Susanna Way Dodds

Susanna Way Dodds (November 10, 1830 – January 20, 1911) was an American physician, hydrotherapist and natural hygiene proponent.

Susanna Way Dodds
Born(1830-11-10)November 10, 1830
Randolph County, Indiana, United States
DiedJanuary 20, 1911(1911-01-20) (aged 80)
Long Beach, California, United States
OccupationPhysician, writer

Biography

Dodds was born in Randolph County, near Richmond, Indiana.[1] She was a vegetarian and advocate of women's rights.[2] Dodds was the fourth woman in America to be become a physician.[2] In 1864, she graduated from Russell T. Trall's New York Hygeio-Therapeutic College.[2] Dodds practiced medicine in St. Louis from 1886-1909.[3]

Dodds' sister-in-law Mary was also a physician. Dodds and her husband Andrew espoused a hygienic method of treating disease.[4] In 1878, Dodds and her sister opened a sanitarium, the Dodds' Hygeian Home.[4][5] In 1887, they established the Hygienic College of Physicians and Surgeons in St. Louis, Missouri.[2][4] They did not use any drugs except in cases for relieving pain.[6] They focused on "natural methods of treatment: diet, exercise, massage, electricity and hydrotherapy in all of its manifold applications".[4] Dodds proposed a strict hygienic diet which forbid the consumption of baking powder, meat, milk, soda, spices and sweeteners.[4] She published the magazine, The Sanitarian.[7]

Dodds died on January 20, 1911, from senile debility at Long Beach, California.[8] After Dodds died in 1911, her sister continued to manage the Hygienic College until she sold it in 1912.[4] Natural hygienist Herbert M. Shelton was influenced by Dodds.[4]

Publications

References
  1. Willard, Frances E; Livermore, Mary A. (1893). A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-Seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women In All Walks of Life. Buffalo. p. 247
  2. Iacobbo, Karen; Iacobbo, Michael. (2004). Vegetarian America: A History. Praeger Publishing. p. 118. ISBN 978-0275975197
  3. 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. 199. ISBN 978-1-58046-284-6
  4. Fisher, Carol. (2008). Pot Roast, Politics, and Ants in the Pantry: Missouri's Cookbook Heritage. University Of Missouri Press. pp. 19-20. ISBN 978-0-8262-1791-2
  5. Clevenger, Martha R. (1987). From Lay Practitioner to Doctor of Medicine: Woman Physicians in St. Louis, 1860-1920. Gateway Heritage 8 (3):12-21.
  6. Johnson, Charles P. (1914). Notable Women of St. Louis, 1914. St. Louis. p. 59
  7. Kirchfeld, Friedhelm; Boyle, Wade. (1994). Nature Doctors: Pioneers in Naturopathic Medicine. Medicina Biológica. p. 226. ISBN 0-9623518-5-7
  8. Anonymous. (1911). Susanna Way Dodds, M.D. Journal of the American Medical Association 56 (5): 362-363.
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