Abstract

A long intellectual tradition holds that gathering local waste, turning it into compost, and applying it to fields can remind us of ostensibly natural connections among humans, animals, and plants. Yet, in the nineteenth century, physiological reformers led by Sylvester Graham saw the application of manure as an overstimulating, prurient, noxious, and unnatural practice with consequences for individual health and the social body. These reformers developed a powerful narrative about the interdependence between human and earthly metabolism. They believed humans, animals, plants, and soil were bound together in an unhealthy stew of stimulation, viciously and violently acting upon one another, and always reflecting the diseased condition of broader American society. Mid-nineteenth-century physiological reformers constituted a countercurrent regarding the meaning of nature and its implications for ideal agricultural practice and health, one that sheds new light on historical connections between medical discourse, agricultural practice, and environmental thought. Graham’s views lost salience with the decline of antebellum reform movements and with a shift away from the medical model of overstimulation. Yet agricultural experts argued for the self-sustaining power of the soil without amendments through the early twentieth century, and the Grahamite notion of “hygienic” agriculture, while marginal, found a following for well over a century.

中文翻译：

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病态兴奋的土壤：西尔维斯特·格雷厄姆（Sylvester Graham）和战前改革的环境精神

摘要

悠久的知识传统认为，收集当地的废物，将其转化为堆肥，并将其应用于田野可以使我们想起人类，动物和植物之间表面上自然的联系。然而，在19世纪，西尔维斯特·格雷厄姆（Sylvester Graham）领导的生理改革者将肥料的应用视为过度刺激，多汁，有害和不自然的做法，对个人健康和社会身体造成了影响。这些改革者对人与地新陈代谢之间的相互依赖性进行了强有力的叙述。他们认为，人类，动物，植物和土壤在不健康的刺激下相互束缚，彼此恶毒而暴力地相互作用，并始终反映出整个美国社会的疾病状况。19世纪中叶的生理改革者在自然的意义及其对理想农业实践和健康的意义上构成了逆流，它为医学话语，农业实践和环境思想之间的历史联系提供了新的亮点。格雷厄姆的观点因战前改革运动的衰落以及从过度刺激的医学模式的转变中脱颖而出而脱颖而出。然而，农业专家主张在20世纪初期不做任何修改就可以保持土壤的自我维持能力，而格雷厄姆的“卫生型”农业概念虽然微不足道，却在一个多世纪以来得到了追随。农业实践和环境思想。格雷厄姆的观点因战前改革运动的衰落以及从过度刺激的医学模式的转变中脱颖而出而脱颖而出。然而，农业专家主张在20世纪初期不做任何修改就可以保持土壤的自我维持能力，而格雷厄姆的“卫生型”农业概念虽然微不足道，却在一个多世纪以来得到了追随。农业实践和环境思想。格雷厄姆的观点因战前改革运动的衰落以及从过度刺激的医学模式的转变中脱颖而出而脱颖而出。然而，农业专家主张在20世纪初期不做任何修改就可以保持土壤的自我维持能力，而格雷厄姆的“卫生型”农业概念虽然微不足道，却在一个多世纪以来得到了追随。