The Story of our Health Message

Rapid Growth

As a member of the American Public Health Association, the American Society of Microscopists, the Association for the Advancement of Science, and other associations devoted to the development of knowledge of rational therapy, Dr. Kellogg was able not only to keep abreast of the discoveries being made, but was able to disseminate among the leaders of medical thought the principles for which the sanitarium had stood from its inception. SHM 219.5

The work now rapidly grew to large proportions. Not only did the sanitarium number among its patients those suffering from simple disorders of digestion, or liver trouble, or minor ailments, but an increasing number of cases of a most critical surgical character. Physicians who had exhausted their skill on difficult cases sent them to the institution. In a number of cases physicians accompanied patients they sent, that they might observe the methods of treatment used. The success of the sanitarium in treating these difficult cases was watched with care and interest by members of the medical profession. SHM 220.1

The true worth of the sanitarium, however, is to be measured not by its size, its equipment, or its success in the restoration of the sick to health. There was a strong spiritual influence that made itself felt upon helpers and patients. It was on the day following the dedication of the new building in 1878 that Elder D. M. Canright began a series of revival meetings in Battle Creek. His effort culminated in the baptism of fifty persons. Ten of these were either helpers or patients in the sanitarium. “Almost constantly,” wrote Elder Canright, “persons coming here as patients go away converted to the Lord and the truth.”—The Review and Herald, April 25, 1878. SHM 220.2