| Abstract/Notes |
In an article recently published in this journal, the authors revealed a previously unknown early legal protective strategy in the form of legislation to license the practice of "Psychiropathy," a term meant to include magnetic, chiropractic, psychic and suggestive practitioners. The authors speculated that the "Psychiropathy" experience may have set two important early rivals, B.J. Palmer and Solon M. Langworthy, on divergent paths regarding future efforts to protect the new profession, with Palmer favoring litigation while Langworthy favored legislation. This article details another newly discovered legal strategy: The Chiropractors' Theological Society (C.T.S.), an organization created by B.J. Palmer in late 1910 and introduced in 1911 to advance an overtly religious exemption from licensing laws in cases alleging unlicensed practice. The C.T.S. was linked to other developments from that period, but especially to the Palmer School of Correspondence (sometimes called the home study course). This article introduces the Iowa trials for unlicensed practice that led to the C.T.S., discusses its relationship to the Palmer School of Correspondence, identifies its officers and discusses its planned operation, constitution and bylaws as revealed in the prospectus and lessons from the correspondence course. Finally, we note that the C.T.S. left no real evidence of its existence, other than ideas on paper. There are no documents provig that the group ever held planned meetings at any level, and the C.T.S. and the correspondence course quietly ceased to exist within just two years of their introduction.
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