| Abstract/Notes |
The life and times of Andrew Taylor Still is most fascinating, beginning with his family history: his father, Abraham, a farmer, then Reverend Doctor and his mother's family, Martha Moore, whose grandparents were killed by Shawnee Indians as would be her father, James Moore, in the Abb's Valley of Virginia.Abraham's sons, Edward, James and Andrew, would also study allopathic medicine by precepting under their father to become country doctors. In Dr. Andrew's case, he lost three children in a spinal meningitis epidemic, shortly followed by the death of his wife, then of his father. All of these deaths shook Dr. Andrew; he felt his medical skills had failed him causing these deaths. In deep despair, he was attracted to a nouveau-religious cult known as Spiritualism, which ruled his life for many years.Later, Dr. Andrew theorized from his studies in Spiritualism that in diseases, abnormal spinal mechanics would affect circulation to vital organs, thus causing disease. If manually corrected by hands to the spine and other bones, these adjustments (his term) would restore circulation and health. He became an itinerant physician in Kansas, then western Missouri, to gain more experience and knowledge before finally announcing the term to define his new work, osteopathy.
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