Paul Carton | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1875-03-12)12 March 1875 |
| Died | 20 October 1947(1947-10-20) (aged 72) |
| Occupation(s) | Physician, naturopath |
Paul Joseph Edmond Carton (12 March 1875 – 20 October 1947) was a French physician,naturopath and practitioner ofvegetarianism.
Carton was born inMeaux. He received his medical education at the Ecole de Medecine de Paris.[1] In 1903, Carton suffered from tuberculosis. He became disillusioned with the medical establishment and took interest innaturopathy and vegetarianism which he claimed helped recover his health.[1] Carton was a vegetarian and promoted "naturist vegetarianism".[1] He was a member of theFrench Vegetarian Society.[2]
Naturist vegetarianism was a dieting and health system that involved abstinence fromalcohol,drugs,meat, processed foods, spices and tea.[1][3] It embracednatural hygienic principles,gymnastics,hydrotherapy and prayer. Carton was influenced byHippocrates and his conception of naturism was entirely opposed tonudism which he equated with moral degradation. He advocatedasceticism in relation to clothing, drinking, eating and sex.[1]
Carton was opposed to the overfeeding of patients. He believed that strict control of eating would allow patients to be cured. He campaigned against the consumption ofbutter, meat andwhite bread. He operated a sanatorium atBrevannes, near Paris. The sanatorium had a laboratory for testing his dietary and hydropathic ideas.[1]
In 1921, he created the Societe Naturiste Francaise' (French Naturist Society) and in 1922 the journalLa Revue Naturiste (The Naturist Review).[1] He authored an influential vegetarian cookbook in 1925 which went through many editions. His recipes focused on fresh fruit and vegetables, grains and large quantities of cream and eggs.[4]
Carton'sConsumption Doomed andSome Popular Foodstuffs Exposed were translated byDorothy Richardson.[5]
Students of Carton include André Schlemmer (1890–1973) and Jacques Chauveau.
Carton was aCatholic and held anti-materialist views. His ideas about naturist medicine were influenced by Catholicism andvitalist philosophy. His dietary principles became known as Cartonianism. There was a religious element to his dietary principles. His belief inoriginal sin,hell, and the Christiansacrifice was central to his medical worldview. He held the idea that health should be earned and that pain had a purifying role. Disease was the result of violation of physical and mental laws.[1]
Carton was also interested inoccultism.[2] He believed that humans are a microcosm reflecting the macrocosm of the universe. He argued that humans are constantly evolving as the universe does and that evolution has endowed people with vast states of conscience. His philosophy combined occultism and vegetarianism into a system of mental and physical health.[2]
Carton's health views were seen as extreme and were ignored by the medical community of his day. However, he was seen as an original thinker for mixing nutrition and vegetarianism with Christianity, occultism andNeo-Hippocratism.[3] Historian Stephen Harp has described Carton,Jacques Demarquette, and the Durville brothers asleading advocates of naturopathy during early 20th-century France.[6]
The best-selling novelCorps et âmes (Bodies and Souls), written by French writerMaxence Van der Meersch and published in 1943, was inspired by the character and medical doctrine of Carton.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
