Mrs. White's Health Visions: Was it God? Or Dr. Jackson?

Dirk Anderson, last updated April 2025

"Until I had written out my views, the books remained in their wrappers."

(Ellen White, Review and Herald, Oct. 8, 1867)

Dr. James Caleb Jackson (1811–1895) was a prominent American health reformer in the 19th century. Born on March 28, 1811, in Hastings, New York, Jackson struggled with ill health as a young man. His experiences with sickness and traditional medical treatments left him dissatisfied with the standard practices of the time. Near death, he decided to visit a hydrophatic clinic. After some time, his health improved. This event solidified his interest in alternative healing. Wanting to help others recover their health, he obtained a medical degree and moved to Dansville, New York, in October of 1858, opening a hydrophatic clinic.¹

Our Home on the Hillside, ca. 1870

The clinic became known as Our Home on the Hillside, and attained a national reputation. In addition to the water treatments, Dr. Jackson also encouraged his patients to eat a bland, vegan diet. Jackson is credited with the invention of the first cold breakfast cereal, a graham-flour-derived recipe he named Granula.² Dr. Jackson treated his patient with these ten laws of health:³

Air - breathe pure air; sleep in well ventilated rooms
Food - no over-eating, no pepper, mustard, salt, or flesh meat; limited use of sugar; regular meals (two meals a day is better than three)
Water - drink pure, soft water; no tea or coffee; bathe regularly
Sunlight
Dress - clothing that does not interfere with circulation or restrict organs
Exercise - with regularity, especially in the open air
Sleep - at least eight hours per night
Rest - preferred recreation outside; some activity is important because inactivity causes disease
Social - pleasant social relations
Mental and moral - quiet of mind is necessary; freedom from mental anxiety
Drugs - No liquor, tobacco, opium, or calomel

Jackson was a strong advocate of vital force—a theory dismissed by medical science but popular with other alternative health reformers of that era. He believed each individual was born with a full charge of vital energy, but that energy could be drained from the body by sexual activity, overwork or a poor diet. Draining one's vital energy resulted in disease, mental afflictions, debased character, and loss of spiritual interest. He believed stimulating food and drink excited the passions which impaired the vital force necessary for recovery from disease. Thus, at Our Home on the Hillside, no red meat, sugar, coffee, tea, alcohol, or tobacco were permitted. Instead, patients were fed fruits, vegetables, and unprocessed grain. Jackson spread his quirky health reform message through lectures, books, and pamphlets.

Ellen White Before Jackson

An unlikely set of events brought these two characters together, forever altering Mrs. White's life and the teachings of the SDA sect. Before meeting Dr. Jackson, Ellen White had an entirely different outlook on health. Before 1863, after having been God's end-time prophet for nearly twenty years, she still ate meat (including pork), drank wine, and used condiments. She wrote nothing about a bland, vegan diet, the dangers of spices and condiments, or the hazards of masturbation, martial excess, or reading novels. Despite her frequent illnesses, she and James apparently enjoyed normal marital relations, with Ellen bearing four children between 1847 and 1860.

However, her life changed radically in 1863. It all began when two of her sons got diphtheria in February and nearly died. Desperate for a solution, the Whites discovered an article on diphtheria by Dr. Jackson. They applied his techniques, and their children soon recovered. However, in that same year, their sixteen-year-old son Henry got pneumonia and died on December 8. The grief and loss of Henry must have been absolutely devastating for the Whites. They must have questioned what they were doing wrong health-wise that led to the death of Henry and their other boys becoming seriously ill in February. What could they possibly do to improve their family's health?

Enter Dr. Jackson

The Whites realized they needed to make changes. No longer was it just Ellen who was in poor health. James was starting to struggle. The entire family was afflicted. Thus, in 1863, the Whites suddenly became obsessed with health. However, instead of turning to the Bible, or a science-based approach, Ellen turned to what seemingly worked for her boys back in February—Dr. Jackson. They were apparently impressed with him because with his methods. They no doubt wondered what other health secrets their savior had in store for them. Before long, they were immersed in reading his articles and books. They even visited his clinic in Dansville for several weeks. What did they discover?

Jackson's book on sexual health had just recently been published in 1862. In this book, Jackson shared his radical views on sexual activity:⁴

No bad physical habit is as pernicious as "sexual excess," and none more "ruinous as that of masturbation."
The masturbator eventually becomes "incurably diseased or irretrievably depraved." Masturbation destroys the mind, leads to the development of criminal traits, and "ruins the spiritual sense."
To protect children from becoming masturbators, parents should avoid flesh meats, milk, tobacco, spices, condiments, cloves, and cinnamon.
A "large share of novels are mere trash, fit simply to kindle fires."
Sex should be for procreation only: "Nature never intended that a man should lose his semen for any other purpose than for that of propagating the species."
Having sex as frequent as once or twice a week could lead to a whole host of diseases as well as moral deterioration.

Thanks to Dr. Jackson, Ellen and James discovered the dangers of masturbation and martial excess. They familiarized themselves with the doctrine of vital force. They learned that huge amounts of vital force were being drained from their bodies with every instance of sexual activity. Understanding this new doctrine, they now believed they could improve their family's health, improve SDA sect members' health, and make a handsome profit to boot. Mrs. White adopted nearly all of Jackson's teachings including the Reform Dress, his principles of health, and his bland, vegan diet. She adopted Jackson's philosophies about sex, spirituality, and vital force. She even had an opportunistically-timed vision on health reform, after which she published her first health reform book, Appeal to Mothers, published in 1864. The entire book—supposedly containing light from heaven—was about the terrible health hazards of masturbation. Afterward, the Whites started a subscription-based magazine called Health Reformer that continued for eleven years.

Like other health reformers, Mrs. White began touring America, warning of the apalling perils of sexual activity, which was draining away vital energy, leaving the body too exhausted to fight disease.

Striking Similarities

As the Whites toured America in the mid and late 1860s at church expense, sharing the health reforms God had supposedly given her by vision, those listeners who happened to be familiar with Dr. Jackson's writings were taken aback by the marked similarities between what Mrs. White claimed to have seen in vision and the teachings of Dr. Jackson. Even Mrs. White acknowledged these striking similarities in a letter to her sons:

We have here met with a lady who was at Our Home at Dansville when we were there. She introduced me to her husband. They attended our meetings. Your father gave a temperance discourse Sunday morning. ... She made the remark in regard to your father's discourse that it seemed to her she was listening to Dr. Jackson again. She spoke especially of my speaking at the convention, said she had never forgotten it; that it had been a great help to her since that time; that it had especially benefited her.⁵

What an amazing coincidence! The Whites' health reforms sounded the same as Jackson's!

Mrs. White Defends Herself

The fact that Mrs. White's health visions so closely resembled the teachings of Dr. Jackson began to raise some eyebrows in the sect. Mrs. White admited that people "often" questioned her as to whether she got her "vision" from Dr. Jackson. Such a controversy began to rage that Mrs. White was forced to publicly defend herself in the sect's paper:

Question on the Vision .--Did you receive your views upon health reform before visiting the Health Institute at Dansville, New York, or before you had read works on the subject?
I did not visit Dansville till August, 1864, fourteen months after I had the view. I did not read any works upon health until I had written Spiritual Gifts, volumes 3 and 4, Appeal to Mothers, and had sketched out most of my six articles in the six numbers of How to Live .
I did not know that such a paper existed as The Laws of Life, published at Dansville, N.Y. I had not heard of the several works upon health, written by Dr. J. C. Jackson, and other publications at Dansville, at the time I had the view named above. I did not know that such works existed until September, 1863, when in Boston, Mass., my husband saw them advertised in a periodical called the Voice of the Prophets, published by Eld. J. V. Himes. My husband ordered the works from Dansville and received them at Topsham, Maine. His business gave him no time to peruse them, and as I determined not to read them until I had written out my views, the books remained in their wrappers.
As I introduced the subject of health to friends where I labored in Michigan, New England, and in the State of New York, and spoke against drugs and flesh meats, and in favor of water, pure air, and a proper diet, the reply was often made, 'You speak very nearly the opinions taught in the Laws of Life, and other publications, by Drs. Trall, Jackson, and others. Have you read that paper and those works?'
My reply was that I had not, neither should I read them till I had fully written out my views, lest it should be said that I have received my light upon the subject of health from physicians, and not from the Lord.
And after I had written my six articles for How to Live, I then searched the various works on hygiene and was surprised to find them so nearly in harmony with what the Lord had revealed to me. And to show this harmony, and to set before my brethren and sisters the subject as brought out by able writers, I determined to publish How to Live, in which I largely extracted from the works referred to.⁶

Thus, two versions of events unfolded:

Suspicious Members:
- Mrs. White secretly read Dr. Jackson's books and adopted his health reforms.
- When she realized a profit could be made, she decided to bring those same reforms to the SDA sect.
- Instead of giving Dr. Jackson credit, she pretended God gave her a health reform vision and falsely claimed her reforms came straight from Heaven.
Mrs. White:
- Mrs. White received her reforms from a vision given to her by God.
- Jackson's books were in her house, but the wrappers stayed on until after she wrote out her reforms.
- Afterward, she read some writings by Dr. Jackson, and by sheer coincidence they were nearly exactly what she was shown in vision!

Faithful followers swallowed Ellen's version of events. After all, a prophet wouldn't lie, right?

Dr. Harriet Austin, fully-charged with vital force, posing in the American Costume

The Reform Dress

The Reform Dress incident provides a dramatic illustration of how Mrs. White acquired her reforms from other humans and passed these along to the SDA Church with a "Thus saith the Lord." Prior to her visit to the Dansville Institution in 1864, Ellen White had shown little interest in the "reform dress." She felt spending time on dress reform would distract the sect from larger issues. In fact, a couple of years earlier she told her followers that God had no interest in them adopting the reform dress:

God would not have his people adopt the so-called reform dress.⁷

Can it be any plainer than that? God was not interested whatsoever in the reform dress. In addition, when Sister Carver approached Ellen White with concerns that the SDA Church might adopt the reform dress, Sister White relieved her anxiety by telling her:

Sister Carver, you need not give yourself the least uneasiness about it. We'll never put it on—we despise it at Battle Creek.⁸

Despite this assurance, when Mrs. White visited the Dansville clinic she began to see value in the reform dress, which Jackson touted as a way for women to retain more of their vital force. She also met Dr. Harriet Austin, a hydropathist and Jackson's adopted daughter. She invented the "American Costume" which was a mid-length skirt worn over trousers.

Mrs. White was sold on the concept of the reform dress, and quickly penned out a testimony indicating God had suddenly changed His mind on the subject:

God would now have his people adopt the Reform Dress...⁹

After the prophet had spoken, the Whites soon prevailed upon the SDA sect's leaders to officially adopt the Reform Dress. In 1867, the following was pronounced in the sect's paper, the Review:

1. Whereas, The explanations which Bro. and sister White have given of the Reformed Female Dress are consistent, and their reasons for its being healthful, convenient, and modest, are satisfactory; therefore,
Resolved, That it is the opinion of this church that the sisters should adopt it.¹⁰

A few women dutifully forced themselves to wear the awkward, unflattering dress. However, after much suffering and humiliation, most soon discarded it. After some time, the Reform Dress was quietly abandoned by the sect. Apparently, it was only important to God if it was popular with the people.

Question: Who told Ellen White to adopt the Reform Dress? Was it God? Or Dr. Austin? To study the subject further, click here.

The Whites Visit to Dansville

In February of 1864, the White's son Willie contracted pneumonia. Only last year, their eldest son Henry had died from this same illness. This is when the Whites became seriously interested in health reform. After his recovery, Arthur White explains the Whites' new-found interest in health:

Now, more than ever, they knew that they must dig deep and learn how to combat disease, and about sound dietetic principles. They determined then and there that at the earliest possible time they must visit the medical institution operated by Dr. Jackson and his associates at Dansville, New York, and gain all they could in practical lines.¹¹

The Whites spent three weeks at the Dansville clinic in September of 1864. Unlike many of the visitors, the Whites were in good health. They did not go there because they were feeling ill. On the contrary, they went on a fact-finding mission, to learn first-hand about Dr. Jackson's health teachings. James explains:

In the month of September, 1864, Mrs. White and self spent three weeks at the health institution at Dansville, Livingston County, New York, called 'Our Home.' Our object in this visit was not to take treatment, as we were enjoying better health than usual, but to see what we could see and hear what we could hear, so as to be able to give to many inquiring friends a somewhat definite report.¹²

The Whites listened to Dr. Jackson lecture, and even attempted to follow some of his dietary reforms. One such attempt at reform failed, however. It was Dr. Jackson's advice to give up salt. Mrs. White explains:

Many years ago, while at Dr. Jackson's, I undertook to leave it [salt] off entirely, because he advocated this in his lectures.¹³

On the surface this statement seems to be of little import, but it is highly significant because it shows that at least some of the health reforms that later showed up in Mrs. White's testimonies were first learned from Dr. Jackson and not from her visions. While Mrs. White did not give up salt entirely, she did advise her followers that "food should be prepared" without "an undue amount of salt."¹⁴

Not only did Dr. Jackson shape the Whites' thinking on health reform, he also seemed to change their thinking on phrenology. Just a couple years earlier, Mrs. White had denounced it as a tool of Satan.¹⁵ However, while at the Dansville clinic, the good doctor read the heads of both the White boys. Mrs. White reports in a private letter:

I think Dr. Jackson gave an accurate account of the disposition and organization of our children. He pronounces Willie's head to be one of the best that has ever come under his observation. He gave a good description of Edson's character and peculiarities.¹⁶

Health Reform Time Line
Date	Event
Jan. 1863	Whites learn about Dr. Jackson
Feb. 1863	James reprints Jackson's article in the Review
June 1863	James writes to Jackson requesting some books
June 1863	Mrs. White receives health reform "vision"
Aug. 1863	Dr. Jackson writes James apologizing for delay in book order
Sep. 1863	Ellen claims James first heard of Jackson
Oct. 1863	James prints a chapter from Jackson's book in the Review
Dec. 1863	James mails one of Jackson's books to a sick friend
June 1864	Ellen begins publishing How to Live articles
Aug. 1864	Whites visit Dr. Jackson's Institute

The Whites study Jackson's books and articles

In spite of her three-week fact-finding mission to the Dansville Clinic, Mrs. White assured her followers that other health reformers had no influence on her health writings:

That which I have written in regard to health was not taken from books or papers. As I related the things which I had been shown to others, the question was asked, 'Have you seen the paper, The Laws of Life or the Water Cure Journal?' I told them No, I had not seen either of the papers. Said they, 'What you have seen agrees very much with much of their teachings.' I talked freely with Dr. Lay and many others upon the things which had been shown me in reference to health. I had never seen a paper treating upon health. After the vision was given me, my husband was aroused upon the health question. He obtained books, upon our eastern journey, but I would not read them. My view was clear, and I did not want to read anything until I had fully completed my books. My views were written independent of books or of the opinions of others.¹⁷

Notice from this quote:

People noticed the similarity between Mrs. White's writings and Dr. Jackson's writings.
Mrs. White admitted James had obtained a set of books on health before her views were written.
Mrs. White denied reading "anything" until after she had completed her books.
Mrs. White's reforms were written indpendent of the books or opinions of others, which must include Dr. Jackson.

Here is what Mrs. White apparently hoped her followers would believe: God gave her a health reform vision, she wrote it out, and then, to everyone's amazement, the vision "agrees very much" with the writings of Dr. Jackson, whose books just so happen to be sitting on a bookshelf in her house. Either this was an amazing coincidence or a White lie!

Despite Mrs. White's bold denial, there is evidence that Mrs. White, an avid reader, and now known to be an avid plagiarizer, had plenty of opportunity to read the writings of Dr. Jackson before the publication of her own health writings.

The Whites did not visit Dr. Jackson's health institute until August of 1864. This was 14 months after Mrs. White was said to have received her June, 1863, vision on health reform.¹⁸ She claimed to be unfamiliar with the writings of Dr. Jackson prior to September, 1863. However, the White boys had become ill with Diphtheria in January of 1863, and at that time, the Whites were first familiarized with the writings of Dr. Jackson. Grandson Arthur White tells of their good fortune:

Fortunately—in the providence of God, no doubt—there had come into their hands, probably through an 'exchange' of papers at the Review office, either the Yates County Chronicle, of Penn Yan, New York, or some journal quoting from it, an extended article entitled 'Diphtheria, Its Causes, Treatment and Cure.' It was written by Dr. James C. Jackson, of Dansville, New York.¹⁹

Thus, the Whites had read at least one article of Dr. Jackson's at least four months prior to the date of the vision. In fact, James reprinted Jackson's article on Diphtheria in the February 17, 1863, edition of the Review and Herald.

On August 13, 1863, one month before James supposedly had any knowledge of Dansville, Dr. Jackson wrote him apologizing for his long delay in replying to James' request for information about his books. It appears that James had written Jackson sometime in June, for in December of 1864, he stated that eighteen months earlier (June 1863) he had sent off to Dansville for some of their books.

When the books finally arrived, Mrs. White claimed they remained in their wrappers. However, on December 12, 1863, James mailed Jackson's Consumption from Topsham to a friend, Ira Abbey, in Brookfield, New York. It appears those wrappers came off those books at least nine months prior to Mrs. White writing out her vision! Curiously, many of Ellen White's first writings on health appear strikingly familiar to Jackson's reforms enunciated in Consumption (see end of this article for evidence).

Furthermore, it is likely Ellen White read the article James White printed from Jackson's Laws of Life in the October 27 issue of the Review and Herald.²⁰ Thus, Mrs. White had plenty of opportunity to read the writings of Dr. Jackson prior to the publication of her own articles on health.

The Doctor's Prognosis

Although Dr. Jackson was quite familiar with Mrs. White, he never accepted her as a prophet. After his medical examination of her he attributed her unusual medical problems to hysteria. Mrs. White reported Jackson's findings to the attendees of a conference, an eyewitness of which later wrote:

When giving to a Conference at Pilot Grove an account of her visit at Dr. Jackson's Health Institute, she stated that the Doctor, upon a medical examination, pronounced her a subject of Hysteria.²¹

You Decide: Was it God or Dr. Jackson?

Questions to ponder:

When did the wrappers come off Dr. Jackson's books?
Why do her writings on health so closely resemble the teachings of Dr. Jackson?
Why do her teachings on the reform dress mimic those of Dr. Austin?
Did Mrs. White receive her health reform teachings from reading and talking with Dr. Jackson?
Was it God? Or was it Dr. Jackson?

When Did Those Wrappers Come Off?

Dr. Jackson's 1862 book Consumption was found in Mrs. White's private library.²² Interestingly, Mrs. White's first exposition on health in Spiritual Gifts (late 1864) echoes nearly every concept in Jackson's book. Although her writings are much heavier on moralizing, they contain nearly identical concepts. While most modern Ellen White enthusiasts now admit that she copied her health reforms from others, they insist God supernaturally instructed her as to which writings to include and exclude. However, the evidence does not support that assertion. The evidence below indicates she followed Dr. Jackson blindly, advocating many of the same health laws that he did. When he was correct, Mrs. White was correct. When he was wrong, Mrs. White was wrong. This demonstrates that she did not receive supernatural assistance in picking the correct health reforms.

Ellen White Spiritual Gifts, vol. 4a (Battle Creek, MI: SDA Publishing Assn., 1864)	James C. Jackson Consumption: How to Prevent It, and How to Cure It (Boston: B.L. Emerson, 1862)	Scientific Evaluation of Accuracy
Laws of Health Violated
120: The human family have violated the laws of health, and have run to excess in almost everything.	102: ...the ways in which men generally live are violative of their laws of health.	N/A
Fruit Healthier than Meat
120: The fruit of the trees in the garden, was the food man's wants required. ...animal food was not the most healthy article of food for man.	106: Now, flesh-meats, abstractly considered, are much more likely to be unhealthy, and therefore unfit for food, than grains, fruits, or vegetables...	Inaccurate: While fruits and vegetables are essential for human health, humans are omnivores and require a diverse range of nutrients. Early humans thrived on diets that included both plant and animal sources. It is incorrect to say that fruit was the only food that man required. Excessive consumption of certain animal products, especially processed meats, can be detrimental to health. However, lean meats, fish, and other animal products provide essential nutrients like protein, iron, and vitamin B12. To say that all animal food is unhealthy, is a generalization that is not accurate.
Swine's Flesh
124: God prohibited the Hebrews the use of swine's flesh because it was hurtful. It would fill the system with humors, and in that warm climate often produced leprosy. Its influence upon the system in that climate was far more injurious than in a colder climate. But God never designed the swine to be eaten under any circumstances.	150: ...a free use of pork induces such conditions of the blood and tissues of the human body as necessarily to establish in it a consumptive or scrofulous diathesis. 33: In warm climates, especially, is pork very injurious...	Partially Accurate: In ancient times, without modern cooking and hygiene practices, these risks were significantly higher. The "humors" theory is outdated. Warmer climates do increase the risk of food spoilage and bacterial growth, which would make consuming poorly handled pork more dangerous.
Eating Animal Food Makes the Blood Impure
125: With many, their first error is in making a God of their appetite, subsisting mostly on highly-seasoned animal food which produces a feverish state of the system, especially if pork is used freely. The blood becomes impure.	107: To avoid the liability to eat diseased meat, and to have one's blood rendered impure by so doing, forms, to my mind, a full justification for abstinence from the use of flesh of any kind.	Partially Accurate: Overindulgence in any type of rich, highly-seasoned food can lead to digestive upset and discomfort. Excessive consumption of animal fats can contribute to inflammation which might be perceived as a "feverish state." However, the concept of "impure blood" is an outdated and unscientific notion.
Alcohol Stimulates then Depresses
125: They think something must be done, and perhaps send for ale, which stimulates for the time, but as soon as the influence of the ale is gone they sink as much lower...	154 The effect of the intoxicating liquors they consume is to produce a temporary excitement of the whole system, which is succeeded by corresponding depression...	Accurate: Alcohol acts as a stimulant at first, followed by withdrawal.
Tobacco is a Poison that Affects the Mind
126: Tobacco, in whatever form it is used, tells upon the constitution. It is a slow poison. It affects the brain and benumbs the sensibilities, so that the mind cannot clearly discern spiritual things... 128: Tobacco is a poison of the most deceitful and malignant kind, having an exciting, then a paralyzing influence upon the nerves of the body.	389 Tobacco. This poisonous weed... [390] Doubtless it is the most deadly poison in common use in this country. [391]...the nervous system, and especially the mental powers, are weakened by it, and the persons become prematurely aged and short-lived. ...the use of tobacco by smoking tends to render the mind of the person using it weak...	Accurate: Tobacco is a poison and the nicotine in it can negatively affect the mind
Tea and Coffee Not Healthy
128: Tea and coffee are stimulating. And to just that degree that the nervous system is excited by false stimulants, will be the prostration which will follow after the influence of the exciting cause has abated. This prostration may in time be overcome by abstaining from the use of those things which created such a condition in the system. Those who indulge a perverted appetite, do it to the injury of health and intellect. They cannot appreciate the value of spiritual things. Their sensibilities are blunted, and sin does not appear very sinful, and truth is not regarded of greater value than earthly treasure.	117: Do not take pure water, and, by putting into it the tea-plant, make a decoction, the natural and legitimate effect of which is to shrink and shrivel the tissues, and thus infringe upon great vital processes, the undisturbed operations of which are essential to health. Do not take pure water, and put into it the coffee-berry, and so make a drink, which, when taken into the circulation, so deranges the nervous system, and especially the brain, as to unfit those, who use it, for any thing like a healthy exercise of the mental faculties.	Inaccurate: While tea and coffee are stimulants, there is no evidence they injure the intellect or affect spirituality. The many health benefits of moderate usage of coffee and tea offset the health concerns.
Eating Heavily Seasoned Foods, Especially without Regularity, Taxes the Stomach
129: They crave highly-seasoned meats, with rich gravies, and their appetite has become so perverted that they cannot be satisfied with even meat, unless prepared in a manner most injurious. The stomach is fevered, the digestive organs are taxed, and yet the stomach labors hard to dispose of the load forced upon it. After the stomach has performed its task it becomes exhausted...and without giving the stomach time to rest, they take more food...	10: ...the pork, the beef, the butter, the lard, the pepper, the salt, and the spices daily thrown into the human stomach with haste, with no regularity, and in utter disregard of the laws of digestion and assimilation, — thus forcing the body to take on such states as to subject the mind to perverted and sometimes to crazy action.	Accurate: Over-eating does burden the stomach.
Eat Regularly and Not In Between Meals
129: The stomach must have its regular periods for labor and rest, hence eating irregularly between meals is a most pernicious violation of the laws of health. With regular habits, and proper food, the stomach will gradually recover.	153: ...there should be no such habit tolerated as...eating four or five regular meals, and then eating as largely as they wish of whatever they may be able to procure between meals.	Accurate: Regular eating is best for the body.
Gluttons Suffer Stomach Problems
130: Because it is the fashion, in harmony with morbid appetite, rich cake, pies, and puddings, and every hurtful thing, are crowded into the stomach. The table must be loaded down with a variety, or the depraved appetite cannot be satisfied. In the morning, these slaves to appetite often have impure breath, and a furred tongue. They do not enjoy health, and wonder why they suffer with pains, headaches, and various ills. Many eat three times a day, and again just before going to bed. In a short time the digestive organs are worn out, for they have had no time to rest. These become miserable dyspeptics, and wonder what has made them so.	319: Thus, by gluttonous eating and drinking or by too frequent eating, a person may induce dyspepsia, which arises from a chronic inflammation of the mucous membrane of the stomach ; and suffer, as far as consciousness of suffering exists, in the involvement of some other organ or organs of the body.	Accurate: Poor eating habits can lead to chronic digestive problems.
Gluttons More Likely To Have Sexual Sins
131: Those who permit themselves to become slaves to a gluttonous appetite, often go still further, and debase themselves by indulging their corrupt passions, which have become excited by intemperance in eating and in drinking. They give loose rein to their debasing passions, until health and intellect greatly suffer. The reasoning faculties are, in a great measure, destroyed by evil habits.	273: I know, that, whatever may be the temperament or the constitutionally inherited tendencies, those who live largely in the indulgence of their passions, and are guilty of excesses in eating and drinking and in sexual gratification, are more likely to have it than are persons of temperate habits...	Partially Accurate: Overeating and excessive consumption can impair health and affect cognitive function, although claiming that reasoning powers are largely destroyed is an overstatement. Arguing that a gluttonous diet leads one to moral collapse or sexual debasement is unsupportable from a scientific perspective.
Spices and Condiments Encourage Children Towards Vice
132: The lives of many children from five to ten and fifteen years of age seem marked with depravity. They possess knowledge of almost every vice. The parents are, in a great degree, at fault in this matter, and to them will be accredited the sins of their children which their improper course has indirectly led them to commit. They tempt their children to indulge their appetite by placing upon their tables flesh meats and other food prepared with spices, which have a tendency to excite the animal passions. By their example they learn their children intemperance in eating.	63: (Jackson, Sexual Organism, 1862) ...boys and girls who are in the daily habitual use of stimulating drinks, whether they be of liquors that are distilled or those that are fermented , also of those who have a passion , as we term it , for eating spices and condiments: boys and girls who have a hankering after cloves, cinnamon, caraway, mace, and the like, are surely habitually associated with this practice [masturbation].	Inaccurate: It contains harmful and scientifically inaccurate claims about food and "animal passions." It oversimplifies the complex factors that influence a child's behavior.
Drug-Taking Causes Massive Deaths
133: I was shown that more deaths have been caused by drug-taking than from all other causes combined. If there was in the land one physician in the place of thousands, a vast amount of premature mortality would be prevented. Multitudes of physicians, and multitudes of drugs, have cursed the inhabitants of the earth, and have carried thousands and tens of thousands to untimely graves.	68: ...the proportion of deaths from all these to the whole number of persons dying is not so great as that caused by drug-medication. 383: Patent medicines are a frequent and prolific source of disease and death to those who take them...	Partially Accurate: Due to the widespread use of toxic drugs and harmful treatments, this statement reflects a valid concern about the dangers of 19th-century medicine. However, the harm is grossly exaggerated.
Drugs do Not Cure Disease
134: Drugs never cure disease.	82: Poisons are not remedies for disease; nor, in the very nature of the case, can they be. Their effect is to kill, and not to cure.	Partially Accurate: At the time it was written, this was largely accurate. It is inaccurate today.
Soft, Pure Water Heals
134: If the patient had taken a course to relieve overburdened nature in season, and understandingly used pure soft water, this dispensation of drug mortality might have been wholly averted.	117: He should have said to his patients and to himself, "You need more water than you drink; and, for the purposes to which the system will put it, none is so good as that which is quite soft, and entirely free—or as nearly so as it can be found—from all foreign substances."	Partially Accurate: At the time it was written, this was largely accurate. It is inaccurate today.
Liver Affected by Drugs
135: The liver, heart and brain are frequently affected by drugs, and often all these organs are burdened with disease, and the unfortunate subjects, if they live, are invalids for life, wearily dragging out a miserable existence.	75: One cannot take a single dose of calomel, without having the liver wrought up to extraordinary action, to be followed ultimately by corresponding inaction.	Accurate: Nineteenth century drugs sometimes contained toxins that could permanently damage organs.
Opium Is a Poison
138: Opium is a slow poison, when taken in small quantities.	383: The poisons in most common use are mercury, opium, alcohol, arsenic, and the essential poison of tobacco.	Accurate: Opium can poison the body slowly.
Mercury and Calomel are Poisons
139: Mercury, calomel, and quinine have brought their amount of wretchedness, which the day of God alone will fully reveal.	309-310: No calomel...—nothing in the way of medicinal poisons,—should be given. 383: The poisons in most common use are mercury...	Accurate: Some nineteenth century drugs contained toxins such as mercury. The mention of "quinine" is questionable since it had many health benefits when used properly.
Skin Should Be Kept Clean
140: Strict habits of cleanliness should be observed. Many, while well, will not take the trouble to keep in a healthy condition. They neglect personal cleanliness, and are not careful to keep their clothing pure. Impurities are constantly and imperceptibly passing from the body, through the pores of the skin, and if the surface of the skin is not kept in a healthy condition, the system is burdened with impure matter. If the clothing worn is not often washed, and frequently aired, it becomes filthy with impurities which are thrown off from the body by sensible and insensible perspiration. And if the garments worn are not frequently cleansed from these impurities, the pores of the skin absorb again the waste matter thrown off. The impurities of the body, if not allowed to escape, are taken back into the blood, and forced upon the internal organs. Nature, to relieve herself of poisonous impurities, makes an effort to free the system, which effort produces fevers, and what is termed disease. But even then, if those who are afflicted would assist nature in her efforts, by the use of pure, soft water, much suffering would be prevented. But many, instead of doing this, and seeking to remove the poisonous matter from the system, take a more deadly poison into the system, to remove a poison already there.	303: the reader can see that the relations of the skin to the general health are of the utmost importance. Understanding this, it may be considered almost a work of supererogation to undertake to impress upon the thoughtful mind the necessity of personal cleanliness... [304] ...serving their health by keeping a clean and healthy cuticle. Under the changes to which the body is subjected in the excretion and elimination of worn-out particles, and the formation of new and living ones, the scarf-skin is all the while being cast off... These, very frequently, instead of being cast off from the body, are retained there by means of the clothing which is worn upon its surface; and, as the skin is also excreting oily matters, these bran-scales mingle with them, and together form a thick and perceptible mass, stopping up the pores of the skin... thus forcing the fluids and waste materials back into the blood, and laying upon the lungs, stomach, kidneys, and bowels, the work which the skin itself ought to perform. ... A great many persons are taken down with fevers, which seem to defy the knowledge and skill of the physicians who are in attendance, which have been produced by the introduction of poisons into the blood through the absorbents, in consequence of the fact, that the skin has been neglected, and the waste matters which should have been washed from it have been allowed to accumulate, and to aid in the introduction of these poisons.	Accurate: The core concept of cleanliness is accurate, but the explanation of how the body works, is not.
Impure Air Is Unhealthy, Poisons the Blood
141: If every family realized the beneficial results of thorough cleanliness, they would make special efforts to remove every impurity from their persons, and from their houses, and would extend their efforts to their premises. Many suffer decayed vegetable matter to remain about their premises. They are not awake to the influence of these things. There is constantly arising from these decaying substances an effluvia that is poisoning the air. By inhaling the impure air, the blood is poisoned, the lungs become affected, and the whole system is diseased. Disease of almost every description will be caused by inhaling the atmosphere affected by these decaying substances.	177: It is well that parents should be thoughtful about the matter; for, from want of knowledge how to deodorize the mass of defecation that accumulates in the privy-vault, the air of such a place becomes exceedingly unhealthy, and furnishes as effective an influence in deranging [178] the healthy conditions of the blood, and determining any latent poison that may be in the system into active exercise, as any mass of decomposable matter could possibly do. Young children, therefore, should not be permitted to make such a place a point for assemblage for any purpose other than that which nature institutes ; and then they should be taught to make their stay there as short as circumstances will permit. Privies might be built so that there would be little or no effluvia rising into the body of the house...	Partially Accurate: The statement highlights the importance of cleanliness, which is scientifically sound. It correctly identifies decaying organic matter as a source of harmful substances. However, it oversimplifies the mechanisms by which these substances affect the body. It exaggerates the extent to which decaying matter causes "disease of almost every description." The statement is partially accurate, but contains overstatements.
Impure Air Causes Disease
141: Families have been afflicted with fevers, some have died, and the remaining portion of the family circle have almost murmured against their Maker because of their distressing bereavements, when the sole cause of all their sickness and death has been the result of their own carelessness. The impurities about their own premises have brought upon them contagious diseases, and the sad afflictions which they charge upon God. Every family that prizes health should cleanse their houses and their premises of all decaying substances.	163: ...in a great variety of ways, atmospheric air may be made to contain other constituents than those which actually belong to it; and, in the act of inspiration, such additional or different elements may be taken into the lungs along with the air, may deprave the blood, and so affect the health of the tissues of the body; or, if not in this way injurious, such substances, when taken into the lungs, may irritate their mucous surfaces, or affect the air-cells in some other way unhealthily, or affect the coats of the small blood-vessels, thus laying the foundation of disease.	Partially Accurate: The statement correctly identifies poor sanitation as a risk factor for infectious diseases. However, it oversimplifies the causes of disease and death, attributing them solely to "carelessness." It accurately emphasizes the importance of cleanliness for preventing the spread of contagious diseases. The statement is partially accurate, but contains oversimplifications.
Sunlight and Pure Air Are Important for Health
142: Many do not realize the necessity of light, and pure air in their houses in order to have health. Some build houses, and furnish them expensively, more to gratify pride, and to receive visitors, than for the comfort, convenience and health of their families. The best rooms are kept dark. The light and air are shut out, lest the light of heaven may injure the rich furniture, fade the carpets, or tarnish the picture frames. When visitors are permitted to be seated in these precious rooms, they are in danger of taking cold, because of the cellar-like atmosphere pervading them. Parlor chambers and bedrooms are kept closed in the same manner and for the same reasons. And whoever occupies these beds which have not been freely exposed to the light and air, do so at the expense of health, and often even of life itself.	172: Why meeting-houses should be built so that the congregation shall be compelled to breathe impure air all the time, and, as is now-a-days becoming fashionable, be shut out from the sunlight, and deprived of its healthy and exhilarating effects, seems strange to a candid and sincere mind ... 395: In all cases, therefore, where sick, debilitated, or delicate persons are placed under my medical charge, one of the essential requisites to their recovery or improvement is that they shall have abundant opportunity to be out in the sunlight.	Accurate: Sunlight and pure air are considered important for good health.
Sleeping Rooms Should be Well-Lit and Well-Ventilated
142: Sleeping rooms especially should be well ventilated, and the atmosphere made healthy by light and air. Blinds should be left open several hours each day, the curtains put aside, and the room thoroughly aired. Nothing should remain, even for a short time, which would destroy the purity of the atmosphere.	265: Let the room which the patient occupies be well ventilated, so that he may be insured pure air. Impure air in this disease is a source of great aggravation under any circumstances, and a very powerful predisposing cause toward a fatal result. 309: ...the patient should be placed in a large, well-ventilated, and welllighted room.	Accurate: It correctly emphasizes the importance of ventilation, natural light, and minimizing indoor air pollution.
Homes Should Be Built Away from Dampness
144: Dwellings, if possible, should be built upon high and dry ground. If a house be built where water settles around it, remaining for a time, and then drying away, a poisonous miasma arises, and fever and ague, sore throat, lung diseases, and fevers, will be the result.	349: Elevated localities are favorable as residences for consumptives, especially if they are free from dampness and fog.	Accurate: Statement is mostly accurate but reflects outdated disease theories.
Inactivity Causes Disease
145: Inactivity will cause disease.	185: No man or woman can have his or her circulation maintained in a state of equilibrium, who indulges habitually in inactivity of the muscular system.	Accurate: Inactivity is associated with disease.
Exercise in Open Air
145: If invalids would...exercise as much as possible in the open air, their names would soon be dropped from the invalid list.	351: ...one of the most important [ways to heal] of which is exercise in the open air...	Partially Accurate: The statement correctly identifies the benefits of exercise and fresh air. However, it contains dangerous oversimplifications. In some cases, exercise may be detrimental to a patient. While outdoors exercise may be better, indoor exercise can also be effective.
Diseased Body Affects the Brain
145: The power of the will is a mighty soother of the nerves, and can resist much disease, simply by not yielding to ailments, and settling down into a state of inactivity. ... A diseased body affects the brain.	185: No man or woman can have his or her circulation maintained in a state of equilibrium, who indulges habitually in inactivity of the muscular system. This deranged, its derangement affects the brain.	Partially Accurate: The statement correctly identifies the mind-body connection, but overstates the power of willpower to "resist disease." Modern medicine knows that a positive mental outlook helps, but is not a cure.
Eating Pork Causes Scrofula, Etc.
146: The eating of pork has produced scrofula, leprosy and cancerous humors. Pork-eating is still causing the most intense suffering to the human race. Depraved appetites crave those things which are the most injurious to health.	149: There can be no doubt, it seems to me, in any well-grounded mind, that insufficient as well as unwholesome food predisposes those who eat it to scrofula, both external and internal... [150] ...a free use of pork induces such conditions of the blood and tissues of the human body as necessarily to establish in it a consumptive or scrofulous diathesis.	Inaccurate: The statement is largely inaccurate and reflects outdated medical theories. It falsely links pork consumption to diseases that have specific biological causes. It grossly exaggerates the harmful effects of pork.
Confined, Fattened Animals Produce Disease
146: There are but a few animals that are free from disease. They have been made to suffer greatly for the want of light, pure air, and wholesome food. When they are fattened, they are often confined in close stables, and are not permitted to exercise... They are killed, and prepared for the market, and people eat freely of this poisonous animal food. Much disease is caused in this manner.	103: The custom with our farmers is to shut up our domestic animals in stables or stalls or sties, and keep them so restrained as that they cannot have any thing like their natural freedom of motion. In this way, they increase the weight and bulk of the animals more than they could otherwise do...the fatter it is, the unhealthier it becomes... 152: Animals thus confined become diseased, tuberculous, and scrofulous...	Accurate: The statement is mostly accurate, but uses some overstatements. It accurately describes the negative health consequences of industrial animal agriculture and correctly identifies the risks associated with consuming meat from animals raised in poor conditions. However, it uses the word "poisonous" in a way that is an exaggeration.
Driving Animals to Market Causes Their Blood to Become Heated and Poisoned
147: Many die of disease caused wholly by meat-eating, yet the world does not seem to be the wiser. Animals are frequently killed that have been driven quite a distance for the slaughter. Their blood has become heated. They are full of flesh, and have been deprived of healthy exercise, and when they have to travel far, they become surfeited, and exhausted, and in that condition are killed for market. Their blood is highly inflamed, and those who eat of their meat, eat poison.	386: But this is not the only way in which meats become poisonous. The flesh of animals which have been over-driven or heated, particularly if the animals have gone without drink for some time previous to their being killed, becomes poisonous.	Inaccurate: The statement is largely inaccurate, and uses many overstatements. It grossly exaggerates the dangers of meat consumption. It accurately points out the negative effects of stress and poor handling on meat quality, but it uses unscientific terminology ("inflamed blood," "poison"). While stress and poor handling can affect meat quality, it does not become "poison."
Diseased Meat Sold in Cities Produces Cholera
147: Some are not immediately affected, while others are attacked with severe pain, and die from fever, cholera, or some unknown disease. Very many animals are sold for the city market known to be diseased by those who have sold them, and those who buy them are not always ignorant of the matter. Especially in larger cities this is practiced to a great extent, and meat-eaters know not that they are eating diseased animals.	388: ...droves of cattle come from the West to supply our markets, are driven across the mountains, and reach New York from the South, and are hence called by the dealers Southern cattle. Many of these cattle become diseased on the route, and are then exchanged for the pasturage of the herd. In this condition they are frequently slaughtered by the farmers; the flesh sent to the city, and exposed for sale; producing, in persons who make use of it, symptoms of aggravated cholera-morbus.	Inaccurate: Cholera is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae and is primarily spread through contaminated water, not meat. While poor sanitation in food markets could contribute to cholera outbreaks, meat was not a primary source. This reflects a common 19th-century misunderstanding of disease transmission before germ theory was widely accepted and applied.

Score:

Accurate: 14
Partially Accurate: 10 (half-credit)
Inaccurate: 6

Accuracy Result: 19 points out of 30 possible = 63%

Letter grade: D

Final Question: Was it God? Or Doctor Jackson?

Citations

Main biographical source: Ronald Numbers, "The Dansville Days," Prophetess of Health, (NY: Harper & Row, 1976), 77-101.

1. David Gilbert, "Dansville's 'Castle on the Hill'", Dansville Area Historical Society.

2. Ibid.

3. James C. Jackson, How to Treat the Sick Without Medicine (Dansville, NY: Austin, Jackson & Co., 1872), 26-235.

4. James C. Jackson, The Sexual Organism and Its Healthful Management (Boston: B. Leverett Emerson, 1862), 71, 60, 72, 73, 63, 86, 49, 256, 258, 260.

5. Ellen White, Letter 3, 1865. (To Edson and Willie White, June 13, 1865, Manuscript Releases, vol. 5, 384).

6. Ellen White, Second Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, October 8, 1867.

7. Ellen White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, 421. In 1859, Ellen disdained getting involved in dress reform, claiming she had a vision showing its unimportance: "I was shown that the churches in Vermont have been weakened by leaving the important truth to dwell on little things--to dwell on articles of dress and take notice of little things. ... They neglect the great principles of our faith to descend to little particulars. ...leave the brother or sister to the Lord and the angels to convict them of their wrong in dress or furniture or fixings." (Ellen White, Manuscript 1a, 1859) Many of her later writings on dress reform would lead one to believe dress reform, contrary to her "vision", was not a "little thing" after all.

8. H.E. Carver, Hope of Israel vol. 2, no. 6, Aug. 27, 1867, 47.

9. White, Testimonies, vol. 1, 525.

10. Review and Herald vol. 29, Feb. 5, 1867, 102.

11. Arthur White, Ellen G. White: The Progressive Years 1862-1876, vol. 2, 78, 79.

12. James White, Op. cit. HL, No. 1, 12 in Ellen G. White Volume 2 The Progressive Years 1862-1876, 83.

13. Ellen White, Manuscript Releases vol. 5, 402.

14. Ellen White, Temperance, 157.

15. White, Testimonies, vol. 1, 290, 296-297.

16. Ellen White, Letter 6, 1864, 1. (To Brother and Sister Lockwood, September, 1864.)

17. Ellen White, Manuscript 7, 1867. Manuscript Releases vol. 5, 391, 392.

18. "It was at the house of Bro. A. Hilliard, at Otsego, Mich., June 6, 1863, that the great subject of health reform was opened before me in vision." (Review and Herald, Oct. 8, 1867).

19. Arthur White, Progressive Years, Vol. 2, 13.

20. J.C. Jackson, "Which Will You Have, Hoops or Health?", Review and Herald, Oct. 27, 1863.

21. H. E. Carver, "Mrs. E. G. White's Claims to Divine Inspiration Examined" (1872).

22. Warren H. Johns, Tim Poirier, Ron Graybill, A Bibliography of Ellen White's Private and Office Libraries, 3rd ed. (Ellen G. White Estate, 1993), 36.