About

(1841-1921)

Robert Walter was born to George and Betsy Walter on February 14th, 1841, in Haliburton, Ontario, Canada. He received his early education in the local township schools. Throughout his life, Robert had a sickly constitution. Every physician who treated him had a different diagnosis for his ailment, which made him worse. 

At fourteen, he left home to clerk in a grocery store, followed by employment as a bookkeeper in a tannery. At age 23, he was diagnosed with a severe heart condition. During this time, he was more or less an invalid, with slim chances for continued survival. He moved to Dansville, N. Y., and though his case was regarded as hopeless, he nevertheless finally recovered and regained his health. He attributed his recovery to a course of treatment he designed, which was eventually utilized in many institutes. The results encouraged him so much that he began studying medicine earnestly.  Robert thus began a long series of experiments on his own body. Years were spent studying subject matter related to achieving and maintaining health. 

Like Sylvester Graham, Russell Thacker Trall, John H. Tilden, and many others who have turned to Hygiene, Robert was forced to research health because physicians were more interested in disease than health and wellness. His early suffering was a powerful force that led to his understanding of the laws of life. He turned from allopathic medical methods to the principles of the Hygienic System. His concepts exerted a significant influence on modern health and medical reform. 

Dr. Walter’s recovery after years of being an invalid should inspire all who are ill. It is not only proof of the healing power of nature but also shows that the human will can overcome incurable disorders. His basic concept in health recovery is the systematic use of fasting, sleep, rest, and nutrition to restore health and energy. He believed there must be a way to live precisely right. If correctly followed, one should be able to regain and maintain health.

Robert’s degree in medicine was obtained at the Hygieo-Therapeutic College, founded and administered by Russell Thacker Trall. Additionally, Robert graduated from the Hahnemann Medical College of Philadelphia in 1888. ​​ Developed by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann, homeopathy came to the United States in about 1835. Instead of bleeding, blistering, and purging, it prescribed a regimen of exercise, diet, and fresh air and offered its own experimental pharmacology derived from Hahnemann’s own rudimentary scientific experimentation. Based on Hahnemann’s two laws of homeopathy, “like cures like,” and the smaller the dose, the more effective it is in stimulating a cure, homeopathic medicine claimed a theoretical legitimacy that orthodox medicine still lacked. 

Dr. Susanna W. Dodds, a physician of merit and intelligence, founded a Hygiene college. The courses of study included the branches of knowledge usually taught in medical colleges, including Hygiene, Sanitary Engineering, and Physical Culture. This college lasted only about three years, and Dr. Robert Walter tried to continue it. The effort failed. 

Robert married Eunice C. Lippincott, who also graduated as a physician from the Hygeio-Therapeutic College of New York. They had five children (Maud, Robert L., Mabel, Stella, and Ernest). Maud graduated from the Women’s Medical College of Philadelphia, and Robert L. graduated from the Hahnemann Medical College. They became medical practitioners who worked alongside their parents.

In 1874, he moved to Wernersville, PA, and opened the Mountain Home until 1877, when he purchased 500 acres of land. In 1876, he established The Walter Sanitarium in Walter’s Park, Pennsylvania, and continued to operate the facility over the next 35 years. This hygienic institution was famed for its excellent achievements in caring for all forms of impaired health, including “incurable conditions.” Its magnificent views and quiet seclusion, along with the purity of clean air and water, created a true health resort. It was equipped throughout with all the modern conveniences of the day. This institution aimed not to cure the sick but to build up the strength of the body and guard against future illness through proper exercise and diet. Dr. Walter’s clientele came from all over the United States, and its growth established its reputation as one of the most successful health resorts. People returned annually to recharge their health.

Like other pioneers in the Hygienic Movement, Dr. Walter wrote extensively. His writings inspired thousands who came to him to recover their health. He published a monthly health journal, numerous pamphlets on sanitary topics, and several books. 

Dr. Walter was famed for his excellent results in caring for all forms of impaired health at his Hygienic institution in Wernersville, Pennsylvania. He lived to a ripe old age after being diagnosed as “hopeless” and was given a death sentence. However, he showed how tenacious life is and what can be achieved with discipline. He focused on getting the maximum return to health with a minimum expenditure of energy. 

He died on October 26th, 1921, in Reading, Pennsylvania, at the age of 80.

Quote:

“Nutrition is a function of life, occurring only in living things. It is a product of the power of life, called a vital force. The conditions for the operation of this power are, first, machinery or the organism through which it may work, and second, the materials needed to build and repair the organism. The power is always first, with the machinery or organism as its product and nutrition as its process.”

ROBERT WALTER, M.D.,
The Exact Science of Health, 1909

Life in the 1800s

The medical “art” in America during this period seems incomprehensible today. Physicians frequently bled patients to “force” disease “out.” Many died in the process.

If you got sick in the early 1800s, you were a candidate for other such barbaric “care” as applying leeches directly on your skin, blistering, burning, and cauterizing (to “draw” the pain away); forced purging and vomiting; and, of course, taking highly-toxic (and long since abandoned) drugs. Water was routinely withheld from the sick, heightening your chances of dying from dehydration. The death rate was relatively high, and the illness recovery rate was extremely low. The ‘cures’ were often worse than the diseases.

(Excerpt from the Natural Hygiene Handbook)

Grains, pork, bread, and lard pies were central to people’s diets, while vegetables and fruits were neglected. Many thought that fruits and vegetables caused cholera. 

Bathing and fresh air were feared. Houses were unventilated and foul-smelling, and sunlight was not permitted to enter. Sanitation was neglected, tobacco was used almost universally, and disease was rampant.

Impact of Diet or Lifestyle

Dr. Walter believed disease is a natural purification process that should not be stopped but aided. Its remedies are Nature’s health preservatives. Obedience to Nature is its greatest panacea. His thought process was to remove the cause, and the effect would cease. Nature’s curatives (air, light, food, water, exercise, rest, and sleep) are the foundation of natural hygiene. 

Any water used should be soft and close to body temperature (he termed it a “neutral bath”). He did not advocate remaining in a tub or under the shower for long periods, sharing, “Man is neither fish nor amphibian.”

Fasting was also called the “hunger cure” by many early Hygienists. Robert Walter, M. D., teaches “That a moderate “hunger cure” is exceedingly beneficial in most diseases. Indeed, the want and capacity to digest food is destroyed. The very thought of consuming anything to an ill individual becomes extremely disgusting.”

Walter regarded rest and the “hunger cure” as the proper treatment for those suffering from excesses such as overwork, overeating, or illness. He pointed out that when functional impairment occurred in the body, such as a coated tongue or bad breath, only water should be consumed until the patient recovered. 

Teachings

Issac Jennings’ work greatly influenced professional men such as Russell Thacker Trall, James C. Jackson, and successors in the field of natural hygiene: Charles Page, Felix Oswald, and Robert Walter. 

Dr. Walter believed fasting to be a practice of nature and must be recognized as a process of caring for the sick. He states that fasting “Liberates vitality (energy) to be used in the process of purification and that this energy, in health, would otherwise be used in the process of appropriating food materials.” On fasting, he quoted, “It is exceedingly beneficial in the great majority of diseases. Indeed, the ability to digest is shut down. The very thought of consuming food to the individual who is ill becomes repugnant.”

He formulated what he regarded as the primary controlling laws of life. Dr. Walter stated: “Every particle of living matter in the organized body is endowed with an instinct of self-preservation, sustained by a force inherent in the organism. Usually called the vital life force, its success is directly proportional to the amount of the force and inversely to the degree of its activity.”

“Every living thing, from the one-called organism to man, possesses an instinct to provide for its interests–to appropriate food, seek light, air, water, and warmth, and protect itself and avoid injury. This inherent tendency of self-preservation is essential to the existence of living organisms. Self-preservation is the primary or controlling expression of life and, normally, is subordinate to no other law except, at times, the instinct of race preservation, in which case the individual often sacrifices itself to protect the young or the flock. Primarily, life seeks to preserve itself and maintain vital integrity. All life functions reference this effort at self-preservation, either of the individual or the race. Nature aims at wholeness and is true of the single cell or the complex organism.”

Dr. Robert Walter was head of the world-famous Hygienic Walter’s Park Sanatorium in Wernersville, Pennsylvania. He stated that a moderate “hunger cure” benefits many diseases. 

Fasting is undoubtedly the quickest, safest, and most effective avenue for reversing disease. Walter regarded “rest and the hunger cure” as the best treatment for patients suffering from excesses of overwork, overeating, or illness. He pointed out, “No food should be taken when there was functional impairment, such as a coated tongue or bad breath.” He advised sick patients to rest and stop eating until health was restored.

Notable Achievements

His Hygienic institution of over 500 acres at Wernersville, Pa., was famed for its outstanding documented results in treating impaired health, including “incurable” conditions. Dr. Walter operated the institution over the next 35 years. Its magnificent views and quiet seclusion, along with the purity of clean air and water, created a true health resort. It was equipped throughout with all the modern conveniences of the day. This institution aimed not to cure the sick but to build up the strength of the body and guard against future illness through proper exercise and diet. Dr. Walter’s clientele came from all over the US, and his establishment grew until it became one of the most successful health resorts. People returned annually to recharge. 

Dr. Walter also prided himself on his facilities’ latest technological innovations, such as elevators, steam heat, electric lights and bells, long-distance telephones, and a post office. He appealed to the nostalgia of country life but added the newest technologies of the day.

Dr. Walter has written many papers on health topics and is the author of The Exact Science of Health, combining fundamental principles in astronomy and chemistry. The book discusses fasting, homeopathic medicine, and vitalism. Walter opposed conventional medicine and believed disease could be cured by avoiding food and flushing the bowel. He was an early advocate of colon cleansing. 

Dr. Walter’s writings inspired many who came to his center to recover their health. This pioneer reformer believed that much could be accomplished with faith and perseverance. Health recovery is ensured through right living—supplying the body with the elements of health and removing what is of no value. Vital power is needed to accomplish recovery, and Dr. Walter repeatedly demonstrated how this could be done. 

Dr. Walter was a man who bridged the nineteenth and twentieth centuries—a scientist, investigator, and scholar who dedicated himself to studying and practicing the fundamental truths of Hygienic living with particular emphasis on the role of fasting. He was famed for his excellent results in caring for all forms of impaired health. 

He lived to a ripe old age after being diagnosed as “hopeless.” He showed not only how tenacious life is but also what can be done, with discipline, to get the maximum return to health with a minimum expenditure of energy. 

Learn more from: (Read direct excerpts)

• Graham, S., Trall. R., Shelton, H. (2009). The Greatest Health Discovery. Youngstown, OH. National Health Association. 
• Shelton, H. (1934). The Science and Fine Art Fasting – The Hygienic System: Volume III National Health Association, Youngstown, OH.
• Shelton, H. (1934). The Science and Fine Art of Natural Hygiene – The Hygienic System: Volume I. National Health Association, Youngstown, OH.
• Shelton, Herbert. (1964). Fasting Can Save Your Life. Youngstown. National Health Association.
• Shelton, H. (1968). Health for the Millions. Youngstown, OH. National Health Association. 
• Shelton, Herbert. (1968). Natural Hygiene: The Pristine Way of Life. Youngstown, OH. National Health Association. 
• Shelton, Herbert M. (1974). Fasting For Renewal of Life. Youngstown. National Health Association
• Trop, Jack. (1961). You Don’t Have to Be Sick. New York: Julian Press. 

The NHA wishes to remind the readers that nothing in this or other publications is intended to constitute medical treatment or advice. Readers should further be aware that in several areas, previous publications do not reflect the NHA’s current teachings or health approaches.

Our Mission

The mission of the National Health Association is to educate and empower individuals to understand that health results from healthy living. We recognize the integration of all aspects of health: personal, environmental, and social.

We communicate the benefits of a plant-based diet, exercise and rest, a healthy environment, psychological well-being, and fasting when indicated.