D.D. Palmer: Exceptional -- or just peculiar?
by William J. Nelson
When D.D. Palmer was in his mid-30s, he lived on 10 acres of hillside property a half-dozen miles upriver from New Boston, Illinois. According to tales passed on by his contemporaries, he would regularly walk to town on a narrow unimproved road.
It was his custom to be neatly and conservatively dressed. D.D. was easily recognized. Only five feet four inches in height, he was broad shouldered and stocky. His identifying hallmark was a luxuriant black beard not groomed in the manner deemed fashionable at the time.
But, recollection of him had little to do with his outward appearance. As local residents walked the road, D.D. would stride by them without a glance or greeting. Apparently deep in thought, it is doubtful the passersby were even noticed. As sparsely populated as the area was at the time, it was customary to stop and chat with friends and strangers alike. D.D.'s failure to do so did not serve him well. It gave rise to comments about his alleged "peculiarity."
What Palmer's thoughts were at the time will never be known. The probability is strong that he was pondering abstract considerations as opposed to pragmatic matters. D.D. was comfortable in his introspection and the contemplation of the abstruse. It prepared him for later years when he found it necessary to defend chiropractic.
D.D. willingly took on all comers deigning to challenge the healing art. Frequently flamboyant, only occasionally quietly persuasive, D.D. was Jovian as he thundered. Interruption was not tolerated.
D.D.'s defensive nature is understandable. He wanted to protect his discovery. He may have intuitively recognized the perils for chiropractic survival because of paradigmatic anomalies introduced by some eager peers of his and future generations.
An excellent example of Palmer's concern is written in "The Chiropractor's Adjuster." He wrote, "Chiropractic is peculiarly a method of its own; it is unlike any other but is not built upon, or out of others."
In the same text, under the headline, "Shall We Advance?," D.D. questions, "Is the stone ax better than the rifle? The mattock preferable to the gang plow? The mule pack more convenient than the express car? Is it possible that the science of Chiropractic has arrived before its time?
"Looking over the past fourteen years of Chiropractic development, it is strange but true that, with few exceptions, those who are indebted the most for benefits received along this line are the founder's worst enemies. The question is often asked by the originator of Chiropractic: 'Is it worthwhile to be an advanced, original thinker?'"
It was rare for D.D. Palmer to share misgivings. Much more at ease with the truly philosophic, his writing was then terse and to the point: "Life is the expression of tone. In that sentence is the basic principle of Chiropractic. Tone is the normal degree of nerve tension. Tone is expressed in functions by normal elasticity, activity, strength and excitability of the various organs, as observed in a state of health. Consequently, the cause of disease is any variation of tone -- nerves too tense or too slack."
Although the founder seemed to intuit the future, he was secure in the fundamentals of unchanging philosophy and the application of chiropractic's art and science. He believed firmly that chiropractic's future would be assured if the basic concepts remained untouched.
Palmer would have enjoyed the company of Thomas S. Kohn, a professor of philosophy and history of science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1962, Kuhn first published his seminal work, "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions."
A reviewer, Nicholas Wade of "Science," states, "Thomas S. Kuhn wastes little time on demolishing the logical empiricist view of science as an objective progression toward the truth. Instead he erects from ground up a structure in which science is seen to be heavily influenced by non-rational procedures, and in which new theories are viewed as being more complex than those they usurp but not standing any closer to the truth..."
Above all else, D.D. Palmer searched for truth. He found it in studies which evolved into the principles of chiropractic. As a mortal he had understandable very real fears and apprehensions about his discovery's future.
He would have found little comfort in Kuhn's plaintive question, "What must the world be like in order that man may know it?" However, D.D. Palmer would have intellectualized and responded to it as an exceptionally meaningful conundrum, especially as addressed to chiropractic!
(William J. Nelson, of Costa Mesa, California, researcher, journalist, consultant and health care facilitator, is the author of "The Real Truth About Health," a chiropractic patient education book. Mr. Nelson gives lectures and slide presentations throughout the country on the history of chiropractic.)
Copyright The Chiropractic Journal
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