Bone & Muscle

Scores of U. S. practitioners of medicine stood rigidly at attention last week in Cincinnati. This was part of a service to honor the late Dr. Andrew Taylor Still; for these practitioners were osteopaths, and it was bearded, idealistic Dr. Still, son of a medical missionary, who promulgated the principles of osteopathy in the 1870s.

Osteopathy means, etymologically, "sick bones." Its central principle is that structure determines function. It holds that a normal human body manufactures its own remedies against infections and other toxic agents, unless there are "lesions" in bones, muscles, ligaments, etc.; and that proper manipulation can cure such lesions. Osteopathy has six colleges which give four-year courses, but a college degree is not required for entrance. Graduates receive the degree of D.O. and must pass State examinations to practice as such.

Since obstetrics is essentially a manipulative job, with a few simple chemical precautions, it has long been a part of the osteopathic curriculum. At the Cincinnati convention last week Osteopath W. E. Abegglen of Tekoa, Wash., who has not lost a mother in childbirth in 24 years of practice, deplored the fact that 375,000 parturient women have died in the U. S. in the past quarter-century, charged that in "allopathic" (i. e., regular medical) hospitals, maternity doctors delegate too much of their work to internes and nurses.

Sniffed at by regular doctors of medicine, osteopaths now see one broad avenue into the sunshine of general favor: socialized medicine under Federal control. Whereas the American Medical Association is, in the main, opposed to socialized medicine, the osteopaths last week plumped for it. Significant was this wording in a message from President Roosevelt: "It is my hope that your association, already known for its progressiveness, will be just as diligent in preventing illnesses as it is in relieving those conditions. . . ." Clarioned the osteopaths' new president, strapping, blue-eyed Arthur E. Allen of Minneapolis, who will be succeeded year hence by Frank F. Jones of Macon, Ga.: "The coming year will see important developments and advances in socialized medicine."

Other highlights:

P: Osteopath John J. Lalli of Jackson Heights, N. Y., declared that swing music and dances such as the Big Apple and Suzie Q make for thick ankles and sluggish minds.

P:Osteopath Mary E. Golden of Des Moines, deploring the injurious effects of high-heeled shoes, declared that men were better equipped to wear them than women.

P: Osteopath Harry Morgan Goehring of Pittsburgh deplored ancient magazines in doctors' offices.

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