The term naturopathy was coined in 1895 by John Scheel
urchased by Benedict Lust, whom naturopaths consider to be the “Father of U.S. Naturopathy” Lust had been schooled in hydrotherapy and other natural health practices in Germany by Father Sebastian Kneipp; Kneipp sent Lust to the United States to spread his drugless methods and teachings in the public eye to patients who refused natural remedies because they were afraid to speak their minds publicly. The goal was to turn “the public against the natural health profession,” as Lust says. He even coined the term naturopathic medicine. Lust later became the head of the Naturopathic Alliance, a naturopathic advocacy group he was a founding member of.
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The Naturopathic Alliance went on to create what were essentially quasi-legal naturopathic schools in New York and California that later inspired the practice of naturopathic medicine (the naturopathy movement was an offshoot of naturopathic practices such as naturopathy, acupuncture, and acupressure.) Naturopathy schools are now popping up all over the world, with a number of universities offering courses and hospitals providing services.
The word naturopathy (and its derivatives) is a blend of “natural” and “remedy.” And its proponents claim “remedy” is a disease that should be resisted rather than cured. Lust has spent his life writing about naturopathy, and he believes that naturopathy was invented by doctors to keep naturopaths out of government medicine. But his history suggests otherwise. According to William Drinker, a professor of history at New York University School of Medicine, and an expert in naturopathic health who has researched Lust’s naturopathy, it was not until the mid-1970s that naturopathy became widespread. The first naturopaths had little to do with naturopathy, he says.
When Lust got interested in naturopathy he was already familiar with the word naturopathy, and had heard some of the writings of the late Dr. Charles D. Dietz, his mentor and a prominent figure in naturopathic medicine. A few years later, following a letter Lust wrote to him, Dietz wrote Lust a letter: “I am so thrilled with your work, you know that!” and invited him to meet at a school near his own home in the mid-1950s. A year later, Lust attended “The Institute for Natural Medicine, where the director would later write Lust’s memoir called “Natura et al.”
Lust became a regular at the Institute and worked with the Director of the school on naturopathic medical research. He was a physician’s assistant at Johns Hopkins’ New York School of Medicine and worked out of a small office in the hospital clinic that was part of the Medical Center on Fifth Avenue. The school has said that Lust attended because of his interest in naturopathy.
