The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-02-09

doctor went 10 Red Wing. MINI, during
a severe diphtheria epidemic there.
The disease was proving unusually
enormous. He treated sixty cases, most Of
them previously pronounced hopeless by
regular practitioners. but OF the sixty
he Lost only two cases. That il a clear
statement Of fact. Facts like tina talk
In Boston to my own personal knowl-
edge several cases OF cancer came for
osteopathic treatment. In each case, rep
utable regular physicians had pronounced
the trouble cancer, and said that operating
was the only course. The cases were cured
by osteopathy.
THE patients went back to the doctors .
and in each case were told that the trouble
had not been cancer, because If II had been
that ~osteopathy could not have cured II.
Mind you, ] am not stating that o~steopathy
IL a sure cure for cancer. | only tell you OF
those cases because ] know them to i've au-
1 thentic, and ] want TO show you the preJu-
dice against which we contend.
W have had comparatively small chance
to see what we could accomplish with acute
cases, because our science In It's modern
form is new, and people had little con
fidence In il az first. We have been heavily
handicapped.
AS a rule we got only chronic cases.
Patients came TO US only as n last resort.
a forlorn hope, after other treatment had
proved utterly useless. You can see that
that Is hardly a fair test.
when, under those conditions the num-
Der OF our cures has been great enough to
cause such an astonishing spread OF. me
profession as has taken place within the
last ten years. does II seem plausible 10
you tina our system Is false and danger
GUS and that we are a set OF quacks: d,
I'VE do not pretend that osteopathy will
cure all diseases. Can the regular doctors
I'VE do contend that the percentage OF
the expert osteopath's cures will compare
favorably with that of the expert physi-
clans and that osteopathy has in n host OF
cases succeeded where medicine iailed,
Moreover, even unsuccessful o~steopathic
treatment will. I believe, do less harm
than unsuccessful drug dosing. IL is
more sane, more natural and throws more
| responsibility on nature, where II belongs.
THF sun reporter who had been listening
| to the doctrines tucked in a question.
But what have germ diseases to do with
| bone healing?'
The osteopath had found his breath,
I'VE claim. and IL you have watched the
| tendency OF recent medical opinion you
will have noticed, that the theory IL not
| ours alone-that there must be devitalized
| tissue before the germ finds Judgment.
| What In the cause of the divitalized tissue!
| There you are at the original proposition
There is some slight trouble, some small
deviation from normal. Nature over
comes IL 10 n certain extent. but not wholly.
There il impairment of nerve supply, de-
generating tissue. Tn germ comes along
! and there you are.
sSpeaking Of our handicap, there's n
other thing | wanted to point out. A large
, percentage Of our patientsis recruited from
the ranks of the aged. They have tried
| other treatment. II has failed. Al last
they come TO us.
sPerhaps we can cure them; but you see,
we haven't the aid OF youthful vitality
| and strength in the patient to back us
and. still, as ] said before we've been
winning out
what about the low standards for ad-
| mission into your profession.
THAT lie not true as II once was. This
movement started in a small town in tho
West DR.. Still lost three children from
! spinal meningitis in spite Of all doctors
| could do. Then he started out to find
! why the doctors failed, and what treatment
would succeed. ,
upon the science OF osteopathy. The theory
has been advanced often before, but he
| put il into a practical system.
Naturally his first recruits were from
Lis locality. Naturally, too, the standard
Some Of the best os~teopaths in the country
were trained in that school.
ats standards OF admission have been
raised, but many uneducated practitioners
were turned out there and
The tandard even for the regular medical
| profession il not nearly so high in the West
az in the East.
There are ~osteopathic institutions attract
ing an illiterate class and giving an in
sufficient training. believe there are even
places advertising teaching by corre-
~spondence. These cases are, however.
few to-day. II is to abolish them that we
ask for legislation which the medical fra
ternity opposes.
"The low grade institutions arc not reoo G.
! nized by the American Osteopathic Asso-
citation. The standard for entrance TO
the schools of that association u as high
az that required for entrance 10 medical
schools
aWe want that standard enforced every
where. The medical course is six months
a year for four years. Tbs osteopathic
| course. accepted by the association. is
ten consecutive months Of the year, Tor
two wears. There II a difference OF -four
| months time and you must remember
that the osteopath does not study materia
medica or operative surgery. All OF his
time goes into anatomy, physiology ana
experimental practice.
dThe requirements for admission are the
requirements for admission TO the ordinary
| college, but, in the Boston school, which
has attained great prominence, between
20 and 20 per cent. OF the students have been
college graduates.
aOsteopathy originally did attract a
set of students inferior in intellectual equip
ment and standing. That isn't true uiueT
the latter standards.
at Is impossible 20 crush a science which
is having n successful development over
the greatest part of the country surely
the rational thing is to legisiate Tor thee
highest and most reputable oil
that science. ,
Fair play is all the profession asks. and
a fair hearing by he newspaper reading
public is a part of fair play.
WEST AFRICAN RAILROADS.