The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1912-11-09

with my meeting old Doctor Still. the
founder of the science.
Doctor Still Is now in his eighty
fourth year. He has been a practising
country physician since his twentieth
year.
There is no college degree equal to
the all-around experience of a country
doctor, provided he keeps his eyes
wide open and does not fall into a rut
which the average man certainly
does.
If anybody is a genius it is the man
who is filled with an eternal discomfort
and an undying hope.
Nboctor Still was the original first
citizen of Missouri. He is the man
who first demanded visual demonstra-
ton. He is the man who said, SHOW
met" Also, he is the man who went
ahead and showed the world a good
many things it never knew before.
We work from the complex to the
simple; and the obvious is the last
thing we learn.
When Doctor Still was fifty years of
age he came to the conclusion that the
science of medicine was a science of
guesswork.
Setting up explosions in the internal
anatomy of man in order to cure
him of a disease seemed to him a very
foolish proposition.
In studying up the question he found
that one of the very early forms of
treating the sick was by nominations.
The sick man was supposed to be
possessed of a devil, and the doctor
made 1t just as disagreeble for Mr..
Devil as he possibly could
Noise, smell, beatings and poisons
were resorted to.
The giving Of toxins for the relief of
disease, no doubt, had it's rise in the
same impulse that suggested the in
carnations.
Doctor Still also discovered that one
of the very early forms of treating
disease was by means of the laying on
of hands, which first meant the manip-
ulation of the afflicted part.
This is the most natural thing in the
world to do
You will always notice that If a ball.
player gets hit, as he walks to first
base, he works the afflicted part, and
usually there are three or four helpers
who volunteer to help him do the same.
When the baby falls down and gets
bumped, the fond mother picks it up
and manipulates the bump.
This method of treatment is the nat |
ural thing. Also, 1t has it's base in
commonsense, as all natural things
do.
The hurt comes through an interior.
ence with the circulation and undue
pressure on nerve, tendon, artery or
muscle.
To bring about an equalization Of |
circulation means a freedom from sui.
fering. Yet osteopathy is not matter
Of massage or rubbing. 1t is some.
thing far more.
Doctor Still began to diagnose every
case that came to him, with the idea of
finding out where the machinery was
wrong.
To his surprise he was able to To-
cate, in a great many instances, the
afflicted part. Then the thing was to
the bones in such a way
that an equalization of circulation
would follow.
Instead of prescribing a poison for a
patient, something to be taken out of
Of bottle with a spoon, or writing
prescription in Latin to be filled at
the nearest drug store. Doctor Still
began to pin his faith on right adjust
ment.
And In order better to succeed, he
.ook the patient into his confidence,
studied the cause, saw where the indi.
vidual lapsed in his living and thinking
md acting, and endeavored not only
o put his anatomy in a right relation
ship, one part to the other, but en-
to place the man in a right
to the world, In a mental
md spiritual way
Soon patients who had been given
Up by the regular physicians were
mig to Doctor Still.
Doctor Still was "old," even in mid
lie age. This expression is compli-
nentary rather than otherwise. 1t
uggests wisdom and the ripened reas-
N that goes with long experience. 1t
uggests that the man is not hot after
uccess, as the average youth is, but
hat he is sedate and seasoned.
And SO the sick came in wagons, OK
arts, hayracks. They were carried
n stretchers or Hmped on crutches,
n.