The Battle Creek Vibratory Chair, ca. 1900

In the early 20th century, the Battle Creek Sanitarium was one of the most famous health resorts in the world. Dr. John Harvey Kellogg was the chief of staff; his brother Will Keith Kellogg was the San's bookkeeper. From their diet program came Kellogg's Corn Flakes; from the mechanotherapy department came the vibratory chair. The chair shakes rather violently and is painful to sit in but after a few minutes of treatment it would supposedly stimulate intestinal peristalsis. A longer treatment would cure headackes and back pain and would also increase the supply of healthy oxygen to the body. Left: The Vibratory Chair. On loan from the St. Louis Science Center.

Mechanotherapy Links

• Mechanical Massage - By Dr. John Harvey Kellogg - Google Books

• Mechanical Vibration by M. L. H. Arnold Snow, M.D., 1912 - e-text

• State of Ohio 4731-1-04 Scope of practice: mechanotherapy

More about the Battle Creek Sanitarium

• Battle Creek Sanitarium archive at the Willard Library

• Battle Creek Historical Society article on Dr. Kellogg

• Battle Creek Sanitarium - Percy Jones Institute

• Cornflake Crusade by Gerald Carson - detailed history behind the Battle Creek Sanitarium

• Feeling Boxed In - Story about the brothers' finances from CNN/Money

• History of the community of Battle Creek, Michigan

• Kellogg Sanitarium at Historic Asylums on RootsWeb

• Photos of Sojourner Truth, Kellogg, the Sanitarium and Battle Creek and
  Sojourner Truth's days in Battle Creek (Kellogg patient) part of
  Sojourner's Amazing Life ... And Beyond: The Sojourner Truth Biography

• The Simple Life in a Nutshell - Dr. John Harvey Kellogg in his own words

• The Religious Affiliation of Dr. Kellogg
  
  
• Wikipedia entry on the Sanitarium
  

• The Road to Wellville by T.C. Boyle
  
  
  
  

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The Museum of Questionable Medical Devices ONLINE
http://www.museumofquackery.com/devices/k-chair.htm
updated 4/13/2013