Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Unique way to get fresh air at night...


I recently bought a great set of books from the house contents sale of an old doctor. The original set had five volumes but I only found Volumes 1-4 in the hot attic. They are in great shape. The second picture cracks me up. It shows a man sleeping in a brass bed with half the bed sticking out the window so he could breathe fresh air. And a brass bed at that! Do you know how hard this would be do do? I have a brass bed and it weighs a ton...especially with the mattress and box spring!!! Click on the photo to enlarge so you can read the caption.

The books are entitled: MACFADDEN'S ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PHYSICAL CULTURE. A work of reference, providing complete instructions for the cure of all diseases through physcultopathy, with general information of natural methods of health-building and a description of the anatomy and physiology of the human body. BY BERNARR MACFADDEN assisted by specialists in the application of natural methods of healing. My set is the 5th edition published in 1920.

I did a google search on the word PHYSCULTOPATHY and a website called bernarrmacfadden.com popped up completely devoted to my books' author. Go there if you dare. The website was write protected so I couldn't copy any information about this quack. His life dates are 1868-1955. I think Jack LaLane must have been an early follower. Maybe Charles Atlas too! Bernarr Macfadden was a bodybuilder, health advocate, nutritionist, teacher, author, publisher, resort owner, and Founder of Physcultopathy.

I wonder how much the old doctor relied on the information in these volumes?

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