Paul Carton

Paul Joseph Edmond Carton (12 March 1875 – 20 October 1947) was a French physician, naturopath and practitioner of vegetarianism.

Biography

Carton was born in Meaux. He received his medical education at the Ecole de Medecine de Paris. In 1903, Carton suffered from tuberculosis. He became disillusioned with the medical establishment and took interest in naturopathy and vegetarianism which he claimed helped recover his health.

Naturist vegetarianism was a dieting and health system that involved abstinence from alcohol, drugs, meat, processed foods, spices and tea. It embraced natural hygienic principles, gymnastics, hydrotherapy and prayer. Carton was influenced by Hippocrates and his conception of naturism was entirely opposed to nudism which he equated with moral degradation. He advocated asceticism in relation to clothing, drinking, eating and sex.

Carton's Consumption Doomed and Some Popular Foodstuffs Exposed were translated by Dorothy Richardson.

Students of Carton include André Schlemmer (1890–1973) and Jacques Chauveau.

Philosophy

Carton was a Catholic and held anti-materialist views. His ideas about naturist medicine were influenced by Catholicism and vitalist philosophy. His dietary principles became known as Cartonianism. There was a religious element to his dietary principles. His belief in original sin, hell, and the Christian sacrifice 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.

The best-selling novel Corps et âmes (Bodies and Souls), written by French writer Maxence Van der Meersch and published in 1943, was inspired by the character and medical doctrine of Carton.

Selected publications

La Tuberculose par arthritisme. Étude Clinique. Traitement rationnel et pratique (1911) Les Trois Aliments meurtriers: la viande, le sucre, l'alcool (1912), translated The Three Lethal Foods: Meat, Sugar and Alcohol Consumption Doomed (translated by Dorothy Richardson, 1913) Some Popular Foodstuffs Exposed (translated by Dorothy Richardson, 1913) La Cure de soleil et d'exercices (1917) Traité de médecine, d'alimentation et d'hygiène naturistes (1920) Le Dialogue de la santé (1922) Le Naturisme dans Sénèque (1922) Bienheureux Ceux qui souffrent (1923) L'Essentiel de la doctrine d'Hippocrate (1923) La Cuisine simple (1925), (translated by Elizabeth Lucas as Simple Vegetarian Cookery, 1931) Le Faux Naturisme de Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1931)