Caleb Williams Saleeby

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

(1878 – 9 December 1940) was an English physician, writer, and journalist known for his support of eugenics. During World War I, he was an adviser to the Minister of Food and advocated the establishment of a Ministry of Health.

Life

Saleeby was born in Sussex, the son of Elias G. Saleeby. His father died whilst he was young and his mother moved to 3 Malta Terrace in Stockbridge, Edinburgh. He was educated at the Royal High School in Edinburgh. At Edinburgh University, he took First Class Honours and was an Ettles Scholar and Scott Scholar in Obstetrics. In 1904, he received his Doctor of Medicine degree. He was a resident at the Maternity Hospital and the

Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, or RIE, often (but incorrectly) known as the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, or ERI, was established in 1729 and is the oldest voluntary hospital in Scotland. The new buildings of 1879 were claimed to be the largest v ...

, and briefly at the York City Dispensary. In 1906 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

. His proposers were Sir

Alexander Russell Simpson Sir Alexander Russell Simpson FRCPE FRSE LLD (20 April 1835–6 April1916) was a Scottish physician and Professor of Midwifery at the University of Edinburgh. He invented the axis-traction forceps also known as the obstetrics forceps which ...

, Sir

Thomas Clouston Sir Thomas Smith Clouston (22 April 1840 – 19 April 1915) was a Scottish psychiatrist. Life Clouston was the youngest of four sons of Robert Clouston (1786–1857) 3rd of Nisthouse, in the Birsay parish of Orkney, and his wife Janet (né ...

Sir William Turner Sir William Turner (7 January 1832, in Lancaster, Lancashire, Lancaster – 15 February 1916, in Edinburgh) was an English anatomist and was the Principal of the University of Edinburgh from 1903 to 1916. Life Turner was born in Lancaster ...

and Daniel John Cunningham. He became a prolific freelance writer and journalist, with strong views on many subjects. He became known in particular as an advocate of eugenics: in 1907 he was influential in launching the

Eugenics Education Society Eugenics ( ; ) is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or ...

, and in 1909 he published (in New York) ''Parenthood and Race Culture''. He was a contributor to the first edition of Arthur Mee's '' The Children's Encyclopædia''. Like Mee, he was a keen temperance reformer. Saleeby's contributions to the ''Encyclopedia'' were explicitly

racialist Scientific racism, sometimes termed biological racism, is the pseudoscientific belief that empirical evidence exists to support or justify racism (racial discrimination), racial inferiority, or racial superiority.. "Few tragedies can be more e ...

: he saw mankind as the pinnacle of evolution, and white men as superior to other men, based on "craniometry". He predicted the use of atomic power, "perhaps not for hundreds of years". He favoured the education of women, but primarily so they should become better mothers. In ''Woman and Womanhood'' (1912), he wrote: "Women, being constructed by Nature, as individuals, for her racial ends, are happier and more beautiful, live longer and more beautiful lives, when they follow, as mothers or foster-mothers the role of motherhood". Yet, at this time when the suffragette movement was at its peak, he also wrote that he could see no good reason against the vote for women: "I believe in the vote; I believe it will be eugenic". During World War I, he was an adviser to the Minister of Food and argued in favour of the establishment of a Ministry of Health. Later, he moved away from eugenics, and did not publish any further writings on this subject after 1921—though he continued to write on health matters in particular. He also campaigned for clean air and the benefits of sunlight, founding

The Sunlight League The Sunlight League was founded in England in 1924 by C. W. Saleeby. Its aim was: "to point to the light of day, to advocate its use for the cure of disease—"helio-therapy"; and, immeasurably better, for preventive medicine and constructive hea ...

in 1924. Although the Sunlight League did not overtly promote

nudism Naturism is a lifestyle of practising non-sexual social nudity in private and in public; the word also refers to the cultural movement which advocates and defends that lifestyle. Both may alternatively be called nudism. Though the two terms a ...

Saleeby did confide to friends that the idea behind it was to stimulate the nudist movement. Saleeby founded a nudist club in Britain in the 1920s exhorting the nudist lifestyle in his book ''Sunlight and Health''. He died on 9 December 1940 from heart failure at Apple Tree, Aldbury, near Tring.

Cancer research

Saleeby was a proponent of the

trophoblastic The trophoblast (from Greek : to feed; and : germinator) is the outer layer of cells of the blastocyst. Trophoblasts are present four days after fertilization in humans. They provide nutrients to the embryo and develop into a large part of the p ...

theory of cancer first proposed by embryologist

John Beard John Beard may refer to: * John Beard (artist) (born 1943), Welsh artist and painter * John Beard (colonial administrator) (died 1685), Chief Agent and Governor of Bengal * John Beard (embryologist) (1858–1924), Scottish embryologist and anatomi ...

. He authored the book ''The Conquest of Cancer'', in 1908.

Family

He married Monica Meynell, daughter of

Alice Meynell Alice Christiana Gertrude Meynell (née Thompson; 11 October 184727 November 1922) was a British writer, editor, critic, and suffragist, now remembered mainly as a poet. Early years and family Alice Christiana Gertrude Thompson was born in ...

and

Wilfrid Meynell Wilfrid Meynell (17 November 1852, Newcastle-upon-Tyne – 20 October 1948, Pulborough),Obituary, ''The Times'', 22 October 1948, p.7. who sometimes wrote under the pseudonym John Oldcastle, was a British newspaper publisher and editor. Born of ...

, in June 1903. They had two daughters, Mary and Cordelia. In 1910, his marriage fell apart after his wife had a nervous breakdown. During this time, their daughter Mary, was sent to live with

Viola Meynell Viola Meynell, Mrs. Dallyn (15 October 1885, in Barnes, London – 27 October 1956) was an English writer, novelist and poet. She wrote around 20 books, but was best known for her short stories and novels. Biography Her parents were Wilfrid Meyne ...

D.H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...

was living at her family's cottage in Sussex. He became Mary's tutor. In 1930 he married Muriel Gordon Billings.

Selected works

*''Cycle of Life According to Modern Science'' (1904)
''The Conquest of Cancer''
(1907) *''Worry the Disease of the Age'' (1907) *''Health, Strength and Happiness'' (1908) *''Parenthood and Race Culture'' (1909) *''The Methods of Race-Regeneration'' (1911) *''Woman and Womanhood'' (1911) *''The Progress of Eugenics'' (1914) *
Sunlight and Health
' (1st ed 1923. 5th ed 1929)] File:Caleb Saleeby sitting at desk.jpg

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saleeby, Caleb 1878 births 1940 deaths 19th-century English medical doctors 20th-century English medical doctors Alternative cancer treatment advocates British eugenicists British naturists Cancer researchers Light therapy advocates People educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh People from Sussex Social nudity advocates Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Medical School