In portraying Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, Boyle exaggerates certain traits of the historical figure who actually did invent corn flakes and start a Sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan, in the first decade of the twentieth century.

Kellogg was raised as a Seventh Day Adventist, which has imbued in him a repugnance for caffeine, tobacco, alcohol, and sex. Besides caring for his clients, Dr. Kellogg rears forty-two adopted children at his Sanitarium, the ownership of which he has finagled from the Seventh Day Adventists, ironically. He has traveled to Africa and returned enthusiastic about the concept of interior cleanliness that he has learned from Orang apes. The patients at Dr. Kellogg's Sanitarium are subjected to both physical treatments, such as enemas, and psychological indoctrination, including lectures about the dangers of eating meat and participating in sexual activity. To his outlandish philosophy and missionary zeal, Dr.

Kellogg adds a flair...