Mary Sargeant Gove Nichols (; August 10, 1810 – May 30, 1884), also known by her pen name Mary Orme, was an American

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

and

health reform Health care reform is for the most part governmental policy that affects health care delivery in a given place. Health care reform typically attempts to: * Broaden the population that receives health care coverage through either public sector insur ...

advocate, hydrotherapist,

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism m ...

and writer.Iacobbo, Karen; Iacobbo, Michael. (2004). ''Vegetarian America: A History''. Praeger Publishing. pp. 37-38.

Life

Nichols was born in

Goffstown, New Hampshire Goffstown is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 18,577 at the 2020 census. The compact center of town, where 3,366 people resided at the 2020 census, is defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as the Goffst ...

. At a young age, she suffered from four

miscarriages Miscarriage, also known in medical terms as a spontaneous abortion and pregnancy loss, is the death of an embryo or fetus before it is able to survive independently. Miscarriage before 6 weeks of gestation is defined by ESHRE as biochemical lo ...

and a chronic illness. She became a woman's health care advocate and spread her message through lectures, clinics, and her writings. Mary Gove Nichols raised children, treated patients, published writings, and sought to live what she believed. Nichols first marriage was to Hiram Gove, an unsuccessful businessman. Gove married Mary expecting financial support and obedience from his wife. The Goves moved to

Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest municipality in Massachusetts and the largest city in Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line at Suffolk Downs, Lynn is part of Greater Boston's urban inner core. Settled by E ...

where Mary ran a girls' school, and this was where she began her health reform career. In 1841, she took her daughter and moved back with her parents leaving her husband behind; he eventually agreed to a divorce in 1847 or 1848. After being abused, both sexually and emotionally, she made it her life's work to inform women of their bodies and their opportunities. In July 1848, she remarried to Thomas Low Nichols, a writer who also had an interest in health reform and progressive views on

. Together they planned to open a School of Health, School of Progress and School of Life in a three-story building they leased. They moved to England at the outset of the Civil War. Nichols wrote novels and stories under the pseudonym Mary Orme. Ogilvie, Marilyn Bailey; Harvey, Joy Dorothy. (2000). ''The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science: L-Z, Volume 2''. Routledge. p. 941. She wrote short stories for '' Godey's Lady's Book''.

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...

praised her fiction. Nichols died in

Brompton, London Brompton, sometimes called Old Brompton, survives in name as a ward in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London. Until the latter half of the 19th century it was a scattered village made up mostly of market gardens in the county of ...

on May 30, 1884 from

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...

. Her surviving daughter by her first husband,

Elma Gove Elma Mary Gove (1832–1921) was an American painter. Biography Born in Weare, New Hampshire, Gove was the daughter of Hiram and Mary Sargent Gove; her father was a hatmaker who later became a self-trained physician, and her mother was an earl ...

, became a painter.

Natural hygiene and free love advocacy

Nichols studied the writings of

Sylvester Graham Sylvester Graham (July 5, 1794 – September 11, 1851) was an American Presbyterian minister and dietary reformer known for his emphasis on vegetarianism, the temperance movement, and eating whole-grain bread. His preaching inspired the graha ...

and became a vegetarian around 1837. She was an influential proponent in the

natural hygiene Orthopathy (from the Ancient Greek, Greek ὀρθός ''orthos'' 'right' and πάθος ''pathos'' 'suffering') or natural hygiene (NH) is a set of alternative medicine, alternative medical beliefs and practices originating from the ''Nature Cure ...

movement. She lectured to all-female audiences on

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...

physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...

, and hygiene to relieve women of what she saw as unnecessary physical and mental suffering. She recommended that women exercise daily, breathe fresh air, shower with cold water, avoid the fashionable tight-laced corsets of the day, and abstain from coffee and meat. Nichols lectured for the Ladies Physiological Society, an offshoot of the American Physiological Society. She has been described as the "first woman in America to lecture on topics of anatomy and physiology and she included lessons on vegetarianism, and prevention and cure of sickness." Nichols believed that cancer could be cured by a vegetarian diet. In 1851, Nichols and her husband Thomas Low Nichols founded a " water-cure" clinic, the American Hydropathic Institute in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. It offered a fee of $50, for people to become qualified "water cure" doctors. The institute is cited as a historical example of

quackery Quackery, often synonymous with health fraud, is the promotion of fraudulent or ignorant medical practices. A quack is a "fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill" or "a person who pretends, professionally or publicly, to have skill, ...

. Nichols and her husband were advocates of bathing in cold water,

fasting Fasting is the abstention from eating and sometimes drinking. From a purely physiological context, "fasting" may refer to the metabolic status of a person who has not eaten overnight (see " Breakfast"), or to the metabolic state achieved after ...

and occasional wet-sheet packing. Nichols contributed to the ''Water-Cure Journal'', and published with her husband ''Nichols’ Journal of Health, Water-Cure, and Human Progress'' (1853–1858). Nichols and her husband advocated free love and the belief that marriage was evil. She was the leading female advocate and the woman most looked up to in the free love movement, and her autobiography (''Mary Lyndon: Or, Revelations of a Life: An Autobiography'', 1860) became the first argument against marriage written from a woman's point of view.Spurlock, John. "A Masculine View of Women's Freedom: Free Love in the Nineteenth Century." International Social Science Review 69.3/4 (1994): 34–45. Print. These beliefs alienated Nichols and her husband from others in the hydropathic community.Morris, James Matthew; Kross, Andrea L. (2004). ''Historical Dictionary of Utopianism''. The Scarecrow Press. p. 200. In 1855, they moved to

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

and opened the Memnonia Institute, a "school of life" at Yellow Springs, Ohio in 1856. The name of the institute referred to the goddess of water, reflecting their interest in hydropathy, but also promoted

asceticism Asceticism (; from the el, ἄσκησις, áskesis, exercise', 'training) is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from sensual pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their p ...

, fasting, and spiritual penance. It had few members, lasting only one year. They both attended seances, believing themselves to be in communication with spirits, and converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Herbert M. Shelton Herbert McGolfin Shelton (October 6, 1895 – January 1, 1985)Oswald, Jean A. (1989). ''Yours for Health: The Life and Times of Herbert M. Shelton''. Franklin Books. was an American naturopath, alternative medicine advocate, author, pac ...

's book ''The Science and Fine Art of Natural Hygiene'' is dedicated to Gove and other natural hygienists.Shelton, Herbert M. (1994 edition, first published 1934)
''The Science and Fine Art of Natural Hygiene''
''The Hygienic System: Volume I''. American Natural Hygiene Society.

Selected publications

''Experience in Water-Cure''
(1849)
''Marriage: Its History, Character, and Results''
ith Thomas Low Nicholas, 1854br>''Mary Lyndon: Or, Revelations of a Life: An Autobiography''
(1860)
''A Woman's Work in Water Cure and Sanitary Education''
(1874)

References

External links

Excerpted from ''Marketplace of the Marvelous: The Strange Origins of Modern Medicine'' by Erika Janik. {{DEFAULTSORT:Nichols, Mary Gove 1810 births 1884 deaths 19th-century American women writers Activists from New Hampshire Alternative cancer treatment advocates American feminists American health and wellness writers American suffragists American temperance activists American vegetarianism activists American women's rights activists Deaths from breast cancer Fasting advocates Hydrotherapists Orthopaths People associated with physical culture People from Goffstown, New Hampshire Pseudoscientific diet advocates

Life

Natural hygiene and free love advocacy

Selected publications

References

Further reading

External links