i8 4 OSTEOPATHY 



reparative processes; or it may consist of correcting hygienic, dietetic, environmental 

 and psychic conditions; or surgery for fractures, lacerations, abnormal growths, or 

 organs so diseased as to be dangerous to life; or it may be antidotes for poisons, and 

 other dangerous substances physiologically extraneous to the body. In osteopathic 

 therapeutics the fundamental principle is "Find the lesion, repair it and let it alone." 



Some confusion has arisen in the minds of those unfamiliar with osteopathic practice 

 as to the exact meaning of osteopathic treatment. It consists solely of specific physical 

 correction of structural maladjustments, or lesions. This is done by manual ad- 

 adjustment of the particular tissues involved in the lesion, and no others. This corrective 

 work is of the highest technical order, and presupposes an absolute knowledge of the 

 tissues involved and their mechanical relations, collectively, and one with another. 

 Some have confused it with massage. For this confusion there is no justification. 

 The principles of osteopathy are as different from those of massage, as the principles 

 of surgery are different from those of massage. Nor does it mean simply " bonesetting." 

 Correction of bony lesions is a part of the treatment, and is a large and very important 

 part. But osteopathy is broader than that. Whatever the cause, osteopathy tries 

 to remove it. If abuse of function is a contributive factor, that must be corrected. 

 If there are unsanitary surroundings, they must be removed, etc. 



Osteopathic prevention or prophylaxis comprises systemic examination for incipient 

 lesions, and their correction before function becomes disordered; individual hygiene 

 and right-living; public education in the correct use of the body to avoid structural 

 injury, and in sanitation and all conditions conducive to favorable environment of 

 life. It is a complete system of the healing art. 



Osteopathy teaches the self-sufficiency of the normal vital mechanism. In other 

 than normal conditions this principle powerfully manifests itself; the hypertrophy 

 of the heart muscle in valvular insufficiency, the healing of a wound, the recovery of 

 the body from " light attack " diseases without any treatment, are all instances of the 

 self-sufficiency of the body to repair pathological conditions, traumatic and otherwise. 

 Every healed wound, every hunch back, every particle of cicatricial tissue, every ad- 

 hesion, is but a mute witness of the self-sufficiency of the mechanism, of the efforts 

 of nature to heal disease, and they bear further witness that it was only due to the 

 severe and persistent impairment of the mechanism of the body that complete repair 

 was not effected. The more intensive the study of the minute mechanics and func- 

 tioning of the body, the clearer becomes the law of its self-sufficiency. 



The discovery of opsonins and antibodies and their efficacy, together with that of 

 the thyroid and other glandular preparations, is a mark of gradual recognition and 

 acknowledgment of the self-sufficiency of the body, when normalised and mechanically 

 stimulated to the maximum exhibition of its reparative and auto-protective processes. 

 One of the missions of osteopathy is so to normalise and stimulate the vital mechanism 

 that it will manufacture in all necessary abundance its normal supporting and pro- 

 tecting chemical compounds absolutely pure and sterile. 



The discoverer of the principles of osteopathy, Dr. Andrew Taylor Still, of Kirks- 

 ville, Mo., was born August 6, 1827. He was a practising allopathic physician at the be- 

 ginning of the American Civil War. He served as an officer during that struggle, but 

 at the close of the war returned to his home in the territory of Kansas and resumed 

 the practice of his profession. He had served as a member of the territorial legis- 

 lature in 1857-58. Being blest with an insatiably inquisitive mind, an indomitable 

 spirit of perseverance and independent thought, he accepted no statement as true 

 without its proofs. Gradually his confidence in the efficacy of drugs as a means of 

 healing weakened, and his faith in the inherent curative power of the body strengthened, 

 until June 22, 1874, when he publicly announced that he would henceforth discard the 

 use of drugs as a curative measure, and would dedicate the remainder of his life to 

 aiding nature in the alleviation of disease by the mechanical readjustment of the dis- 

 ordered body. The immediate result was the loss of his entire practice, and the es- 

 trangement of friends and relatives. For years he pursued his chosen path alone, 



