Chapter XXXIV: Hufeland. 1762-1836

Not entitled to rank among the greater prophets who have had the penetration to recognise the _essential_ barbarism, no less than the unnaturalness, of Kreophagy (disguised, as it is, by the arts of civilisation), this most popular of all German physicians, with the Cornaros and Abernethys, may yet claim considerable merit as having, in some degree, sought to stem the tide of unnatural living, which, under less gross forms indeed than those of the darker ages of dietetics, and partially concealed in the refinements of Art, is more difficult to be resisted by reason of its very disguise. If the renaissance of Pythagorean dietetics had already dawned for the deeper thinkers, the age of science and of reason, as regards the mass of accredited teachers, was yet a long way off; and to all pioneers, even though they failed to clear the way entirely, some measure of our gratitude is due.

Christian Wilhelm Hufeland is one of the most prolific of medical writers. Having studied medicine at Jena and at Gottingen he took the degree of doctor in 1783. At Jena he occupied a professorial chair (1793), and came to Berlin five years later, where he was entrusted with the superintendence of the Medical College. Both as practical physician and as professor, Hufeland attained a European reputation. The French Academy of Sciences elected him one of its members. His numerous writings have been often reprinted in Germany. Among the most useful are: (1) _Popular Dissertations upon Health_ (Leipsig, 1794); (2) _Makrobiotik: oder die Kunst das Menschliche Leben zu Verlängern_ (Jena, 1796), a celebrated work which has been translated into all the languages of Europe[203]; (3) _Good Advice to Mothers upon the most Important Points of the Physical Education of Children in the First Years_ (Berlin, 1799); (4) _History of Health, and Physical Characteristics of our Epoch_ (Berlin, 1812)[204]. Of Hufeland’s witness to the general superiority of the _Naturgemässe Lebensweise_ the following sentences are sufficiently representative:

“The more man follows Nature and obeys her laws the longer will he
live. The further he removes from them (_je weiter er von ihnen
abweicht_) the shorter will be his duration of existence....
Only inartificial, simple nourishment promotes health and long
life, while mixed and rich foods but shorten our existence.... We
frequently find a very advanced old age amongst men who from youth
upwards have lived, for the most part, upon the vegetable diet,
and, perhaps, have never tasted flesh.”[205]