The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-09-18
NEW BONE DOCTORS.
The Science Of osteopathy and Its Rea-
sons for Being.

ihe science of osteopathy and Its Rea-
sons for Being.
ot late the people have heard much
OF a new school of medicine. or medi-
cal treatment, which goes by the name
OF ,~osteopathy." Whether it is worthy
~ De considered as a rival TO the
older schools and especially t. the
TWO leaders, allopathy and homeopathy.
ls'a question on which it NAV be said
mere is no tribunal of competent juris-
dictiou. II is "A foreEone conclusion
that the bulk of the regular practi-
TONERS regard the newcomer as an i'm
posture, "A fake but that settles
nothing; 1t is merely illustrative of the
ora cIergyman's definition that "ortho-
doXy Is my dCxy and h~eterodoxy is an
other mans doXy." The dominant
school of medicine has always stis-
mallsed novelty as hercSy, and vet
there have grow up beside il and in
spite OF IL, such systems as the homeo-
pathic, eclectic, ~hydropnthic. electro
pathlc n many others, all Of which
count adherents among the general
public. How can IL be asserted that
any one of them has entirely failed
In graphing with the ills that flesh is
heir to?
1t is therefore to this general public.
the so-called "laity," that e~steopathy
must make its appeal for recognition.
II might be of interest to give the rea-
sons why il is claimed to be true
science of healing"
The d~iSCoverer Of this system of
treating disease is DIR. \. r. still. a
native OF West Virginia, and formerly
an a~llopathic physician. Forty wears
ago, when practicing i'm the state of
Kansas. ii is said that he realized the
insulticiency of the standard remedies
and the need of a more scientific
method OF healing. At a later period
this idea was enforced by a cruel do
nestle bereavement. Three small chill
dren of his lay sick at the same time
Of cerebro-spinal meningitis. The lit
tie sufferers in the light for life. and i'm
their struggles to get relief from the
burning pressure within the brain and
spinal cord, proved an object lesson
of the utter futility of drugs and ordi-
nary remedies. In spite Of every effort
by himself and three brother practi-
TONERS, the children all died within a
period Of "A hours. The afflicted father
fell back on "A theory he had been long
hrooding over. Gradually working it
out by study and experiment. he came
To the resolve to discard allopathic
remedies. Finally. at KirkVilIe. Mo,
he abandoned the whole theory Of ma
terra mcdica and framed i'm it's stead
the system now known as osteopathy.
since moro fully developed by his as
sistants and pupils i'm a college he there
founded.
Before explaining this theory it may
be said that the name osteopathy is
somewhat misleading. Many persons
have supposed that the system deals
only with bone diseases and dislnca-
tions. and hence apply the term bone
doctor to an "asteopath. 1t would be
impossible. however. to describe the
treatment and its practice in a single
word. This word serves best because
bones are the framework on which the
organs Of the body are constructed.
and are used "as levers to relieve pres
sure on nerves. veins and arteries" IL
is the use of the bones i'm o~steopathic
manipulation, rather than the treat
ment of bone diseases. which gives per-
tinCnCy to the name as applied to the
practice.
The principles OF esteopathy are sim
pie and may be conveyed without tech
niCal language. That exceedingly COM !