biography
| name: |
Palmer, Daniel David
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1845–1913)
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| biography:
| Founder of chiropractic, born near Toronto, Canada. He moved to Iowa c.1880. Largely self-taught, he was a small businessman who became interested in alternative forms of medicines such as magnetic healing, osteopathy, and vertebral manipulation. In 1898 he founded the Palmer School of Chiropractic in Davenport, IA, the first school to train chiropractors by his system. (Chiropractic - from Greek words meaning ‘hand-practice’ - was suggested to Palmer by an educated patient.) The school was not at first successful; his son, Bartlett Joshua Palmer, was one of the few graduates. In 1903 Daniel tried to establish a second centre in Portland, OR, but returned to Davenport (where his son was now running the school). In 1906 he was jailed for six months for practising medicine without a licence, and he went back to Portland and had to restrict himself to his own private practice. His Textbook of the Science, Art and Philosophy of Chiropractic (1910) attacked just about everyone who practised any kind of medicine, including his son. He returned uninvited to a school reunion and died from injuries after being struck by a car while leading a parade. His son Bartlett and grandson David Daniel persevered to make chiropractic the accepted alternative it has become. |
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