Faculté des lettres Faculté des lettres

Trall, Dr. Russell Thacher (1812-1877)

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

207px-Russell_Thacher_Trall.pngRussell Thacher Trall was born on 5 August 1812 in Vernon, Connecticut, and died on 23 September 1877 in Florence, New Jersey. He was  a very prominent hydrotherapist; in 1849, with Joel Shew and Samuel R. Wells, Trall founded the American Hydropathic Society and in the same year, also with Wells, he established the American Anti-Tobacco Society. Trall developed a therapeutic method called "hygeiotherapy" that combined the water cure with exposure to fresh air, exercise, massage, and a vegan diet. This method was taught at his New York Hydropathic and Physiological School (known as the New York Hygeio-Therapeutic College after 1857) and, after 1867, at his Hygeian Home in New Jersey. Trall edited the The Water-Cure Journal, which he later renamed The Herald of Health. Trall was associated with the Battle Creek sanitarium and, through his relation with Ellen Gould White, became a regular contributor to The Health Reformer magazine which, in 1879, was transformed by John Harvey Kellogg into Good Health. A Journal of Hygiene.

Trall was the author of the first American vegan cookbook, The Hygeian Home Cook-Book published in 1874, and one of the founders of the American Vegetarian Society with William Alcott, Sylvester Graham, and William Metcalfe, in 1850.
 
IMAGE: Sketch of American hydrotherapist Russell Thacher Trall. Charles W. Forward.
Fifty Years of Food Reform: A History of the Vegetarian Movement in England.
London: The Ideal Publishing Union, 1898. 12. Charles W. Forward, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

 

 

PUBLICATIONS

Diptheria [sic]: Its Nature, History, Causes, Prevention, and Treatment on Hygienic Principles; With a Resumé of the Various Theories and Practices of the Medical Profession. New York: Miller, Wood & Co., [c.1862].

Diseases of the Throat and Lungs. New York: Samuel R. Wells, 1873.

Digestion and Dyspepsia: A Complete Explanation of the Physiology of the Digestive Processes, with the Symptoms and Treatment of Dyspepsia and other Disorders of the Digestive Organs. New York: Fowler and Wells, 1873.

The Hydropathic Encyclopedia: A System of Hydropathy and Hygiene, in Eight Parts. New York: Fowlers and Wells, 1854 [c. 1851].

Home Treatment for Sexual Abuses. A Practical Treatise. New York: Fowlers and Wells, 1853.

The Hygeian Home Cook-Book Or, Healthful and Palatable Food without Condiments. New York: S. R. Wells, 1874.
https://archive.org/details/hygeianhomecookb00tral
 
"Introduction." The Model Potato: An Exposition of the Proper Cultivation of the Potato; the Causes of Its Diseases, or “Rotting”; the Remedy Therefor; Its Renewal, Preservation, Productiveness, and Cooking by John McLaurin. New York: Samuel R. Wells, 1872. 5-21.
https://archive.org/details/modelpotatoexpos00mcla

The New Hydropathic Cook-Book; With Recipes for Cooking on Hygienic Principles: containing also a philosophical exposition of the relations of food to health; the chemical elements and proximate constitution of alimentary principles; the nutritive properties of all kinds of aliments; the relative value of vegetable and animal substances; the selection and preservation of dietetic materials, etc., etc. New York: Fowlers and Wells, 1853.

Pathology of the Reproductive Organs; Embracing All Forms of Sexual Disorders. Boston: B. Leverett Emerson, 1862.
Water-Cure for the Million. The Processes of Water-Cure Explained. Popular Errors Exposed. Hygienic and Drug Medication Contrasted; Rules for Bathing, Dieting, Exercising, etc.; Recipes for Cooking; Directions for Home-Treatment; Remarkable Cases to Illustrate, etc. New York: Davies & Kent, 1860.
https://archive.org/details/101220791.nlm.nih.gov

Horsell, William. Hydropathy for the People: With Plain Observations on Drugs, Diet, Water, Air, and Exercise.  With Notes and Observations, by R. T. Trall, M. D. New York: Fowler and Wells, 1855.
https://archive.org/details/63930500R.nlm.nih.gov

Smith, John. Fruits and Farinacea the Proper Food of Man. With Notes and Illustrations, by R. T. Trall, M. D. New York: Fowler and Wells, 1854.

 

 

Last updated on February 28th, 2025
SNSF project 100015_204481
How to cite this page:
Madsen, Deborah et al. 2025. "Trall, Russell Thacher" Vegan Literary Studies:  An American Textual History, 1776-1900. University of Geneva. <Date accessed.> <https://www.unige.ch/vls/bibliography/author-bibliography/trall-dr-russell-thacher-1812-1877>.