Joel Shew

Joel Shew (November 13, 1816 - October 6, 1855)[1] was an American physician, hydrotherapist and natural hygiene advocate.

Joel Shew
BornNovember 13, 1816
Providence, New York
DiedOctober 6, 1855
Oyster Bay, Long Island
OccupationHydrotherapist, writer

Biography

Shew was born in Providence, Saratoga County. He worked in a daguerreotype shop in Philadelphia and obtained his medical degree in 1843.[2] Shew took interest in hydrotherapy and visited Gräfenberg to study Vincenz Priessnitz's techniques.[3][4] His wife, Marie Louise Shew was also a hydrotherapist. They were friends of Mary Gove Nichols who had temporary lodged at their house. The Shews operated a "water-cure" house and opened it to patients.[2]

In 1844, Shew established the first water-cure institution in New York City.[3] In May 1845, he opened the New Lebanon Springs Water-Cure Establishment which cost about $3,000.[5] He was the co-owner and advising physician. David Campbell was its manager for ten years.[5] Shew was influenced by the dieting ideas of Sylvester Graham and promoted natural hygiene practices such as bathing, exercise and massage as well as the elimination of alcohol and tobacco.[3] Historian Stephen Nissenbaum has noted "it is clear that Shew was a Grahamite before he discovered the water-cure".[6] Shew and his wife were vegetarian.[7]

In 1850, Shew wrote notes and additions for the American edition of William Lambe's Water and Vegetable Diet.[8] He died at Oyster Bay, Long Island.[1] An autopsy revealed an enlarged liver and internal lesions. This may have been the result of Shew's exposure to chemicals during his earlier career as a photographer.[9]

The Water-Cure Journal

In 1845, Shew launched The Water-Cure Journal. After 1850, it had a subscription list of 50,000.[3] Russell Trall edited the journal from 1849 and it was later renamed, The Herald of Health.[10][11][12]

Selected publications

References
  1. Kelly, Howard A; Burrage, Walter L. (1920). American Medical Biographies. Baltimore: The Norman, Remington company. p. 1045
  2. Silver-Isenstadt, Jean L. (2002). Shameless: The Visionary Life of Mary Gove Nichols. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 76. ISBN 0-8018-6848-3
  3. Engs, Ruth Clifford. (2000). Clean Living Movements: American Cycles of Health Reform. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 96. ISBN 0-275-97541-X
  4. Schwarz, Richard W. (2006). John Harvey Kellogg, M.D.: Pioneering Health Reformer. Review and Herald Publishing Association. pp. 25-26. ISBN 0-8280-1039-8, 0-8280-1939-8
  5. Marchese, Allison Guertin. (2014). Hidden History of Columbia County, New York. The History Press. p. 94. ISBN 978-1626193956
  6. Nissenbaum, Stephen. (1980). Sex, Diet, and Debility in Jacksonian America: Sylvester Graham and Health Reform. Greenwood Press. p. 156. ISBN 978-0313214158
  7. Shprintzen, Adam D. (2013). The Vegetarian Crusade: The Rise of an American Reform Movement, 1817-1921. University of North Carolina Press. p. 55. ISBN 978-1-4696-0891-4
  8. Hoolihan, Christopher. (2001). An Annotated Catalogue of the Edward C. Atwater Collection of American Popular Medicine and Health Reform, Volume 1. University of Rochester Press. p. 603. ISBN 1-58046-098-4
  9. Wrobel, Arthur. (1987). Pseudo-Science and Society in 19th-Century America. p. 81. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0-8131-5544-9
  10. Whorton, James C. (2002). Nature Cures: The History of Alternative Medicine in America. Oxford University Press. pp. 90-91. ISBN 0-19-514071-0
  11. Hoolihan, Christopher. (2008). An Annotated Catalogue of the Edward C. Atwater Collection of American Popular Medicine and Health Reform, Volume 3. University of Rochester Press. p. 344. ISBN 978-1-58046-284-6
  12. Smith, Andrew F. (2009). Eating History: Thirty Turning Points in the Making of American Cuisine. Columbia University Press. p. 34. ISBN 978-0-231-14092-8
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