Palmer, Daniel David (1845–1913)

Canadian-born founder of chiropractic. Born near Toronto, Canada, Palmer moved to Iowa about 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, Iowa, 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 – and in 1903 he tried to start another one in Portland, Oregon He returned to Davenport where his son was now running the school. In 1906 he was jailed for six months for practising medicine without a license. He went back to Portland, Oregon, 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. After his death, his son Bartlett and grandson David Daniel persevered to make chiropractic the accepted alternative it has become.