There was no shortage of health and wellness movements at the turn of the 20th century. One of them was Ralstonism, a completely made-up set of rules for living that was promoted by by one Webster Edgerly, who also went by the name Everett Ralston. He walked on the balls of his feet and never in a straight line -all in the name of health. At one time, he had over 800,000 adherents.
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The Ralston Health Club had no formal location. It existed mostly in Ralston’s head, which also conjured a series of self-help titles such as Lessons in Artistic Deep Breathing and Sexual Magnetism. Written under the pen name Edmund Shaftesbury, these tomes were verbose and offered dubious advice, like picking up a marble from a table and swinging it around in order to increase one’s “personal magnetism,” or what Edgerly believed was a person’s energy and charisma. Young men were advised to bed women old enough to be their grandmothers and then marry women 20 years their junior. (Edgerly, already married once, married again at age 42 to an 18-year-old.) He also propagated a new language he called Adam-Man Tongue. He promised that continued study of this assorted wisdom might ultimately result in the power to control the thoughts and actions of others—or even achieve immortality.
There were other, more sinister beliefs associated with Ralstonism. Read about Edgerly, his health movement, and how it influenced the Ralston Purina company, at Mental Floss.
Source: neatorama