THE NEW SANITARIUM

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Tuesday, December 23, 1884

FromThe Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Vol. 61, No. 51

THE NEW SANITARIUM.

DEDICATORY SERVICES.

The large new building added to the Sanitarium was formally opened for patients by appropriate services, Thursday, Dec. 18, 1884.

Many invitations were sent out to old friends, former patients, and prominent citizens of this city, which resulted in the gathering together of a company of some seven hundred to partake of the bounteous bill of fare which constituted the dinner, prepared in such a manner as to show the capabilities of the hygienic system to meet the utmost requirements of any reasonable taste.

The large new dining hall, which will regularly seat some five hundred, was filled, and the remainder were seated at tables in the adjoining gymnasium. This part of the exercises passed off pleasantly, and was pronounced by all a marked success.

After dinner the gymnasium was rapidly seated, and thither the company repaired, filling the large hall to its utmost capacity. A company of able singers, Prof. E. Barnes presiding at the piano, rendered excellent music for the occasion. Prayer was offered by Eld. D. H. Lamson, and by invitation a few dedicatory remarks were made by the writer. Dr. Kellogg followed with an instructive exposition of the principles which the institution seeks to inculcate, and interesting statements concerning its present workings and the degree of prosperity it has now reached, as compared with its small beginning eighteen years ago.

A general call was then made for remarks, which was responded to by patients, citizens, and visitors, in some instances very happily, eliciting the applause of the audience.

The Sanitarium, known at first as the Health Institute, was opened for patients Sept. 5, 1866. A house which had up to that time been a private dwelling, with a little building and a cottage or two, sufficed to meet its wants for twelve years, to April 10, 1878, when the large building was made ready for occupancy, to meet the growing patronage. A little over six years have elapsed since then; and such has been the growth of the work that the present large addition, which will nearly double the capacity of the institution, has been for months imperatively demanded.

For some years previous to the erection of the first large building, the services of the present physician-in chief, Dr. J. H. Kellogg, were secured. By concentrated and earnest study he labored to bring to the institution, and the cause of health reform in general, a higher degree of medical skill and culture, and his efforts have been faithful and untiring to build up the interests of the Sanitarium, and give it a standing which would entitle it to the confidence and patronage of all the country.

To these efforts, seconded by those of other faithful workers, the present degree of prosperity is largely owing; and some of the speakers, in alluding to the growth of the institution, and what we see to-day, thought it not inconsistent, on the scriptural principle of “honor to whom honor is due,” to recognize the value of these services. To this the Doctor demurred, claiming that the progress was owing, and the credit was due, not so much to individuals as to the fact that the principles underlying the hygienic system are true principles; and like all true principles they gather to themselves strength; and in this case the result is what we see here to-day.

On the other hand, his friends still insist that while it is necessary to have true principles, and what he says concerning them is all true, there yet remains a necessity that some one take up these principles, advocate them, put them in practice, and give them some tangible and practical form, or they will lie unknown and inactive, as these have lain for centuries in the past; and they feel that it is their privilege to extend to the efforts of those who do this work, a candid and grateful recognition.

After the meeting an opportunity was given the company to go through the building and examine the substantial character and safety of the structure, the convenience and completeness of all its appointments, and the perfection of all its facilities for the work it has to do. The emotions of those who availed themselves of this privilege, seemed to be about equally divided between astonishment and pleasure.

In the evening, Mrs. Dr. Kellogg gave an entertainment entitled “A Trip through Europe,” consisting of a series of views of the most noted places in Europe, thrown upon a large screen by the stereopticon, accompanied with brief geographical and historical descriptions. It was entertaining and instructive, the next thing to an actual trip to the places, without its annoyances.

The faithful workers at the Sanitarium are entitled to all praise for the cheerfulness with which they undertook and carried through the great labor necessary to such an occasion, and for the perfection of the arrangements by which an entertainment involving such multitudinous details was made to pass off without jar or confusion.

The board, the physicians, the helpers, and all, have reason to congratulate themselves on the completion of this new building; and that we now have an institution devoted to the interests of true hygienic reform, which in its magnitude, the completeness of its appointments, and the efficiency of its treatment, surpasses every other institution of its kind in the new world or the old, must be a matter of profound congratulation to every friend of the cause. We have spoken here principally of the dedication and reunion, which was throughout, an enjoyable occasion. Nothing preventing, we design to speak in the next number more particularly of the building itself.