M. E. Lazarus
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Marx Edgeworth Lazarus (February 6, 18221896) was an
American individualist anarchist Individualist anarchism in the United States was strongly influenced by Benjamin Tucker, Josiah Warren, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Lysander Spooner, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Max Stirner, Herbert Spencer and Henry David Thoreau. Other important individu ...
,
Fourierist Fourierism () is the systematic set of economic, political, and social beliefs first espoused by French intellectual Charles Fourier (1772–1837). Based upon a belief in the inevitability of communal associations of people who worked and lived to ...
, and free-thinker. Lazarus was a practicing doctor of homeopathy who also wrote a number of books and articles, some under the pseudonym "Edgeworth". His works include ''Love vs. Marriage'' (1852) and ''Land Tenure: Anarchist View'' (1889). He was the only son of
Rachel Mordecai Lazarus Rachel Mordecai Lazarus (July 1, 1788 – June 23, 1838) was an American educator and correspondent with the children's writer Maria Edgeworth. Early life and education Rachel Mordecai was born in Virginia, the eldest daughter and second child of ...
, who had an extensive correspondence with the Anglo-Irish novelist
Maria Edgeworth Maria Edgeworth (1 January 1768 – 22 May 1849) was a prolific Anglo-Irish novelist of adults' and children's literature. She was one of the first realist writers in children's literature and was a significant figure in the evolution of the n ...
.


Early life and education

Marx Lazarus was born in 1822 in
Wilmington, North Carolina Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States. With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. Wilmington is the ...
, the son of teacher Rachel Mordecai Lazarus and her husband Aaron Lazarus (1777–1841), a Jewish
widower A widow (female) or widower (male) is a person whose spouse has died. Terminology The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed ''widowhood''. An archaic term for a widow is "relict," literally "someone left over". This word can so ...
and merchant. He was named for his grandfather, "Marks" icand for Maria Edgeworth. Educated by his mother, Lazarus was enrolled by his father, over his mother's objections, at
Georgetown College Georgetown College is a private Christian college in Georgetown, Kentucky. Chartered in 1829, Georgetown was the first Baptist college west of the Appalachian Mountains. The college offers 38 undergraduate degrees and a Master of Arts in educat ...
in Washington, D.C. in 1834. He became the first self-identified Jewish student to enroll at that school, later to become
Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...
, the nation's largest and oldest Jesuit university. After Georgetown, Lazarus enrolled in the medical school at the
University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
and completed his degree at
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...
, becoming a doctor of
homeopathic medicine Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a dise ...
.


Career and activism

Even before getting his medical degree, Lazarus was interested in alternative approaches to health, personal relations, and social structures. Setting up practice in New York City, Lazarus practiced homeopathy and pursued "
hydropathy Hydrotherapy, formerly called hydropathy and also called water cure, is a branch of alternative medicine (particularly naturopathy), occupational therapy, and physiotherapy, that involves the use of water for pain relief and treatment. The term ...
," a "water-cure" for illness involving cold baths and wrapping in wet sheets, bland vegetarian meals, and exercise. Even while a student, Lazarus had visited the water-cure boarding house of Dr.
Joel Shew Joel Shew (November 13, 1816 - October 6, 1855)Kelly, Howard A; Burrage, Walter L. (1920)''American Medical Biographies'' Baltimore: The Norman, Remington company. p. 1045 was an American physician, hydrotherapist and natural hygiene advocate. B ...
and his wife Mary, major proponents of hydropathy and " natural hygiene." The Shews introduced Lazarus to Mary Gove, who lectured to female audiences on anatomy, health, and hygiene, as well as treating patients. In turn, Gove took an interest in mentoring Lazarus's younger sister, Ellen. In 1846, Lazarus partnered with Gove, arranging for her and her daughter (from her first marriage) to live with him in a large house on Tenth Street in lower
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
, where she could lecture and work with patients, some of whom also lived in the house as paying guests. Although this mix of married and unmarried women and men was unorthodox if not scandalous, the relationship between Gove and Lazarus was likely a purely asectic one. Along with his medical interests, Lazarus was attracted to radical social concepts, including the "
free love Free love is a social movement that accepts all forms of love. The movement's initial goal was to separate the state from sexual and romantic matters such as marriage, birth control, and adultery. It stated that such issues were the concern ...
" movement and "Associationism," an American
utopian socialist Utopian socialism is the term often used to describe the first current of modern socialism and socialist thought as exemplified by the work of Henri de Saint-Simon, Charles Fourier, Étienne Cabet, and Robert Owen. Utopian socialism is often de ...
version of
Fourierism Fourierism () is the systematic set of economic, political, and social beliefs first espoused by French intellectual Charles Fourier (1772–1837). Based upon a belief in the inevitability of communal associations of people who worked and lived to ...
, which came to consume more and more of his time. He contributed articles to the Fourierist journal '' The Harbinger'' (previously ''The Phalanx''), also writing ten books in 1851-1852, where he espoused, in the words of scholar Emily Bingham, "a combination of Fourier's communalism, Emanuel Swedenborg's mysticism, and American
transcendentalism Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement that developed in the late 1820s and 1830s in New England. "Transcendentalism is an American literary, political, and philosophical movement of the early nineteenth century, centered around Ralph Wald ...
." Among those books was '' Love vs. Marriage'' (1852), where he argued that marriage as an institution was akin to "legalized prostitution," oppressing women and men by allowing loveless marriages contracted for economic or utilitarian reasons to take precedence over true love. For those paying attention, Lazarus's book was subjected to severe criticism. A review by Henry James, Sr., whom Lazarus had cited in the book and himself a promoter of Swedenborg's theology, touched off a heated debate in the pages of the
New York Tribune The ''New-York Tribune'' was an American newspaper founded in 1841 by editor Horace Greeley. It bore the moniker ''New-York Daily Tribune'' from 1842 to 1866 before returning to its original name. From the 1840s through the 1860s it was the domi ...
.


Mental struggles, Civil War, and later life

Through his adult life, Lazarus tried to cope with apparent mental and physical disturbances, in particular what seemed to be chronic
nocturnal emissions Nocturnal Emissions is Nigel Ayers's sound art project that has released numerous records and CDs in music styles ranging from electro-acoustic, musique concrète, hybridised beats, sound collage, post-industrial music, ambient and noise musi ...
, a condition that at the time was labeled "seminal incontinence" or "
spermatorrhea Spermatorrhea is a condition of excessive, involuntary seminal discharge. In Western medicine during the nineteenth century, spermatorrhea was regarded as a medical disorder with corrupting and devastating effects on the mind and body. The cure ...
," believed to be detrimental and even fatal to the mind and body. Lazarus sought treatments through homeopathy, hyropathy, and electromagnetic treatments that seemed to bring some temporary relief. He also discussed the condition in his 1852 book ''Involuntary'' ''Seminal Losses: Their Causes, Effects, and Cure''," where he suggested that the total sexual abstinence that he had tried to practice might be one of those causes. In 1855, Lazarus shocked some of his fellow Fourierists and free love advocates by getting married, to a 19 year old woman from Indiana, Mary Laurie (or "Lawrie). By the mid-1850s, social movements like Fourierism were in decline, and Lazarus's later life seems to have had less focus. When the
Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
broke out, most members of Lazarus's extended family lived in Southern states and generally supported the
Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...
cause. In 1861, Lazarus, was staying with relatives in
Columbus, Georgia Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee County, with which it ...
and joined the local City Light Guard when war broke out, later serving as company physician for the Wilmington, NC Artillery. However, he returned to private practice during the war, first in
Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...
and later in
Asheville, North Carolina Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous cit ...
, where another sister, Julia, lived. After the war, Lazarus continued to practice his areas of medicine and contributed articles and comments to various publications. By his last years, though, he had become a disenchanted recluse known as the "Sand Mountain Hermit" of
Jackson County, Alabama Jackson County is the northeasternmost county in the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 52,579. The county seat is Scottsboro. The county was named for Andrew Jackson, general in the United States Army and afterw ...
. He died in his isolated cabin in 1896 and was buried in
Guntersville, Alabama Guntersville (previously known as Gunter's Ferry and later Gunter's Landing) is a city and the county seat of Marshall County, Alabama, United States. At the 2020 census, the population of the city was 8,553. Guntersville is located in a HUBZon ...
.


References

1822 births 1895 deaths American anarchists American Ashkenazi Jews American homeopaths American people of English descent American people of English-Jewish descent American people of German-Jewish descent Fourierists Free love advocates Georgetown University alumni Individualist anarchists Jewish anarchists Jewish Confederates Jewish socialists Mordecai family People from Guntersville, Alabama {{Anarchist-stub