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1839 Introduction: Sylvester Graham (1794–1851) was a minister who was a popular and energetic speaker. He was also an early temperance advocate. Graham had become interested in medicine and immersed himself in the foremost medical works of the day. He concluded that intemperance in food was an even greater evil than alcoholic intemperance and that overindulgence in food frequently led to alcoholism, particularly among men. Graham believed that gluttony, and not alcoholism or starvation, was “the greatest of all causes of evil” (Ronald L. Numbers, Prophetess of Health: Ellen G. White and the Origins of Seventh-day Adventist Health Reform [Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1992], 52–53). Graham’s concern with temperance led him to vegetarianism. Beginning in 1831, he argued in part that people were unable to survive the ravages of diseases because they did not eat the proper diet. But it wasn’t until the following year that Graham presented his culinary views in a “Lecture on Chastity.” Graham believed that uncooked food in its natural state was best, and he condemned the use of all “stimulating foods”—liquor, meat, tea, coffee, condiments, spices, salt, and pepper. Unlike many contemporary medical professionals who were leery of fresh fruits and vegetables because they purportedly caused a variety of summer diseases, Graham advocated eating fresh produce. Graham’s ideas struck a responsive chord among many Americans, thousands of whom listened to his lectures, read his essays, and changed their diets and habits based on his ideas. Lectures on the Science of Human Life, first published in 1839, was his magnum opus. Below is one of his lectures on vegetarianism. The numbers in parentheses refer to other sections of Graham’s work where that topic has been discussed.
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