What do WWII battles, ballistic missiles, and the deadly brown tree snake have in common?
The 19th century sure had its peculiarities. Babies were suspended out of windows in cages, doctors were prescribing cocaine and opium to patients, and people were wearing arsenic-laced clothing. So, can it get any weirder? That's up to you to decide. Before women's magazines and endless sources of online advice, there were a few books on the matter. In this gallery, we look at the specific advice from Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (yes, you recognize the surname).
Click through the gallery and learn more about Dr. Kellogg's advice for girls.
John Harvey Kellogg was a doctor and nutritionist, among serving in other occupations.
But you probably recognize that last name best from Kellogg's Corn Flakes, which were actually invented by his brother, Will Keith Kellogg, at John Harvey's request.
What you might not know about Dr. Kellogg is that he was also an author. In 1887, he published the book 'Plain Facts for Old and Young: Embracing the Natural History and Hygiene of Organic Life.' The book, however, was actually originally published in 1877 as 'Plain Facts About Sexual Life.'
In the book, he gives some advice to boys and girls on how they should conduct their lives. Intrigued? Well, here are some tips from Dr. Kellogg on how 19th-century girls should behave.
"No girl can long be beautiful without health; and no girl who enjoys perfect health can be really ugly in appearance. A healthy countenance is always attractive.”
Dr. Kellogg was indeed very health conscious. He even created an exercise machine, the Battle Creek Health Builder.
"A girl will always do well to avoid a companion who is vain, idle, silly, or frivolous. Girls who have these evil characteristics are very likely to have others also which are worse." Evil seems a bit much, no?
"No matter how pretty, witty, stylish, or aristocratic she may be, she should be shunned," he added.
Sentimental books are a no-no, he said. "A confirmed novel-reader is almost as difficult to reform as a confirmed inebriate or opium-eater. The influence upon the mind is most damaging and pernicious. It not only destroys the love for solid, useful reading, but excites the emotions, and in many cases keeps the passions in a perfect fever of excitement."
According to Kellogg, Geoffrey Chaucer poetry had led many to "self-abuse for the gratification of passions." Powerful stuff indeed!
We know that food can influence how we feel, from having anti-depressing properties to being aphrodisiacs. Kellogg, however, goes a little bit further on the dangers of eating some foods.
Dr. Kellogg alerted girls of the dangers of "stimulating and exciting articles of food" with "spices, pepper, ginger, mustard, cinnamon, cloves, essences, all condiments, salt, pickles … fish, fowl, oysters, eggs, and milk."
And don't even think about a midnight snack! He said, "Late suppers, confectionery and dainties—all these have a very powerful influence in the wrong direction by exciting functions which ought to be kept as nearly latent as possible."
We've talked before about the many surprising uses for coffee, but we didn't know that "the influence of coffee in stimulating the genital organs is notorious."
Which for Dr. Kellogg was 20 for women and 24 for men. Why? Because "this period is that at which the body attains complete development."
Some words of advice for all the ladies thinking about marriage: "Look well before you leap; consider well, carefully, and prayerfully. A leap in the dark is a fearful risk, and will be far more likely to land you in a domestic purgatory than anywhere else."
"Do not be dazzled by a handsome face, an agreeable address, a brilliant or piquant manner. Choose, rather, modesty, simplicity, sincerity, morality, qualities of heart and mind, rather than exterior embellishments."
Dr. Kellogg said these are not productive and can in fact be dangerous. You know, because people can fall into temptation...
"There may be circumstances which render a prolonged engagement necessary and advisable; but, in general, they are to be avoided," he advised.
"A young woman who lacks modesty, who manifests boldness of manner and carelessness in deportment, is not only liable to have her virtue assailed by designing and unscrupulous men, but is herself likely to fall before the temptation to indulge in secret sin, which is certain to present itself in some way sooner or later."
He delves deeper into the issue with corsets by explaining that they obstruct blood circulation to the heart. "The venous blood is crowded back into the delicate organs of generation. Congestion ensues, and with it, through reflex action, the unnatural excitement of the animal propensities."
Apparently it's not good for you. "It exerts a malign influence alike upon the mental, the moral, and the physical constitution of those who indulge it."
"The young lady who has become infatuated with a passion for flirting, courting the society of young men simply for the pleasure derived from their attentions, is educating herself in a school which will totally unfit her for the enjoyment of domestic peace and happiness … She is surely sacrificing a life of real true happiness for the transient fascinations of unreal enjoyment, pernicious excitement."
...just as long as you do so as a form of exercise! "Whatever apologies may be offered for other forms of the dance as means of exercise employed as a form of calisthenics, no such excuse can be framed in defense of 'round dances,' especially of the waltz."
According to Kellogg, "dancing has a direct influence in stimulating the passions and provoking unchaste desires, which too often lead to unchaste acts, and are in themselves violations of the requirements of strict morality, and productive of injury to both mind and body.”
"Make your dear mother your confidant in all your perplexities and trials. Go to her for information on all subjects upon which you find yourself ignorant. Let no foreign influence beguile away your confidence from her who is most worthy of your love and respect, and who is best prepared to instruct you on all subjects, no matter how delicate."
According to Dr. Kellogg, daydreams "are often the sources of general debility, effeminacy, disordered functions, premature disease, and even premature death, without the actual exercise of the genital organs!" Ouch!
And usually those who indulge in daydreaming are "the idle and the voluptuous, and the sedentary and the nervous."
Sources: (Mentalfloss) (Internet Archive)
See also: Incredible photos from the Victorian era
Unusual 19th-century advice for girls
Daydreaming is extremely perilous for a young lady!
LIFESTYLE History
The 19th century sure had its peculiarities. Babies were suspended out of windows in cages, doctors were prescribing cocaine and opium to patients, and people were wearing arsenic-laced clothing. So, can it get any weirder? That's up to you to decide. Before women's magazines and endless sources of online advice, there were a few books on the matter. In this gallery, we look at the specific advice from Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (yes, you recognize the surname).
Click through the gallery and learn more about Dr. Kellogg's advice for girls.