Robert Walter (February 14, 1841 – October 26, 1921) was a Canadian American

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and

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 ...

proponent.

Biography

Walter was born in

Acton Acton may refer to: Places Antarctica * Mount Acton Australia * Acton, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Acton, Tasmania, a suburb of Burnie * Acton Park, Tasmania, a suburb of Hobart, Tasmania, formerly known as Acton Canada ...

, Canada West. As a young man he moved to Danville, New York, where he studied medicine.Anonymous. (1898)
''Book of Biographies: This Volume Contains Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Berks County, PA''
Biographical Publishing Company. pp. 249-251 He graduated from the Hygeio-Therapeutic College of New York in 1873 and the Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia in 1888. He worked as a homeopath and hydrotherapist for twenty-five years. He married Eunice C. Lippincott in 1872. They had three daughters and two sons. In 1876, he established the Walter Sanitarium in Walter's Park,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. His book ''Vital Science'' makes frequent reference to Biblical literature. Walter was a member of the

Society of Friends Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...

. Walter authored the natural hygiene book ''The Exact Science of Health'', in 1903.Anonymous. (1903)
''The Exact Science of Health Based Upon Life's Great Law''
''International Medical Magazine'' 12: 749-750. It was negatively reviewed in medical journals.R. M. G. (1904)
''The Exact Science of Health Based Upon Life's Great Law''
'' American Journal of the Medical Sciences'' 127: 1086. The book espoused

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 ...

, homeopathic medicine and

vitalism Vitalism is a belief that starts from the premise that "living organisms are fundamentally different from non-living entities because they contain some non-physical element or are governed by different principles than are inanimate things." Wher ...

. Walter opposed conventional medicine and believed that disease could be cured by people avoiding food and flushing the bowel several times a day. He was an early advocate of

colon cleansing Colon cleansing, also known as colon therapy, or colon hydrotherapy, or a colonic, or colonic irrigation encompasses a number of alternative medical therapies claimed to remove unspecified toxins from the colon and intestinal tract by remov ...

. A review in the ''International Medical Magazine'' commented that "there are some valuable hygienic suggestions in the book, but they are buried among a mass of platitudes and other unscientific extraneous matter." A review in the '' American Journal of the Medical Sciences'' noted that it "bristles with scientific inaccuracies and still more mischievous perversions and misinterpretations of facts." Walter was criticized for not keeping up to date with the progress of modern medical science. Walter died on October 26, 1921, in

Reading, Pennsylvania Reading ( ; Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Reddin'') is a city in and the county seat of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city had a population of 95,112 as of the 2020 census and is the fourth-largest city in Pennsylvania after Philade ...

.Anonymous. (1921)
''Robert Walter''
''

Journal of the American Medical Association ''The Journal of the American Medical Association'' (''JAMA'') is a peer-reviewed medical journal published 48 times a year by the American Medical Association. It publishes original research, reviews, and editorials covering all aspects of bio ...

'' 77 (19): 1590.

Selected publications

''Vital Science Based Upon Life's Great Law: The Analogue of Gravitation''
(1899) *''The Exact Science of Health'' (1903)
''The Power That Cures''
(''The New England Medical Gazette'', 1914)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walter, Robert 1841 births 1921 deaths 19th-century American physicians Alternative detoxification promoters American health and wellness writers Immigrants to the United States American homeopaths American Quakers Fasting advocates Hydrotherapists Orthopaths Pseudoscientific diet advocates Vitalists

Biography

Selected publications

See also

References