THE CLAIMS OF OSTEOPATHY [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]
Sin,—The writer of the note in your issue of July 26th can hardly realize the implication of the claims made on behalf of osteopathy. Osteopaths base their methods of treatment on a supposition unsupported by • any scientific proof. They trace all disease to a common origin, the pressure on nerves and arteries of misplaeed and maladjusted hones, particularly those of the vertebral column. Would that diagnosis were so simple ! These imaginary lesions have never been observed by. anatomists or pathologists nor have they been demonstrated by radiologists, yet it was ‘suggeSted in the House of Lords in all seriousness that' a Royal CornmisSion should be appointed to investigate their
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claims.
If indeed osteopathic teaching be true, then the whole of our medical knowledge accumulated step by step through the centuries; by the patient exPeriinents and by the observa- tions of workers all over the civilized world, has been built up on 'a foundation of quiCksands. All modern theories as to the cause and treatment of disease must be utterly erro- neous and fit only to be relegated to the scrap heap. Surely common sense, without the aid of a Royal CommiisiOn, as has been -Suggested, should make it clear that such a fantastic supposition cannot be true. The human body is too wonderfully constructed and its ills too varied for all diseases to have a' common cause.—Yours faithfully,
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