DIGESTIVE DILEMAS in the Victorian Era

Photo taken from the book My Jolly Friends Secret.

Dysentery, diarrhea, and nausea were symptoms experienced by nearly every soldier in the Civil War. Poor sanitation, lack of medicine, and a terrible diet led many soldiers to experience minor dyspepsia (indigestion) at least. In midsummer of 1862, Colonel James A. Garfield took sick leave from his camp with the Army of the Ohio and made his way back home. For weeks he had complained of sickness and discomfort. By the end of his service in the war, he’d taken to calling it “my old malady.” Digestive problems were a constant companion to the Civil War soldier during the conflict, and long after. Among the more common complaints to be found on Civil War pension applications are things like “piles" and "chronic gastric difficulty.”

It is unsurprising that a veteran of the Civil War would have a continued interest in digestive medicine. James A. Garfield was an academic who followed closely any major development which was of interest to him, and his personal library includes several volumes which, for their time, were groundbreaking studies in medical science. One such book, authored by a Dr. Diocletian Lewis, titled Our Digestion; Or, My Jolly Friend's Secret was published in 1872. Dio Lewis was a schoolteacher from Fremont, Ohio who had studied at the Cleveland Homeopathic Hospital College and Harvard Medical School. Lewis was one of the leading doctors in advocating physical exercise and temperance, among other health movements. He authored over a dozen books on various medical topics.

Our Digestion; Or, My Jolly Friend’s Secret explores in sometimes graphic detail how food is consumed, processed, and digested by the human body. Lewis begins the book with some thoughts on teeth and mastication, most of which have been proven more or less accurate by modern medicine and dentistry. He was also an early advocate of brushing and picking teeth, advocating “KEEP THEM CLEAN!” and advising his readers to avoid sugary and acidic foods as much as possible in order to keep their teeth clean. Modern dentistry was still in its infancy at this time.

Further into the book, however, Lewis’ ideas on digestive health and biology takes a bit of a turn. The digestive tract is, to Lewis, evidence for the existence of God. “The digestive mechanism of a chicken,” he explains, “is another wonderful instance of Divine wisdom and benevolence.” The book goes on to detail various contemporary theories on digestion, stories, and Lewis makes or reiterates suggestions on types of food for better brain function and ease of bowel movements. Interestingly, Lewis advises that corsets can impede digestion by restricting the stomach in a chapter called simply, “Corsets and Digestion,” wherein he explains that a corset tightened against the vital organs of the human body become a “doubled and twisted hotch-potch” which cannot function properly.

Garfield and his Victorian contemporaries had good reason to be concerned with their digestive health. Deaths attributed to malnutrition, intestinal parasites, and other food and stomach related illnesses were extremely common in this time, and they could not afford to take their digestive health for granted.


Want to read the book for yourself? Interested in reading a piece Garfield considered important for his collection? Head over to https://archive.org/details/ourdigestionorm00lewi/page/n7/mode/2up to read My Jolly Friends Secret for yourself and learn more!