The Secret History of Chiropratic
D.D. Palmer's Spiritual Writings
The First Chiropractor
volume two

By Dr. Simon A. Senzon

From the book:

Prelude

The Secret Truth

Some say that truth will set you free. That is the hope of this simple book. It is not designed to be an expose. My original intent was to describe the highest and most inspirational writings of the chiropractic’s founder. In my research, I have come upon some documents that are not widely known about in the profession, documents which describe a different history of chiropractic. A history that is not the story that has been told for a hundred years. Some of the new facts brought to light by these documents include chiropractic’s true birthday; the real source of philosophy in chiropractic; the definitive nature of the legal struggles at the birth of the chiropractic profession, D.D.’s scientific background and spirituality, and his attempt to turn chiropractic into a religion for political and/or moral reasons. The information described herein is widely known in pieces and places in the profession. Taken in toto, however, a wider and deeper drama unfolds, one that provides a new glimpse into chiropractic’s roots.

My first inclination upon discovering these new documents was to keep them hidden and not shake the foundation. I was uncomfortable with bringing to light new facts, especially ones that at first glance are not complimentary to the profession’s founders, namely, the Palmers. And then, as I thought about it in a historical and philosophical context, I realized that these new facts may be crucial in helping the chiropractic profession open a dialogue to bring  its warring factions together and quite possibly help patients understand chiropractic in a new and powerful way. I realized these truths would come out eventually, and that I wanted to be the one to contextualize them, because it is painfully clear that much of the discourse that has examined chiropractic history and philosophy is rife with politics and limited perspectives.

These writings should be considered secret because three of them are unpublished and the fourth is rare and out-of-print. Palmer’s writings are also rarely studied and difficult to interpret. Taken together, the books by Daniel Palmer, Cyrus Lerner, Pierre-Louis Gaucher- Perslherbe, as well as Palmer’s Traveling Library and his correspondence, are essentially a secret.

How will the chiropractic community respond to such secrets? Will the following revelations incite condemnation or praise? Will they influence the future of chiropractic? And most of all, what role will they play in helping those individuals who entrust their precious bodies to the care of chiropractors?

Only time will tell. For now, let us unlock these secrets and reveal their truth together…