Joel Shew
{{Infobox person
| name = Joel Shew
| image = Joel Shew.png
| birth_date = November 13, 1816
| birth_place = Providence, New York
| death_date = October 6, 1855
| death_place = Oyster Bay, Long Island
| occupation = Hydrotherapist, writer
}}
Joel Shew (November 13, 1816 – October 6, 1855)Kelly, Howard A.; Burrage, Walter L. (1920). [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112001810743;view=1up;seq=1069 American Medical Biographies]. Baltimore: The Norman, Remington Company. p. 1045 was an American physician, hydrotherapist, and natural hygiene advocate.
Biography
Shew was born in Providence, Saratoga County. He initially worked in a daguerreotype shop in Philadelphia before obtaining his medical degree in 1843.Silver-Isenstadt, Jean L. (2002). Shameless: The Visionary Life of Mary Gove Nichols. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 76. {{ISBN|0-8018-6848-3}} Shew developed an interest in hydrotherapy and traveled to Gräfenberg to study Vincenz Priessnitz's techniques.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|invalid1=yes|0-8280-1939-8}} His wife, Marie Louise Shew, was also a hydrotherapist. They were friends with Mary Gove Nichols, who had temporarily lodged at their home. The Shews operated a hydrotherapy "water-cure" house and welcomed patients.
In 1844, Shew established the first water-cure institution in New York City.Engs, Ruth Clifford. (2000). Clean Living Movements: American Cycles of Health Reform. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 96. {{ISBN|0-275-97541-X}} In May 1845, he opened the New Lebanon Springs Water-Cure Establishment, an institution costing approximately US$3,000.Marchese, Allison Guertin. (2014). Hidden History of Columbia County, New York. The History Press. p. 94. {{ISBN|978-1626193956}} He served as the co-owner and advising physician, while David Campbell managed the institution for ten years. Shew was influenced by Sylvester Graham's dietary principles and promoted natural hygiene practices, including regular bathing, exercise, massage, and abstention from alcohol and tobacco. Historian Stephen Nissenbaum noted that "it is clear that Shew was a Grahamite before he discovered the water-cure".Nissenbaum, Stephen. (1980). Sex, Diet, and Debility in Jacksonian America: Sylvester Graham and Health Reform. Greenwood Press. p. 156. {{ISBN|978-0313214158}} Both Shew and his wife were vegetarians.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}}
In 1850, Shew contributed notes and additions to the American edition of William Lambe's Water and Vegetable Diet.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}} He died in Oyster Bay, Long Island. An autopsy revealed that he had an enlarged liver and internal lesions, possibly due to chemical exposure from his earlier career as a photographer.Wrobel, Arthur. (1987). Pseudo-Science and Society in 19th-Century America. University Press of Kentucky. p. 81. {{ISBN|978-0-8131-5544-9}}
''The Water-Cure Journal''
In 1845, Shew launched The Water-Cure Journal, which gained significant popularity and, by 1850, had a subscription list of 50,000. Russell Trall took over as editor in 1849, and the journal was later renamed The Herald of Health.Whorton, James C. (2002). Nature Cures: The History of Alternative Medicine in America. Oxford University Press. pp. 90-91. {{ISBN|0-19-514071-0}}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}}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}}
Selected publications
- [https://archive.org/details/63950550R.nlm.nih.gov/page/n3 Facts in Hydropathy or Water Cure] (1844)
- [https://archive.org/details/39002086174670.med.yale.edu/page/n8 Water-Cure for Ladies] (Marie Louise Shew, revised by Joel Shew, 1844)
- [https://archive.org/details/63950590R.nlm.nih.gov/page/n3 Hydropathy, Or, The Water-Cure] (1845)
- [https://archive.org/details/8212689.nlm.nih.gov/page/n3 The Water-Cure Manual] (1847)
- [https://archive.org/details/101144338.nlm.nih.gov Tobacco: Its History, Nature, and Effects on the Body and Mind] (1849)
- [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009610419 Water and Vegetable Diet] (William Lambe, notes and additions by Joel Shew, 1850)
- [https://archive.org/details/65520140R.nlm.nih.gov/page/n4 Consumption: Its Prevention and Cure by the Water Treatment] (1851)
- [https://archive.org/details/63950560R.nlm.nih.gov/page/n3 The Hydropathic Family Physician] (1854)
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Shew%2C+Joel%2C+1816-1855%22 Works by Joel Shew] at Internet Archive
- {{HathiTrust Catalog|000535579|The Water-Cure Journal}}
{{Vegetarianism}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shew, Joel}}
Category:American health and wellness writers
Category:American vegetarianism activists