Susanna Way Dodds

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
Occupation(s)Physician, writer

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

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 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 vegetarian diet which forbid the consumption of baking powder, meat, milk, soda, spices and sweeteners.[4] She published the magazine, The Sanitarian.[7]

Dodds was Vice-President of the Vegetarian Society of America.[8] Natural hygienist Herbert M. Shelton was influenced by Dodds.[4]

Death

Dodds died on January 20, 1911, from senile debility at Long Beach, California.[9] After Dodds died in 1911, her sister continued to manage the Hygienic College until she sold it in 1912.[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. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b c d e f g 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. PMID 11616997.
  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. ^ "Vegetarian Societies in the USA". ivu.org. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  9. ^ "Susanna Way Dodds, M.D". Journal of the American Medical Association. 56 (5): 362–363. 1911.