The Story of our Health Message

Cautions From Mrs. White

A few weeks later Mrs. White wrote of having her mind “again deeply exercised in reference to students going to Ann Arbor,” and said, “It was shown me that this ought not to be, unless it was deemed essential for their receiving medical completion of their education in that line. ... I would advise no one to go there unless it is a positive necessity.”—E. G. White Letter 50, 1893. (Written November 14, 1893.) SHM 278.4

Still later, she wrote: “No one who is seeking an education for the work and service of God will be made more complete in Jesus Christ by receiving the supposed finishing touches at Ann Arbor, either in literary or medical lines. Many have been unfitted to do missionary work by attending such schools.”—E. G. White Manuscript 9, 1894. (Written February 10, 1894.) SHM 279.1

The need for these cautions was realized as time went on. Yet because of the rapid expansion of the medical missionary work, the necessity for training physicians in everincreasing numbers became more and more evident. At length, in the early part of 1895, serious consideration was given to the possibility of conducting a medical college for Seventh-day Adventist youth who desired to become medical missionary physicians. SHM 279.2

This, indeed, was the only solution to the difficulty, if medical students were not to secure their education in a popular school of medicine. The leaders in the denominational medical work had stood unalterably against early proposals to establish a college for the training of physicians. They realized that it would have been weak and inefficient, and that because of the unpopularity of the sanitarium methods in the earlier years, the graduates of such a school, even if they might be registered by the state, would nevertheless be discredited by the medical profession generally. SHM 279.3

But times had now changed. The institution at Battle Creek had acquired a high standing with the medical profession. The principles for which it stood had come to be respected. The facilities afforded in the Battle Creek and Chicago institutions were equal to or better than those in many recognized medical colleges. The scientific standing of Dr. Kellogg and his associates was established, and already the educational work had gradually developed until it stood almost on a level with a medical college. Many of the obstacles to obtaining recognition for a medical college had been removed. SHM 279.4