Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1904-09-15
OSteODathy Defined.

The following article
from Appleton's Universal Cyclic
pedia, an unquestioned authority.
William Pepper, Md, LII D.,
late provost of, and professor of the
theory and practice of medicine in
the University of Pennsylvania
(medical Department., and one of the
most eminent medical authorities in
America, is the editor Of the depart
ment Of the cyclopedia under which
this article comes.
Osteopathy Qrom osten, bone; and
pathos, suffering)a method oftreating
diseases Of the human body without
the use of drugs, by means of mani
pulations applied to various nerve
centers, chiefly those along the spine.
with a view to inducing free circula-
ton of the blood and lymph, and an
equal distribution Of the nerve forces.
Special attention is given to the
readjustm ent of any bones, muscles,
or Iigaments not in the normal posi-
ton.
The system was formulated in
1874 by DIR. A. t. Still, a physician
of Baldwin, Kan, who, having be-
come dissatisfied with the results at
tanned through the practice of medi-
cine, determined, if possible, to dis
cover a more natural and eficacious
method of healing. He reasoned
that a body so perfectly constructed
mechanically should be able to pro-
tect itself against the Inroads of
disease without the artificial aid of
external substances, except those
employed as food. His next conclu-
ion was that "a natural flow of blood
is health, and disease is the effect of
local orgeneral disturbance ofblood.D
With this as a working hypothesis,
he made a series of experiments, the
result Of which convinced him that
the various organs of the body were
controlled by nerve centers located
chiefly along the spine, and that
these could be operated upon and
controlled by pressure or stimulation
OF the fingers.
He holds also that if the bones,
muscles, arteries, veins, lymphatics,
glands, organs, and tissues of the
body are in their correct anatomical
positions, disease can not exist. Dis
placement may arise from a variety
of causes, such as a fall, a blow, a
strain, OF atmospheric changes. Pres
sure upon the blood vessels or nerves
III the immediate vicinity of the part
so affected will follow, and a con-
sequent shutting off of the nerve or
blood supply to some organ, which
will then become diseased. With a
readiustment of the displaced part
will come ''perfect freedom of mo-
ton Of all the fluids, forces, and sub
stances pertaining to life, thus re-
establishing a condition known as
health"
Osteopathy does not confine itself
to a treatment of maIadies of the
bones, nor does it find in disease d
bones the origin of all pathological
conditions. The name was consid-
cred by DR.. Still as applicable to
his system because of the relative
Importance which his theory gives
to anatomy, and because of his be-
lief that ''the bones could be used as
levers to relieve pressure on nerves,
arteries and Veins" Treatments,
which do not as a rule occupy more
than twenty minutes, are given
through thin garments, and not, as
in massage, upon the bare flesh. Nc
machines or appliances are used,
Among the complaints said to have
been treated successfully are heart
and lung diseases, nervous prostra
ton, sciatica, lumbago. all forms O
neuralgia and paralysis, asthma
catarrh, incipient consumption
spinaTcurvature, eye and ear affec
tions, and all ~dislocations, liver
kidney, stomach, and intestinal af
fections.
The first institution for the train
ing Of practitioners in osteopath.
was opened about 1894 in Kirksville
Mo-, under the name of the Ameri