I would now quote some of the opinions of the founder of Osteopathy, Dr. A.T. Still, and of a few of his followers, relating to life, health and disease:.
“Man, the most complex, intricate and delicately constructed machine of all creation, is the one with whom the osteopath must become familiar.”- A.T. STILL.
“Osteopathy is the practical knowledge of how man is made and how to right him when he gets wrong.”- A.T. STILL.
“The osteopaths business is to know the plumbing of the house of life.”- A.T. STILL.
“Stills studies of the spinal mechanism led him to the conviction that virtual all so-called diseases, pains, symptoms and so on, were indirectly caused by these spinal lesions.”- M.A. LANE, B.Sc.
“In osteopathy not only was there an evolution but there was a revolution. Every system of treatment previously developed had been designed primarily to combat effects. Dr. Stills great work lies in the determination of cause, and through a knowledge of that cause, the application of an effective treatment.”-G. D. HULETT, B.S., D.O.
“Tie a string around your finger tight. What will follow? The finger will turn red then it will turn black. In time it will die, and perhaps in consequence you will die too. No treatment, internal or external, material or mental, can save your finger, so long as the string remains.
The only thing necessary is the removal of the string. This in a crude way illustrates the principle which is the basis of osteopathy. This principle is that anything which interferes with blood currents or with nerve impulses must be overcome in order to secure health of the part affected.”- E. M. DOWNING, D.O.
“The osteopath knows the various nerve-centres and how to treat them, in order that the vaso-motor nerves can act upon the blood vessels, bringing about in a physiological manner a normal heart action and freeing the channels to and from the heart. The osteopath deals always with causes, has no rules of actions as such, but applies reason to each case according to the conditions presented, treating no two cases quite alike, he knows from past experience that the effect seen is produced by a cause with which he must deal in order to give relief”.
