<p>The causes of the cholera epidemic of 1832 were wholly incomprehensible to the people of the time.</p>
<p><span class="deck">Underschooled and ill-equipped, the men who attended the pioneers practiced a rugged brand of medicine—but they made some major advances all the same</span></p>
<p><span class="deck">Sylvester Graham’s preposterous theories about food and health inadvertently created the American diet-fad industry.</span></p>
