In the early 1900s, a physiologist at Yale named Russell Chittenden got a nice surprise

one day, a first-class package in the mail.

Who doesn't like getting a first-class package?

So Chittenden tore it open and peaked inside.

The package came from his friend, a health performer named Horace Fletcher.

And inside the package, Chittenden found what looked like a lump of rock only softer.

It was brown with an odor like an old biscuit.

All of a sudden, Chittenden realized what it was.

There's really no delicate way to put it.

Horace Fletcher had mailed his friend, a turd.

Now this wasn't some sick prank.

Fletcher was completely sincere in mailing this turd.

To him, it was proof that his strange new diet was working.

You see, Fletcher believed that human beings did not chew their food nearly enough.

That we swallowed food way too early.

Supposedly, this had all sorts of bad health consequences, including nasty bowel movements.

In contrast, Fletcher chewed food like a maniac, grinding every bite into a liquid pulp.

He claimed this regimen helped him lose weight and gave him unlimited energy.

It also, as he was eager to show Chittenden, produced completely dried out to poop.

Now however nutty this all sounds, Fletcher's over chewing was mostly harmless.

But in one case, it almost had far bigger consequences.

Because in addition to being a health note, Fletcher was also a prominent social reformer.

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