Daniel David Palmer
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Daniel David Palmer (b. March 7, 1845– d. October 20, 1913) was the founder of chiropractic.
Palmer was born in Port Perry, near Toronto, Canada, and at age twenty moved to the United States with his family. Palmer held various jobs as a beekeeper, school teacher, and grocery store owner, and had an interest in the various health philosophies of his day, such as magnetic healing, osteopathy, and spiritualism. Referred to by some historians as a 'fish monger' because he sold fish commercially, Palmer practiced magnetic healing beginning in the mid-1880s in Burlington and Davenport, Iowa.
Palmer read medical journals of his time and followed developments throughout the world regarding anatomy and physiology. While working as a magnetic healer, he decided to find the cause of all disease, and his work lead to the foundation of chiropractic. His theory was that decreased nerve flow was the cause of all disease, and that misplaced spinal vertebrae caused pressure on the nerves. Palmer founded a school, later the Palmer School of Chiropractic, in 1897, and by 1902 the school had graduated 15 chiropractors.
DD Palmer's effort to find a single cause for all disease led him to say:
- A subluxated vertebra . . . is the cause of 95 percent of all diseases. . . . The other five percent is caused by displaced joints other than those of the vertebral column. (From: Palmer D.D. The Science, Art and Philosophy of Chiropractic. Portland, Oregon: Portland Printing House Company, 1910.) He said he received the chiropractic principles from a dead physician, Dr. Jim Atkinson, during a seance. [1] [2]
D.D. Palmer regarded chiropractic as partly religious in nature, and in a letter of May 4, 1911 he said: "we must have a religious head, one who is the founder, as did Christ, Mohamed, Jo. Smith, Mrs. Eddy, Martin Luther and other who have founded religions. I am the fountain head. I am the founder of chiropractic in its science, in its art, in its philosophy and in its religious phase." [3]
Keating et al writing for the Association for the History of Chiropractic said D.D. Palmer
Chiropractic was controversial from its beginnings, and many chiropractors, including Palmer, were prosecuted for practicing medicine without a license, although eventually it was recognized that chiropractors were not practicing medicine but chiropractic. In 1906 DD Palmer spent six months in jail for practicing medicine without a license. During that time he sold the school of chiropractic to his son, B. J. Palmer. After his release B.J. squeezed him out of the college. DD made several unsuccessful attempts to found a new school of chiropractic. DD Palmer wrote a textbook, a significant portion of which was devoted to a diatribe against B.J. At a founders' day parade in Davenport in August 1913, the uninvited DD, marching on foot, was struck from behind by an car driven by BJ. He died in Los Angeles, California, on October 20, 1913. The cause of his death was typhoid fever, though some believe it was the consequence of his injuries.
After Palmer's death, his widow made several unsuccessful attempts to claim she had inherited 50% ownership in the Palmer School of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa. However, DD Palmer had sold his half of the school to its co-founder, BJ Palmer, for approximately $2,600 in 1906. By 1914, the school was a thriving and very profitable enterprise. DD Palmer’s widow had been left destitute, and so continued in her attempts to acquire money from BJ Palmer. She made several false criminal accusations that were dismissed by a grand jury. Later she also filled civil suits for wrongful death which were also dismissed without trial (Scott County, Iowa Court Records, 1914).
Historical Quotes
The following quotes are from D.D. Palmer's book, The Chiropractor's Adjuster (also called The Text-Book of the Science, Art and Philosophy of Chiropractic). The book was published in 1910 by the Portland Printing House Company of Portland, Oregon, and reprinted in 1966 by his grandson, David D. Palmer, 1966.
- Disease: “The kind of disease depends upon what nerves are too tense or too slack.”
- Chiropractic for intellectual abnormalities: “Chiropractors correct abnormalities of the intellect as well as those of the body.”
- Life and Religion: "I have answered the time-worn question -- what is life?” :“The dualistic system -- spirit and body -- united by intellectual life -- the soul -- is the basis of this science of biology”
- Chiropractic as a religion: "We must have a religious head, one who is the founder, as did Christ, Mohamed, Jo. Smith, Mrs. Eddy, Martin Luther and other who have founded religions. I am the fountain head. I am the founder of chiropractic in its science, in its art, in its philosophy and in its religious phase." [4]
Further reading
- The Chiropractor's Adjuster (also called The Text-Book of the Science, Art and Philosophy of Chiropractic)</cite>, Daniel David Palmer, Portland Printing House, 1910 (reprint: 1966).