Perfect Health Based on Science and Experience (cover title: ...How Attained and Maintained)

W. F. Ries "Business Director, The National Perfect Health Bureau." Hardcover cloth 8vo; 165, (4)p. Very Good+ with a few stray marks to the covers, mild rubbing. Copiously illustrated with many photographs of the author with terrific hair (but seldom trousers). Ries had politically informed opinions on health and wellness, believing that "Uncle Sam" manipulates farm production and control the population by manipulating their health through diet. He argues that "more than half the school children are defective," but also seems to be against pasteurization and any other food processing. He advocates for a vegetarian diet, but includes "chicken, fish (if you must have flesh food) with plain ice cream" in his "Menu for Business Men, No. 1" His string of "Helthograms" include "Ninety per cent of the people are food drunk...Rapid eating and rapid death are synonymous."

The book is heavily illustrated, including over 20 consecutive pages with photos of Eies performing bare-chested exercises "on the world-famous 'Health Horse'"—which looks like a pommel horse made from pipes and a bath mat. The last section deals with malnourishment in children and uses several case photos, possibly from the Rochester New York School Hospital. Special mention for "mouth breathers" and lab rats. It's a real trip. 2 copies in OCLC (Vanderbilt, Ford Museum).