R. T. (Russell Thacher) Trall, 1812-1877, was born in Vernon, Connecticut, and died in Florence, New Jersey. He was a physician, author, and founder of the New York Hydropathic and Physiological School in 1853, later known as the New York Hygeio-Therapeutic College. It was among the first American medical schools to admit women. He graduated with an M.D. from Albany Medical College in 1835 and soon thereafter began to espouse alternative healing methods. His school and publications promoted such practices as water cures, vegetarianism, exercise, hygiene, massage, improved ventilation, and abstinence from tobacco. He authored the two-volume Hydropathic Encyclopedia in 1851, and The Hygeian Home Cook-Book, believed to be the first vegan cookbook published in the United States, in 1874. He was also the editor of The Water-Cure Journal, later called The Herald of Health. He was a cofounder of the American Hydropathic Society, the American Anti-Tobacco Society, and the American Vegetarian Society.

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