gisborne on dieting and longevity. He promoted a Biblical diet of fruit, grains, nuts and seeds as the original diet of mankind.[2] Kress condemned tobacco smoking as a cause of cancer and a "crime to the community, as it poisons the air".[2]

Kress opposed the consumption of mustard, peppers, pickles and spices as they created a thirst for alcohol and were "not designed to be fed into the human body".[2] In 1909, Kress and his wife authored the Good Health Cookery Book which contains meatless recipes based around cereals, fruits and vegetables. The Kresses advised two meals a day and suggested nutmeat or protose (a mixture of nuts and gluten) as substitutes for meat.[2]

Selected publications[]

See also[]

  • Ovo-lacto vegetarianism

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h "Kress, Daniel Hartman". In American Men of Medicine. Institute for Research in Biography, 1952. p. 573
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Amey, Catherine. (2014). The Compassionate Contrarians: A History of Vegetarians in Aotearoa New Zealand. Rebel Press. pp. 41-43. ISBN 978-0-473-27440-5.
  3. ^ "Editorial". The Medical Missionary. 12 (1): 19. 1903.
  4. ^ Gregory, James. (2007). Of Victorians and Vegetarians: The Vegetarian Movement in Nineteenth-Century Britain. Tauris Academic Studies. p. 147. ISBN 978-1-84511-379-7
  5. ^ Southall, Sophia J. (1918). "Shall We Smoke?". The American Journal of Nursing. 18 (6): 459–460. JSTOR 3406369.
  6. ^ Dillow, Gordon L. (1981). Thank You For Not Smoking. American Heritage. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  7. ^ Engs, Ruth Clifford. (2003). The Progressive Era's Health Reform Movement: A Historical Dictionary. Prager. p. 141. ISBN 0-275-97932-6
  8. ^ The Health Consequences of Smoking. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1992. p. 30
  9. ^ a b c Kress, Daniel H. (1862–1956) and Lauretta (Eby) (1863–1955). In Denis Fortin, Jerry Moon. (2014). The Ellen G. White Encyclopedia. Review & Herald Publishing. ISBN 978-0828025041

External links[]

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