The making of a European chiropractor: Fred Illi and the Universal College, 1925-1927.

Fred W. H. Illi (1901-1983) was one of the most prominent pioneer chiropractic researchers of the first half of this century, developing theories on the role of spinal biomechanics in the human body. With practical work in chiropractic radiology and later special work in human dissection in Chicago in the 1930-40 decades, and later at his Institute for the Study of the Statics & Dynamics of the Human Body in Geneva, Illi produced a massive volume of documentation in both written and visual format. The education of this researcher was a difficut and, at times, seemingly hopeless experience of self-determination and grit in pre-depression America. Illi's biographer traces his American interlude and the influence of the Universal Chiropractic College in his chosen work, an unusual marriage of his first career choice of engineering, the use of the Xray in chiropractic and the sound, if limited training he received in the critical years from 1925 to 1927.

The progressive making of a foremost chiropractic researcher: Fred Illi from Geneva.

Until after the workshop on the research status of Spinal Manipulative Therapy at the National Institute of Neurological and Communicating Disorders and Strokes (NINCDS) in Bethesda, Maryland, in 1975, research had been a very elusive yet critical part of chiropractic evolution. In the past, chiropractic education emphasized basic sciences for legitimacy. To increase their competitive edge, chiropractors all too frequently looked to medical research rather than conducting research of their own. A few exceptionally gifted individuals and agencies within the profession developed new paradigms, improved modalities, and clinical mastery. Very little descriptive information has been made available to assess either these individuals or their achievements. With more than half the profession having less than 10 yr of practice, it becomes necessary to kindle a reappraisal of what once was in the particular area of chiropractic research. The case of Fred Illi has been chosen to illustrate the inherent difficulties that faced anyone bold enough to try and coherent enough to be successful.

Daniel David Palmer: alchemy in the creation of chiropractic.

D.D. Palmer has been a much ignored man in the discipline he founded. The same applies to several early concepts he used to develop from a mere healer's background: D.D. Palmer invested them with an entirely different meaning. When considered, they help to understand the inner logic that allowed for chiropractic survival. There was an alchemy in the creation of chiropractic and the senior Palmer was the alchemist. He has not been recognized even within his own profession for the self-taught scholar and clinician that he was, knowledgeable about the various medical and scientific theories of his time.

Daniel David Palmer's medical library: the founder was "into the literature."

Although initially dismissed as an "unlearned healer," D.D. Palmer has proven to be a literate if self-taught writer, editor, author and teacher, who utilized the medical literature of his day in a surprising manner in his many publications. An examination of his work in The Chiropractor's Adjustor demonstrated the exactness of his thought. Very few medical practitioners at his time in America could claim to be so well read as was Palmer. He was competent in the use of medical literature, and not at all the uneducated healer he was alleged to be. A project, related to this study, is underway to reassemble DD's library to permit further examination of Palmer's scholarship.