On the Frontier of the New Profession

Chapter four continues tracing the institutional growth of chiropractic, with special consideration to the role of ideas and theories in building the profession. This chapter considers the years between 1903 and 1910, when D. D. and B. J. Palmer tried unsuccessfully to share power at the Palmer School of Chiropractic. As the number of practitioners grew, the Palmers benefitted from professional collaborations and also faced competition from past-colleagues who became rivals. One of the first and most bitter disputes was with Solon Langworthy and his associates at the American School of Chiropractic and Nature Cure. In their publication Backbone, the American School chiropractors credited themselves with the discovery of major aspects of chiropractic theory, including the concept of spinal subluxations that today are widely understood to cause pain and bodily illness. Although short-lived, the American School marked the beginning of a debate between “Straights” and “Mixers” about whether to allow chiropractors to incorporate other therapies.

A Magnetic Healer in Iowa

Chiropractic cannot be understood without examining the decades of “metaphysical” healing before its development. Chapter two considers the early life of D. D. Palmer, who before discovering chiropractic, practiced vital magnetic healing, a popular therapy aimed at relieving obstructions of the life force in the body. An examination of Palmer’s self-published newspapers shows his belief in vitalism and his anti-authoritarian outlook. The chapter explores the roots of chiropractic in magnetism, and discusses the changes in that practice from its 18th century form as mesmerism through its 19th century encounter with neurology and other modern medical sciences. In the 19th century Midwest, magnetic healers were socially marginal in the Midwest, but their practice held appeal in a neurocentric health culture which prioritized spinal treatments. Some practitioners, like Sidney Abram Weltmer and Paul Caster, built their proprietary practices into full magnetic healing hospitals.

Chiropractors on Parade

Chapter five addresses the eclipse of D. D. Palmer by his son, in leading both the proprietary school and the burgeoning chiropractic profession. B. J. Palmer presented himself as the rightful heir and loyal exponent of his father’s ideas, but he used legal measures and the court of opinion to block D. D.’s involvement in the chiropractic movement. It is in this climate of marginalization, the chapter argues, that D. D. Palmer made his most elaborate “religious turn,” with the creation of the Third Chiropractic Theory. Living in Southern California, D. D. Palmer befriended the metaphysical writer William Juvenal Colville. This chapter analyzes the Third Chiropractic Theory, and considers the possible influence of Theosophical ideas for its emphasis on “Tone” and “Vibration.” It compares D. D. Palmer’s Chiropractic Philosophy with the spiritual theories proposed by Andrew Taylor Still, creator of osteopathy, after he was sidelined from his profession.

Introduction

To force people to choose a doctor they do not want is to interfere with their liberty and individual rights. When human liberty is restricted for any pretext whatever, there is danger and trouble ahead. It brings the majesty of law into disrepute, demoralizes the community in which unjust laws are enforced, and incites a rebellious spirit....

The World of Chiropractic

Chapter seven focuses on the later 20th century, and considers how the U.S. experience bears on the profession as chiropractic grows internationally in the new millennium. Chiropractic has prospered due to Americans’ enthusiasm for holism and desire to control their own health care. Though relatively well positioned, chiropractic faces new versions of longstanding challenges, such as factionalism in the profession. This chapter returns to the question of spirituality to show how metaphysics may bear on chiropractic as it takes root in other countries. Some chiropractors, including the Palmers, have maintained connections with Western esotericism, especially to Rosicrucian orders. The chapter also considers the role of chiropractors in extreme political and social movements, including white nationalism, and argues their participation is an effect of the populist mindset cultivated within alternative medicine. The chapter presents an overview of the early international dissemination of chiropractic. Globalization offers opportunities for the chiropractic profession, but it must overcome a wide range of reactions from within receiving cultures.

History Repeats

The sixth chapter shows how the biography of B. J. Palmer recapitulated situations faced by his father. Endowed with energy and creativity, B. J. Palmer was dispossessed of leadership when a rationalizing profession rejected proprietary models, especially B. J.’s autocratic claims to power. This was symbolized by B. J.’s forceful introduction of the Neurocalometer, a controversial proprietary device that split the membership of the Universal Chiropractors Association. The chapter considers how in later life B. J. Palmer made a “spiritual turn” toward New Thought that imparted an elaborate metaphysics to Chiropractic Philosophy, which endures in the Straight chiropractic movement. When B. J. Palmer died in 1961, his son, David Daniel Palmer, was already managing most of the day-to-day operations at the P.S.C. “Dave” Palmer aligned the soon renamed Palmer College of Chiropractic with mainstream standards of education. The chiropractic profession also normalized its position in American society, with a series of legal and policy victories, including the federal anti-trust lawsuit, Wilk vs. A.M.A.

From Vital Magnetism to Vertebral Vitalism

The third chapter presents the steps by which early chiropractic became an organized system of health care: the elaboration of chiropractic theories, the establishment of training institutes like the Palmer School of Chiropractic (P.S.C.) in Davenport, Iowa, and the making of a collective consciousness for the profession. Though their relationship was fraught with hostility, D. D. Palmer had considerable help from his son, B. J. Palmer, in developing chiropractic, which they had to distinguish from systems like osteopathy, with which it often was confused. Spinal therapeutics were a major part of 19th century health culture, but not originally central to chiropractic treatment or the First Chiropractic Theory. After the Santa Barbara Incident, the Palmers adopted the neurocentric logic of Progressive Era popular physiology, where maintaining the health of the nervous system through care of the spine was prioritized in the Second Chiropractic Theory.

The First Adjustment

The first chapter relates the story of the discovery of chiropractic by D. D. Palmer in the mid-1890s, and discusses the meaning of the history of their profession to chiropractors. It traces the history of ideas behind early chiropractic theory and introduces two main themes as important to the emergence of alternative medicine in the nineteenth century: vitalism and populism. Vitalist ideas run the spectrum from mostly rooted in science to highly theological. D. D. Palmer understood chiropractic as a science, but he incorporated metaphysical spiritual ideas to create Chiropractic Philosophy. This chapter also proposes chiropractic as part of an American cultural tradition of popular physiology, that rejects elite medical authorities and claims the right to choose one’s health care as an essential democratic right. D. D. Palmer was suspicious of higher education and elite knowledge, which he emulated and rejected in creating chiropractic. Palmer’s writing shows him to be a populist intellectual of a type distinctive to the Progressive Era.