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The Buxton Technological Course
in Painless Chiropractic
CHAPTER I
OPPORTUNITY may be called that momentous experience in the life of an individual when visions and possibilities picture themselves upon the horizon of an active brain. Such visions may appear to be very simple in comparison with the many marvelous accomplishments already demonstrated by others, but one should never disparage or belittle his dreams until fully satisfied in his own mind of the uselessness of his efforts. Some of the greatest dreams of genius were comparatively insignificant until by force of determination they were brought to public notice and received due reward. Life is like a game of checkers, especially if that life be an active one, in which each player is endeavoring to get into the king row and generally the one who sticks tenaciously usually gets there. Never think the invention or idea of some discoverer completely perfected in the thing he has brought forth, since every idea always leads to another and it is usually the thing forgotten by the first thinker that is brought to light by another. Science is said to be knowledge systematically arranged. Our ideas materialize by coordination and the bringing into active conception the minute thought and allowing it to expand into completeness and not until then should its value be determined. We have just begun to think in chiropractic science which only a few years ago was practiced in such a crude way compared to the little advance already made. No one person holds forever within his grasp the great possibilities of the future of chiropractic. Principles are being discovered every day in this wonderful science and he who labors in the field of research will certainly receive his reward. The human brain is said to be that grayish substance occupying the mental convolutions within the cranium. It is here the mind coordinates percept and concept in its digestive process for the production of thought through the avenue of logical sequence in inductive and deductive reasoning. Every healthy individual is endowed with sufficient gray matter to play in some degree his part in the great drama of life, and great inventors have usually been denied the privilege of the higher institutions of learning. In fact, most of the great inventions are the product of persons who spent their early days in the developing roof of dark surroundings, where aptitude gave birth to earnest genius. The inability to perform in the inventive genius for the common good, and share one’s findings without overburdening the buyer of one’s product is usually the result of self-aversion to those of like aptitude or because of insatiable desires for prominence. Thus the altruistic spirit is crucified upon the cross of self centered interests, and there is cast upon the rocks what might have been a noble career, thereby only contributing to the diary of human genius the bones of a sad reminiscence in public memory. The science of chiropractic is both a mental and anatomical subject. Mental, in that it demands an analytical intelligence schooled in the curriculum of segmentary differentiation, and anatomical, in that it operates mechanically upon a mechanical structure. The simple moving of a vertebra by an uneducated Chiropractor is no chiropractic in its true meaning. While the moving of a vertebra by an unscientific operator, which may or may not secure the desired result, can not properly be styled chiropractic, since the mind and hands of such an operator are unskilled and ignorant of the correlative mechanism coordinating with the segment so moved. The untrained mind of our profession in the past has been a most costly and sad experience. However we can dry our eyes with the history of our medical brethren, who only a short while ago were no as well trained for service as we, and who today are seeking ways of preventive dosage, which proves that their findings were not as enduring as ours. Chiropractic science offers an opportunity in the field of research today equal to all, and second to none. The successful finder is the one who applies himself to the task of discovery in the field of effort. Let the disheartened take courage and the pessimist wipe the cobwebs from his slumbering vision. The public is ready to be served with our wonderful science in a scientific way with scientific results. The various organizations, to which we may belong, the school of our graduation, or the personality we may possess will not bring the desired compliments, if we are minus the art and knowledge of advanced chiropractic. Some of the great needs of our science today are: the consolidation and harmonization of every practitioner, the control of the curriculum of the school by the field, and the standardizing of units necessary to graduation. We have plenty of organizations, but what we need most is organized intelligence of purpose. Such that will fraternize, harmonize, equalize and make chiropractic one and the same wherever found. I believe the opportunity for chiropractic was never better than now. Men and women of the college and university who have graduated in the arts and sciences are turning their minds to the study of chiropractic, and the day is not far distant when the doctorate in chiropractic, in the rank and dignity of the scholar and student will hold the place it has fought for and so much deserves. The American College of Chiropractors, an institution incorporated under an Act of Congress, of which the Board of Trustees have kindly elected me to the office of Chancellor, is a most timely and much appreciated step toward bringing about the unification of Chiropractors and chiropractic. The Medical Profession of the United States have their American College of Surgeons, and there is the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Why should the Chiropractic Profession stand by and look on? Well we are not. We have it, it is ours. Let us rally to its standards, cooperate with its forces and make it the monument it should be to those noble men and women who studied, worked and suffered imprisonment to perpetuate the healing virtues of chiropractic in the world. Again, I say, opportunity awaits us. Let us lay aside our petty jealousies and coordinate our mental support: awake from our lethargy and establish foundation upon which future generations shall build and cherish the memory of the tried and true. |