The Greeneville daily sun. (Greeneville, Tenn.) 1918-1920, 1920-09-23
NATIONAL HEALTH
CRUSADE STARTED
Free PssIic Clinics Being Established
IN Many Cities for the ostecpathIc
Treatment Of the Poor.

A countrywide crusade for bette,
health has Just been started by thu
American 0steopathic Association
Free public clinics are being estab
ilshed In cities In all the states for thu
asteopathic treatment OF the poor. Free
lectures on the prevention Of disease
are being given In various community
centers. Better Babies" conferences
are being held by the women osteo
pathic physicians for the benefit Of
mothers and infants.
0steopathfc hospitals have been
built In several cities recently and q
number Of others are projected for the
Immediate future.
The osteopathic colleges report 4
large increase In the number OF matric.
ulants. enlargement Of faculties, and q
still higher standard. of entrance and
curriculum requirements.
Great industrial plants, mills. facto.
ries, and large commercial houses are
installing osteopathic departments for
the Purpose OF keeping their work
ers MT, decreasing absences due To sick.
\ ness and increasing the output by rails
Ing the physical efficiency. Several
railroad companies have also added os.
teopathic specialists to their STAFF OF
physicians who restore injured employ
ees to active service,
Accident insurance companies have
discovered that injured men whom
they care for under the Workmen's
Compensation Act and employers liza
bility contracts are in many cases re.
turned to wage earning very much
sooner under osteopathic treatment
than heretofore. This has resulted In
number OF the greatest insurance
companies installing osteopathic spe,
cialists in their Offices in various cities
TO care for these cases.
Laws regulating the practice of o.
teopathy have now been passed in ey-
cry state in the UniSn This means
that osteopathy Is now standardized
and regulated by law In manner anal
agous to that by which the practice OF
medicine is controlled. Unqualified,
Incompetent and Illegal practitioners Of
osteopathy are therefore now barred
from practice by law and the public
Is just as well protected from injury
by unqualified osteopaths as it is saved
from harm by unregistered medical
doctors. No osteopath can practice In
any state in the Union now without be-
Ing legally registered by the state.
Educational standards in osteopathic
colleges have been raised to the Level
Of medical Standards and are enforced
most rigidly. There are only seven
osteopathic colleges in the world, and
they are all members of the Associat
ed Colleges Of Osteopathy. This organ
ization compels absolute uniformity of
entrance requirements and minimum
curriculum Of study hours and sub.
jects equal to that Of medical schools.
The length of the course Of study In
osteopathic colleges Is four years and
no person can enter without a high
school education These colleges are
located In Chicago, Philadelphia, Bos
ton, Kansas City, Des Moines, Kinks
Vile, Mo-, and Los Angeles.
Large general surgical and obstctri.
cal hospitals are maintained in con-
junction with osteopathic colleges, the
largest being in Kirksville, Chicago,
lies Moines, and Philadelphia. IL Is
only matter Of time when hospitals
will be added to the equipment Of the
other colleges.
Osteopathic colleges are chartered
educational institutions, authorized by
the states to confer degrees, They are
not conducted for the purpose of profit.
but entirely from the educational
standpoint.
Oste pathy then. ia a school Of prac.
tice, the basic principle Of which is the
mechanical adjustment of the body.
This is 50 simple that 1t is difficult to
see why there should be any misunder-
standing regarding It, Osteopaths are
mechanical physicians, .or mechani-
clans of the human body. AS the
spine is the central support OF the
structure of the body and as 1t con-
tains the spinal cord which is the main
cable of nerves extending from the
brain through the whole length OF the
trunk, the adjustment of the spine ia
necessarily the most important part o.
the work Of the osteopath. Surgery be-
ing mechanical, is Of course embraced
within the scope Of osteopathy al
though body adjustment by the hands
Of the osteopath saves the patient from
q very large percentage OF avoidable
operations
Nothing which is scientifically true
regarding the human body as taught
by the older schools Of practice Ii de-
MED in the teachings Of osteopathy.
is~not system of negation,
OF attack or criticism Of other schools
oil practice. 1t is not destructive. 1t is
There are plenty OF
sects and cults based primarily upon
denial or denunciation Of others. o.
tenpathy is not of these. There Is no
instrument OF precision used In dag
nosis in the old schools, which is not
utilized by the osteGpaths. Osteopathy
Is necessarily based upon anatomy,
chemistry and the other
fundamental sciences underlying all
teaching of the art Of healing. These
sciences al, existed within the medical
fold Before osteopathy was born.
While II is true that nothing which
has been proven to be scientifically
correct is denied in the tenets OF este
opathy ii is also true that the meehan-