Historical Context Morikubo and Langworthy
The latest lecture series posted for TIC Members includes an historical context for the landmark Morikubo trial. The lecture titled The Impact of the Rehm Paper builds upon the first TIC Wiki entry. The talk expands the methodologies utilized through which to critique the Rehm paper and study its extraordinary impact on the profession.
A preliminary examination of the impact has begun. It suggests that the Rehm paper falsely claimed that the Morikubo trial was true start of philosophy in chiropractic. This untrue claim has been magnified through discourse chains in the literature over the course of thirty years. The headlines from The Chronicle of Chiropractic are one way to monitor the impact this has had on the discourse.
*TIC Members may access Part 1 here: Impact of the Rehm Paper
One important factual error from the Rehm paper is his discussion of Solon Langworthy. This short clip captures the problem:
Chiropractic Philosopher Morikubo
Shegetaro Morikubo was one of the early leaders of chiropractic. He is most famous for following in D.D. Palmer’s footsteps and getting arrested for practicing medicine, osteopathy, and surgery without a license.
Unlike D.D., who spent 23 days in jail, Morikubo’s case was won and set a precedent. Chiropractic was separate and distinct from osteopathy. (Check out my blog post about some of the mistakes in the literature on the topic.)
I have researched and written about his life.
I thought we knew all that we could about him. He grew up in Japan. Descended from an aristocratic Buddhist family in the province of Kanagawa. After his trial, he married and then taught and practiced in Minneapolis. I have read every article that I could find by him written between 1904 and 1922.
I was just completing a lecture series on his life for TIC (and for CE)* when I found out something new!**
Morikubo was a Novelist and Read Shakespeare
Last week I got a surprise email from John Wolfe. Dr. Wolfe is a chiropractic historian, the editor of Chiropractic History, and an associate professor at Northwestern College of Chiropractic. He is also one of the leading Morikubo historians in the world.
Wolfe just found this news article from 1895. It is the earliest known writing we have about Morikubo.
There are several interesting things here. The article refers to him as Shigal (I don’t know much about Kanji but it sounds pretty close to Shegetaro). It also supports some other documents such as his age, his ancestry, when he came to the U.S., and that he was a student in California. (I tried to find historical documents about his early schooling from the Berkeley archives to the Tokio Academy with no luck.)
Furthermore, we learn that he studied English with a tutor and read Shakespeare, Irving, Hawthorne, and Longfellow.
We also learn that he is a budding young novelist who aspired to write a history of Japan. This helps us to make sense of his future plays on Japanese Marriage as well as his several lectures and articles on religion and politics in Japan.
The guy was very interesting.
Chiropractic Philosopher
We know that Morikubo covered some of B.J. Palmer’s lectures in the fall of 1906.
B.J. Palmer did not record his lectures from that year. The first chiropractic green book solely authored by B.J. came out the following year and it was based on his winter 1907 lectures.
Morikubo’s first article on the philosophy, science, and art came out in January 1907. (This was a full 8 months before the infamous trial.) The article included many of the early concepts that would appear in B.J.’s Vol 2.
The Philosophy of Chiropractic
In my lecture series at The Institute Chiropractic, I delve into some of Morikubo’s writings on the philosophy of chiropractic. In this video, I capture some of his more interesting contributions. I recreated two of his drawings as animation from a 1915 article called Chiropractic Philosophy.
A History of Ideas
Many questions emerge when we reflect on the history of ideas in chiropractic. Who originated each of the core theories from the chiropractic paradigm? Which authors should be included in the chiropractic canon of theory, science, and practice? What is the difference between subluxation theory and philosophy in chiropractic? There are many questions still to be answered.
Historical information about the foundational paradigm of chiropractic is still being discovered. It is an exciting time for the profession.
*The lectures on the early leaders in chiropractic will be posted soon as part of the Chiropractic Principles online continuing education program.
**Members of The Institute Chiropractic get access to all of the lectures plus tons of content (over 50 hours) as well as discounts for the CE courses.
Shegetaro Morikubo
Shegetaro Morikubo, D.C.
Shegataro Morikubo was born in 1871 in Tokyo, Japan. He came from an aristocratic family. He moved to the United States in 1889 and converted to Christianity. He was schooled in a Buddhist monastary as a child and later completed a degree in philosophy. His early years in America included several lectures on and published articles on Japanese culture.
After trying osteopathy to help with an injury from practicing martial arts, Morikubo corresponded with D.D. Palmer about studying chiropractic in 1906. While D.D. Palmer was jailed for practicing medicine without a license, during the spring of 1906, Morikubo published an article in the local paper titled “Are American People Free?” He protested the system that incarcerated his teacher.
Morikubo continued to study under B.J. Palmer after D.D. left Davenport. In the fall of 1906, Morikubo even taught some of B.J. Palmer’s philosophy courses while B.J. was traveling.
Upon Morikubo’s graduation, he and B.J. plotted to test the Wisconsin legal system. Shegataro opened his office in LaCrosse, Wisconsin in the same building as the osteopath who brought charges against two chiropractors in 1905. On January 24, Morikubo wrote to B.J. to from LaCrosse, “A Chiropractor must have a large heart and vision worthy of this great science he represents… Should (MDs or DOs) molest us … (a) coward would lose the victory before the battle begins.”
After the August trial, Morikubo maintained that he and B.J. planned the defense for six months. Morikubo’s writings from January 1907 attest to that. He explained chiropractic is a distinct science, art, and philosophy.
Morikubo’s Philosophical Writings in January 1907
Morikubo confronted the issues head on by taking out a full page ad in the local newspaper. The ad was in the form of a lengthy article on the philosophy of chiropractic.
It has a rather unattractive name, Chiro-practic, and is not least melodious to those who know nothing about it. Yet, a careful investigation and examination of its theory and practice would astound even a great intellect, with a revelation of profound depth and colossal proportion. No other science can grapple with a problem of three-fold aspect: philosophical, scientific and artistic. For its completeness and comprehensiveness, Chiropractic may be called philosophic science. let us see the reason whereby this science pales all other sciences into insignificance. We must review briefly, in order to appreciate its greatness, the structure and functions of the living human body. Amid manifold wonders with which we come daily in contact, the most marvelous and beautiful piece of divine handiwork, is the human body. Its billions of cells, each being microcosm perform their functions harmoniously to maintain a perfect health. The bones, the arteries, the veins, the lymphatic glands, the thoracic and abdominal organs, lung, liver, heart, stomach, and all other organs of the body work in perfect harmony, when not interrupted, to maintain life, health, and beauty in man. When the bony structure and all organs are in order and work harmoniously, the individual is healthy. When, however, there exists any disorder or any disturbance in the body, the result is disease and death. These phenomena, health and disease, have baffled philosophers of all ages. The problem has never been solved. To say it NATURAL to be healthy, expresses nothing; to say it is UNNATURAL to be sick, is begging the question. medicine, ever since the days of Hypocrites, the physician, has been endeavoring to discover the cause of disease, but all in vain. It has been universally believed both by physicians and laymen however, that disease is due to some chemical change in one way or in the other, in the animal economy. But what produces a disorganization and its subsequent chemical change in the constitution, has never been told… The wisest of physicians during the last thirty The wisest of physicians during the last thirty centuries, have not told one thing that sounds logical with regard to the cause of human disease. Is their failure in discovering the cause of disease in man due to their negligence in the study of man as a unity? Has their materialistic view of life so far deceived them that man is not a trine? – physical, mental and spiritual. Such seems to have been the case when we consider the fact that physicians have used only one method in an attempt to relieve human suffering. That method has been to do altogether with the functions of the body. It is comparatively of recent date when they began to pay some attention to psychological phenomena in disease, but they know nothing of how the mind affects the body. Without this important knowledge, medical science, so-called, will never reach that stage of development called science. The task of solving this problem has fallen into the hands of Chiropractic. IT HAS SOLVED THE PROBLEM. The Chiropractor has discovered, through careful study and experiment and reasoning, that the mind controls absolutely all organic functions in the animal economy. the medium through which the mind expresses itself, is the brain and the nerve center. The nerves transmit the brain energy generated within the brain cells to every tissue in the body, carrying with it power, and intelligence which prompts the cells to life on and to function in harmony with every tissue in the body. The mental organism, according to Chiropractic, is dual, the Innate and the Educated. The Innate is inborn. It is that spiritual being endowed with the knowledge of the physical and mental laws and possesses, to a limited extent, a creative power. The Innate at birth is intelligent as it is after fifty years of experience with life. The Innate has power to control, even at birth, all of the functions of the organs, digestion, assimilation, respiration, and all other necessary functions of the living body. The Innate is immortal. The Educated mind, on the other hand, is that which is acquired after birth and perishable at death. Let us study the function of the Innate in its relation to the body. Chiropractic, through careful reasoning and experience, has reached the conclusion that every individual cell which composes the organs, is connected to the Innate brain by a nerve fiber and it is under a direct control of the Innate mind. The so-called sympathetic nerve system, according to the old school of medicine, is the nerves which connect the body with the Innate brain. The functions of the Innate brain is popularly called “involuntary” and is understood as a function performed independent of the will and sometimes in spite of it. When such a function is performed, it is called “reflex,” indicating absolutely nothing intelligible. The Innate is perfectly conscious of what it is doing no matter whether or not we are aware of it. Observe how Innate governs and directs the organic functions in case of emergency. Observe a drunken man. His respiration is quicker and his heart beats faster. Why? The Innate recognizes at once the presence of foreign matter in the body, over which he presides. He at once gives a command to the brain to send a larger quantity of its energy to the lungs and the heart, which immediately increase their activity in order to get rid of the foreign matter. The heart begins to pump harder and faster so as to replace waste matter and the lung breathes deeper and faster than usual in order that it may absorb larger quantity of oxygen to burn the alcohol. The kidney and liver, too, become more active to eliminate the waste matter. The functions performed by the Educated mind are comparatively few. It controls a few muscular movements, reasons inductively, and gathers data for the Innate mind. The educated mind has no part either in health or disease, and it is subservient to the Innate. In fact, the educated mind is the medium through which the Innate comes in contact with the physical universe. Under certain conditions, the Innate sees and hears without the organs of sight and hearing. Thus, the Innate manifests its power, demonstrating that it can perform functions independent of the laws that govern the physical universe. When the communication between the Innate and the Innate brain, and the Innate brain and the organs is normal, that condition, according to Chiropractic is called health. When the communication between either the Innate and the Innate brain or the Innate brain and other organs, is partly interrupted, that condition is called Disease. When the communication is totally interrupted at one point or another, the result is Death. In health the Innate communicates with the Innate brain, which sends energy (called by the Chiropractor “brain impulse”) through the Innate nerve fibers, which reaches every individual cell in the body, carrying it a power to act and an order how to act. The countless millions of cells, which at least possess intelligence to interpret the order and to respond to it, utilize the power sent out from the brain, and act in harmony with all other cells. When the brain impulse is interrupted, however, it becomes abnormal, in one way or another, and the cells are either partially paralyzed for the lack of power, or they become abnormally active, due to excessive power. In either case, the cells cannot work harmoniously with other cells, composing organs. The result is Disease.The Philosophy of Chiropractic
The Mind Controls Organic Functions
Innate and Educated
Health
Morikubo’s Impact
The landmark Morikubo case set the first precedent for chiropractic philosophy. The judge ruled that chiropractic was separate and distinct. It had a distinct philosophy, science, and art.
Historians have incorrectly reported that the defense used Smith and Langworthy’s text Modernized Chiropractic. While there is one newspaper account, which states that Morikubo supplied all known chiropractic texts for the prosecution, there is no evidence the defense used the book. An examination of Morikubo’s
Furthermore, an examination of Morikubo’s philospohical writings months before the trial (see above) demonstrates that he integrated the ideas of D.D. Palmer and B.J. Palmer. There is no evidence that Smith’s theories were included in his explanation of chiropractic.
This is an important point because for some reason, historians fell in love with the conjecture put forward by Lerner in 1952, that Langworthy saved the day and that the profession rests on his ideas. The facts do not support that conjecture and history books should be revised.
Morikubo contributed to the philosophy of chiropractic again in 1915 a fascinating article on chiropractic’s philosophical completeness. He included several original diagrams to explain his thesis.
Thoughts on the Chiropractic Literature
The modern chiropractic peer-reviewed literature started in the late 1970s. The literature had challenges from the start. The challenges included bias, limited availability of historical sources, and a trend to shift the focus of the profession towards the term “manipulative therapy.” This short video clip is part of a 2-hour lecture presented to The Chiropractic Philosophy Forum in Seattle on November 4, 2019. The full talk is available for TIC Members.
Some crucial conference proceedings that were published in the late 1970s and early 1980s included:
- Proceedings from The Research Status of Spinal Manipulative Therapy (1975)
- Proceedings from The NIH workshop on the neurobiologic mechanisms of
manual therapy (1977) - Proceedings from The ICA conference on the principles and practice of
chiropractic (1979)
This period was also the start of peer-reviewed history literature in chiropractic. The launch of the Association for the History of Chiropractic was a breakthrough in this regard. The journal Chiropractic History continues to be an excellent source of historical data and context for the profession. A more critical view of the actual articles from the first two decades of the journal is needed. We know so much more today that we need to ensure this older literature is corrected if there are factual errors.
The Summer 2019 issue includes a systematic content analysis of the Morikubo Trial. Several lectures on this paper are going live each month for TIC Members.
Other more recent documents in the literature, discussed in this short clip of the talk include:
- The ACC Paradigm
- The Three-year Delphi study – Consortium for Chiropractic Research
- Foundations of Vertebral Subluxation (2005)
- Chiropractic in North America: Toward a Strategic Plan for Professional Renewal (2006)
- The McDonald Study: How Chiropractors Think and Practice (2004)
The documents associated with these conferences and studies demonstrate the consensus around vertebral subluxation throughout the profession.
The issues brought up in this short clip have been addressed in two recent papers:
Philosophy and History Lectures
It is time to take the show on the road. In the coming weeks The Institute Chiropractic will be sponsoring Simon Senzon’s lectures in Barcelona, Paris, Spartanburg, Wisconsin, and Seattle. The lectures will cover a wide range of topics on the history, theory, and philosophy of chiropractic. Each set of lectures will be unique.
BCC September 27 – 29

2019 Lectures
BCC - Sep 27-29 AFHC - Oct 4-5 IRAPS - Oct 12 CSW - Oct 17 Seattle - Nov 4
The first group of lectures will be at Barcelona Chiropractic College’s Lyceum.
The BCC Lyceum lectures will include two talks and a workshop. The Friday night talk includes an overview of the research to date at The Institute Chiropractic and a report on the PhD dissertation underway at Southern Cross University.
The PhD is being supported by the Foundation for Vertebral Subluxation, which has granted a tuition scholarship to Simon Senzon. All ongoing research at TIC is supported by TIC members and other contributors.
Lyceum Talks
The workshop at Lyceum will cover the gaps in the literature based on the 10 papers recently published in the Journal of Chiropractic Humanities. If you have not read the papers yet, please see this brief overview: The Senzon Papers.
The Saturday talk will be about the Morikubo Trial. This talk is based on the latest paper on the topic. The paper is the first project towards Dr. Senzon’s dissertation. It was recently published in Chiropractic History as The Morikubo Trial: A Content Analysis of a Landmark Chiropractic Case. The talk will go into detail about the context of the case, the impact, and the way it has been distorted in the literature for the last 50 years.
The Future of Chiropractic in Paris October 4-5
The 12 hours of talks in Paris will be hosted by L’Association Française pour l’Histoire de la Chiropratique. These talks will be comprehensive and cover:
Birth of the Chiropractic Paradigm: The Work of Gaucher-Peslherbe, D.D. Palmer’s Paradigm.
The Subluxation Denier Movement: Trouble in the Chiropractic Literature, The State of the References.
D.D. Palmer Renaissance: The Chiropractic Literature of the 1960s, The Paradigm and Research in the 1970s.
Bias in the Chiropractic History Literature: History and Philosophy in the 1980s and 1990s, The impact of Keating, Gibbons, and Rehm.
The Importance of Worldviews in Chiropractic: Five levels of thinking, Perspectives on Chiropractic.
The Life of B.J. Palmer: B.J. Palmer’s major contributions, Consciousness, Research, and Practice.
The Four Quadrant Viewpoint: Four perspectives, Four domains of chiropractic.
Social Power and Chiropractic: Dominance of Worldviews, Schools, Journals, and Laws.
The Paradox of Chiropractic Science: Systems Science in the 20th century, Chiropractic Models.
Citation Networks: Quantitative views of the literature, Mapping the Intellectual Field of Chiropractic.
Discourse Analysis: 3 levels of discourse, Dominance in the Discourse.
The Future of Chiropractic: An Integral Approach to Chiropractic.
IRAPS – October 12-13
Dr. Senzon will present the research findings of his newest paper at IRAPS on October 12th. This talk emphasize the research methodologies and the data collection. The new paper on the Morikubo Trial includes 190 primary sources and more than 50 secondary sources. The paper documented a new timeline for this landmark trial with many new details. It was demonstrated that 52 documents in the literature include incorrect facts about Morikubo’s trial. These included books, papers, and dissertation.
It was also demonstrated that there is no evidence that Langworthy or the book Modernized Chiropractic had any impact on the defense’s case. Nor did it impact early chiropractic theory and philosophy in any significant way.
CSW – October 17-18
The Chiropractic Society of Wisconsin’s Health and Wellness Summit will include four hours of lectures by Dr. Senzon. The conference will be at the Glacier Canyon Lodge – Wilderness Resort, Wisconsin Dells.
Dr. Senzon’s talks will include an overview of essential chiropractic theories from chiropractic’s first 100 years. This will include the three chiropractic paradigms, the impact of the literature, and the recent challenges to the chiropractic paradigm. Important chiropractic theorists will be highlighted. The talks will also explore the role of science and theory in the chiropractic discourse. The importance of the Morikubo trial on the current literature will be highlighted as well.
The Philosophy Forum – November 4
Dr. Senzon will be returning to The Chiropractic Philosophy Forum in Seattle on November 4. This two hour talk will explore The Chiropractic Green Books. The talk will be based on the first several chapters of the recent book Chiropractic Green Books: The Definitive Guide.
The talk will emphasize new facts and insights about The Chiropractic Green Books that emerged during research for the book. Few chiropractors realize several unique elements to the books. For example, empirical research impacted theory development at least from 1911 through the 1950s. Many chapters published in the 1950s were actually written decades earlier. B.J. Palmer’s philosophy of Innate Intelligence evolved in his later books as did his vertebral subluxation theories.
If you want to prepare for these talks sign up to TIC today. And do stop by and say hello.

Palmer Chiropractic Green Books Front Cover
Palmer Chiropractic Green Books: The Definitive Guide is the first book to define the Green Books in detail. It includes a theoretical overview and a historical perspective. The Green Books were published between 1906 and 1966. The books are not only the philosophical, scientific, and artistic basis for the profession but also physical artifacts. The Definitive Guide provides a comprehensive list of every edition along with ways to assess rarity and value. The book is a new way to interpret these classic texts for expert and novice.
If you want to prepare for these talks sign up to TIC today. And do stop by and say hello.
CVS Lectures
The CVS Lectures
Sixteen-weeks of videos on the Chiropractic Vertebral Subluxation
GROW
YOUR
Practice.
- Do you want to improve your patients’ understanding of the importance of CVS? Do you want patients’ to understand why it’s important for their entire family to have their spines checked throughout their life? THIS COURSE will give you tools to effectively communicate to patients.
- Do you want to understand the many ways CVS has been researched? Would you like to integrate multiple perspectives on the neurophysiology of vertebral subluxation? THE CVS LECTURES provide you with ways to deepen your knowledge about the science of chiropractic.
- Would you like better understand patient care and learn some of the most influential models of subluxation detection? THIS COURSE teaches how to enhance your clinical understanding of patient care.
- What would it be worth to you to feel confident that you could clearly articulate misstated facts or poor arguments in the literature or claims on social media? How would it feel to have the tools to effectively confront subluxation deniers and grow the profession with facts? THE CVS LECTURES provide you with ways to confront and use the literature with confidence.
Gain Perspective & Share Knowledge
By widening your perspective, learning a wide-range of information about chiropractic’s foundations, your personal philosophy will naturally develop. Your self-confidence and even your self-esteem as a practitioner will be enhanced.
Explore your new knowledge with colleagues in an online forum. Let’s work together. Bring your your insights confidently into the online discussion forum. We can shape the position of chiropractic in the world. Let’s bring the core foundations of chiropractic back into politics and regulatory bodies. We can plan this strategically and decide the direction of the profession based on the same foundation of facts.
The Chiropractic Profession
is at a Crossroad.
The public is largely ignorant or confused about what chiropractic is. Few chiropractors seem aware of the robust history of research and theory at the foundation of daily practice. Loud voices from a small elitist group in the profession continue to call for baseless changes such as a dismissal of CVS.
This course will provide you with the evidence you need to help take the profession forward on multiple levels: as a practitioner, as a professional, and as an individual who values honesty, truth, and facts.
Each lecture in the sixteen-week series is posted in a discussion forum where you can ask questions and engage with other chiropractors. The lectures are broken down into short video clips, each includes recommended readings. Four live question and answer sessions are available for you to participate in, and recorded so you can review the content. You can join the course at any time.

Topics of the CVS Lectures

A Legacy of CVS Research
Provides clinical insights on the relation between CVS and neurophysiological processes.

CVS Perspectives
Between 1916 and 1962 at least seventeen perspectives on CVS emerged.

Evidence Based Chiropractic
This lecture explores EBM in the context of the chiropractic profession’s warfare.

CVS Consensus
This lecture offers practitioners new insights into more than 100 years of agreement throughout the profession about vertebral subluxation.

The Literature & Practice
This lecture explores errors in the literature. It is vital for chiropractors’ confidence about clinical practice.

Philosophy & Innate Intelligence
This lecture provides tools to better explain philosophical questions.

The Morikubo Trial & Practice
The Morikubo trial has shaped the profession and why it still impacts your practice. This lecture includes facts never taught before.

Subluxation Deniers
This lecture assists practitioners with learning how to navigate the literature and confront claims based on incorrect statements and poorly cited arguments.
Enrollment Includes
One-year Membership.
- 16 in-depth CVS lectures, released over 16 weeks
- Each week includes short video clips and recommended reading
- Discussion Forum for you to ask questions and engage with the other chiropractors
- Four live Q&A which are recorded for you to view at any time
- Access to over 100 hours of content
- Discount Online Continuing Education Courses (in select states and provinces)
- 1 year membership at The Institute Chiropractic (renews yearly)
- Sign up anytime
- The Cost of the Course is $500
Dealing with the Peanut Gallery
A Chiropractic History Lesson
From Simon Senzon
In the last few days I was confronted with some of the latest claims from the chiropractic peanut gallery. I am sure you know what I am talking about.
Two of the claims were from a video posted on Facebook of a chiropractor lecturing to a classroom of chiropractic students. This individual said many things that were biased and incorrect. Two of them stand out for me:
- He stated that early chiropractic and osteopathy were the same. (That is incorrect.)
- He also equated subluxation with a belief in God. (This is just absurd.)
Some of the confusion around these questions comes from decades of chiropractic authorities stating their opinions as facts and teaching that to students. Now those students are teaching their versions, without any evidence, to the latest generation. This practice must stop.
Let’s start with the first comment. The fact of the matter is, in the early days of the profession, the chiropractors and the osteopaths were at war for several years. Each accused the other of stealing theories and practices. A few important facts to note:
- D.D. Palmer was well-read in the osteopathic literature and thus was able to articulate precise differences between his theories and practices versus osteopathic approaches.
- Several of the early chiropractors were trained as osteopaths and found the two sciences distinct.
- The defense in the Morikubo trial, which was the landmark case distinguishing the two professions, successfully argued against the prosecution’s osteopathic expert witnesses. The defense demonstrated that chiropractic’s science included a unique view of the nervous system, technique included nerve tracing and a quick thrust to release nerve impingement at the IVF, neither of which was taught by osteopaths, and the philosophy of chiropractic was based on the concepts of Innate and Educated, also not taught in osteopathic schools.
As to the strange notion that vertebral subluxations has something to do with God, that is just ignorance incarnate. Anyone who states something like this demonstrates a lack of evidence about the ubiquity of vertebral subluxation theory across the entire chiropractic profession (every school) for over 100 years. Subluxation has always been viewed as the cornerstone of the profession despite the claims of a vocal minority.
On this point, I’ll refer you to two of the new papers. You should read the Introduction (Part 1), which has a section on Philosophy and Subluxation. Also read Part 8, especially the section on the distinctions made decades ago by the objective “straight” movement. From that point on, subluxation theory should be classified in terms of structure, neurology, and endogenous organization.
In terms of the early philosophical models of Innate Intelligence, psychospiritual health and wellbeing may still be studied in relation to the correction of vertebral subluxation.
Some other claims that popped up on my Facebook feed this week include at least one attempt to conflate all vitalistic perspectives with magical thinking and another attempt to conflate all subluxation-based practitioners with B.J. Palmer’s sacred trust.
Again, claims without sufficient evidence are just opinions. I have written in the past about at least five ways of thinking that might be attributed to chiropractors. I even published a chart conveying this evidence-based approach to perspectives on vitalism. Oversimplifying this issue is never going to move the profession forward. Only by embracing the complexity of these ideas might we begin to have real dialogue.
This also goes for the claims about the sacred trust and how it relates to today’s practitioners.
Finally, one other comment focused on the emphasis of the last few decades by many chiropractic researchers. Here are some additional facts:
- Starting in the 1970s and 1980s the research focus of much of the chiropractic profession turned away from somatic relationships between vertebral subluxation and neurodystrophic and neuropathic processes.
- The research in the profession up until that point was mainly focused on those areas.
- The shift in focus had more to do with politics, insurance reimbursement, and garnering research funding than the objective pursuit of science. (Science is always shaped by social and cultural forces.)
- The profession may still examine the myriad hypotheses about vertebral subluxation that have yet to be studied with modern research designs.
Some of these issues and facts were covered in my recent series of papers. Below are links to a few that are relevant. If we don’t confront the peanut gallery with evidence, the small group of academics that keep shouting opinions may impact the future of the profession.
Take care,
Simon Senzon
The Chiropractic Vertebral Subluxation Part 1: Introduction – https://www.sciencedirect.com/…/artic…/pii/S155634991830010X
The Chiropractic Vertebral Subluxation Part 7: Technics and Models From 1962 to 1980 –
https://www.sciencedirect.com/…/arti…/pii/S1556349918300159…
The Chiropractic Vertebral Subluxation Part 8: Terminology, Definitions, and Historicity From 1966 to 1980 – https://www.sciencedirect.com/…/arti…/pii/S1556349918300160
New Course, Ten Papers, and a Book Review
April was an outstanding month at The Institute Chiropractic. The new course, The CVS Lectures, was launched, ten new papers on The Chiropractic Vertebral Subluxation from 1897 to 1997 were published, and a fantastic book review on Palmer Chiropractic Green Books: The Definitive Guide was posted. We have so much more to come.
The CVS Lectures
The first week of The CVS Lectures is now live. All TIC Members have instant access to this 16-week course on The Chiropractic Vertebral Subluxation (CVS). The central lectures of the course involve the arguments from the ten papers discussed below.
The first week includes an introduction to the concept of mistakes in the historical literature and how they may affect practice.
Part two is a nine-minute lecture on the “Bohemian Stuff.” That talk is a precursor to several lectures on the Morikubo trial and its impact on chiropractic practice. The complete schedule of The CVS Lectures will posted soon.
- Each week is 20-30 minutes of lectures.
- Discussion forum is ongoing.
- Join the course at any time.
- 4 recorded Q & A sessions.
- The 16-week course is $500.
- Course registration includes yearly TIC Membership:
The other 8 sets of lectures include: Critiquing the Subluxation Literature, An Historical Perspective on Evidence in Chiropractic Research, The Impact of Historical Errors on Chiropractic Practice, Philosophy, Innate, & Dissonance, Perspectives on the Chiropractic Vertebral Subluxation, Chiropractic Research in the 1940s-1960s, The Importance of Consensus in Chiropractic, and A History of Subluxation Denialism.
Ten Papers on The Chiropractic Vertebral Subluxation
The yearly issue of Journal of Chiropractic Humanities was published four months late. Volume 25 was published. The volume includes 168 pages of text. Simon Senzon’s new series begins on page 10 and completes on page 168. The journal is open source. More blog posts will explore the themes in coming months. The new course will involve discussions of all ten papers. Here are the links to read them online or download the pdfs:
The Chiropractic Vertebral Subluxation Part 1: Introduction
The Chiropractic Vertebral Subluxation Part 2: The Earliest Subluxation Theories From 1902 to 1907
The Chiropractic Vertebral Subluxation Part 3: Complexity and Identity From 1908 to 1915
The Chiropractic Vertebral Subluxation Part 4: New Perspectives and Theorists From 1916 to 1927
The Chiropractic Vertebral Subluxation Part 5: The First Research Era From 1928 to 1949
The Chiropractic Vertebral Subluxation Part 7: Technics and Models From 1962 to 1980
The Chiropractic Vertebral Subluxation Part 9: Complexes, Models, and Consensus From 1979 to 1995
The Book Review
Steve Agocs, chiropractic history professor at Cleveland University, just posted an excellent review of the new book Palmer Chiropractic Green Books: The Definitive Guide. Dr. Agocs posted the review to facebook and wrote,
“To summarize: every chiropractor needs to own and read a copy, the amount of work that went into this is STAGGERING, and after 20 years of studying chiro history and 12 of teaching it, I found a lot of stuff I didn’t know and pictures (there are over 600! In color!) I’d never seen. It’s a work of heartbreakingly staggering genius.”
Steve does a great job of capturing the significance of this book. He also acknowledged the excellence involved in categorizing 123 distinct Green Books. And, as an historian he truly appreciated the work that it took to explore the context of each book.

Agocs Review
of Palmer Chiropractic Green Books: The Definitive Guide
The review itself is on Steve’s page and it may be found here: The Book Review.
Rehm Legally Defensible
Legally Defensible:
Chiropractic in the Courtroom and After, 1907
Author: William S. Rehm, D.C.
Citation: Chiropractic History, 1986. 6: 51-55.
This article was published in 1986 in the journal Chiropractic History.1 At the time, not much was known about Morikubo and his trial. The Palmer Archives were not yet catalogued and available for researchers. Rehm, a chiropractic historian, mostly relies on the unpublished Lerner Report as his source.
Rehm’s article establishes some context for the landmark Morikubo case. The article itself has led to decades of theory about the historical origins of chiropractic’s history and perhaps more particularly, chiropractic’s philosophy. Unfortunately, much of it is incorrect.
The article does establish that the case set a precedent and established chiropractic as separate and distinct based on its science, art, and philosophy.
In order to objectively and critically analyze the article, seven criteria are used. These criteria were developed by Dr. McAulay, a prominent chiropractic academic, as a critical way to approach the chiropractic literature. The criteria are; Clarity, Accuracy, Precision, Relevance, Depth, Breadth, and Logical Consistency.2

DD Palmer and Morikubo

BJ and Morikubo (1906)
Clarity
Clarity requires that every statement is backed up with appropriate citations.2
Rehm’s article relies on one primary source and six secondary sources.3-9 And yet, not every statement is backed up with citations. For example, Rehm cites competition between newspapers of La Crosse, Wisconsin, in 1907, but cites no newspapers. Instead, he relies on Mawhiney’s 1984 Chiropractic in Wisconsin. Rehm correctly cites Turner’s The Rise of Chiropractic and even corrects Turner.
Rehm’s main source is Lerner’s manuscript. Eleven of Rehm’s twenty-six referenced points come from Lerner’s report. The problems with Lerner’s manuscript may be explained in part due to a lack of resources, as it was written in 1952. It does contain facts and refers to interviews that were taped but not transcribed. It also refers to some court documents, newspaper articles, and some chiropractic literature. Unfortunately, Lerner chose to fill in the gaps of his knowledge with conjecture and does not provide a list of references. Today, we have access to digital libraries of old newspapers, pdfs of old documents and books, as well as new historical finds. It is relatively easy to point out the errors of Lerner’s report, note his correct facts, and better appreciate his conjectures. For this wiki, much of the focus is on Rehm’s use of Lerner’s report.
Accuracy
The overall accuracy of the article is very poor. A good deal of Lerner’s information is unsourced and much of it was fabricated in order to write an interesting story. Thus, Rehm’s article includes a few historical facts and several errors leading to some incorrect conclusions.
Several basic facts are correct such as;
- Morikubo was charged with practicing medicine, surgery, and osteopathy without a license.
- Tom Morris convinced the court to drop the charges down to “practicing osteopathy without a license.”
- Morris was able to demonstrate that osteopathy and chiropractic were separate.
- Morikubo was acquitted.
- Soon after the trial, B.J. Palmer started referring to himself as “developer” and had the faculty grant him the first PhC degree, or ‘doctor of chiropractic philosophy.’10
- The Universal Chiropractor’s Association (UCA) was started the year before the Morikubo trial.11
- There were no laws in the United States regulating chiropractic as of 1907.11
- D.D. Palmer was sentenced to 105 days in jail in April 1906, for practicing medicine without a license. He was released after 23 days upon paying the fine.8
- D.D. Palmer did not defend himself in court and only offered “one legendary outburst.”
(To read the outburst please follow this link: DD to the Judge in 1906.) - Langworthy started a rival school, a magazine, an association with colleagues (the first American Chiropractic Association), and published a textbook. He and the Palmers did have a rivalry.12
(According to Faulkner’s book, D.D. even referred to Langworthy as “Langworthless” as early as 1901.)12
Here are some of the assertions made by Rehm that are now found to be factually incorrect:
Assertions:
- Morikubo claimed that he only came to LaCrosse to pioneer chiropractic.
- Morikubo’s July interview with the Tribune and prejudice against Japanese during that era, were the reasons he was singled out with charges.
- Morikubo’s defense was planned quickly, by Morris in two weeks.
Facts: While Morikubo’s interview with the Tribune is accurate, he only told the complete story after the trial and many of the facts have only come to light in recent years. Morikubo and B.J. Palmer chose LaCrosse, because of the case against Whipple, a chiropractor practicing in LaCrosse, in 1905.13 In that case, D.D. Palmer was the expert witness and the chiropractor on trial lost. D.D. agreed that he was guilty and was mixing other methods with chiropractic. Charges were originally brought against Whipple by a local osteopath named Jorris. After graduating at the top of his class, Morikubo opened an office in the building that Jorris practiced in. Morikubo took out a full page ad as a four-column article on the science and philosophy of chiropractic.14 Morikubo was sent to test the law. He and B.J. planned to force the legal issue and utilize the new Universal Chiropractor’s Association. According to Morikubo, he and B.J. worked on their defense for six months prior to the trial.15
Assertion: Chiropractic’s first legal conflict was a grand jury indictment against the Palmer Infirmary in 1903, which involved B.J. Palmer and D.D. Palmer. This led to D.D. Palmer’s eventual jail sentence in 1906 for practicing medicine without a license.
Fact: This conjecture comes from Lerner’s account. Lerner offers no facts to support it. The charges against D.D. Palmer in 1906 relate to statements made in his publication The Chiropractor, which started production in December 1904.16 Earlier cases included various legal troubles for D.D. Palmer, the Brunner case, and the Whipple case.12
Assertion: Tom Morris developed his legal argument from “the scholarly writings” of “Dr. Solon Massey Langworthy.”
Fact: There is no evidence that the book Modernized Chiropractic was used in the defense. There is some indication that several chiropractic books were requested by the prosecution. One news story notes that Morikubo provided all books on chiropractic and osteopathy to the prosecution. There is no evidence of how they were used or, which ones. At the time of the trial, several books were in print including B.J. Palmer’s Vol. 2, Davis’ Neuropathy, as well as D.D. and B.J.’s Science of Chiropractic from 1906.
Morikubo and another witness both stated that they did not use the Langworthy book in court.18,15 These statements were in response to a statement from Langworthy’s association (ACA). Specifically, the only surviving quote from the statement, suggests that the arguments in the case originated a talk Langworthy gave in 1906, and that talk was reproduced in the book.15 Any suggestion that the argument was actually used by the defense is conjecture.
Another conjecture is the possibility that the defense followed the reasoning developed by Smith during the Brunning trial. Faulkner’s book demonstrates that Smith was an expert witness in the Brunning case in Aberdeen, South Dakota, in 1906. Smith was also secretary of that first ACA. Brunning was accused of improperly using the title “Dr.” In Smith’s testimony, he emphasized chiropractic’s separate methods and the unique approach to disease and causation. He learned those ideas from D.D. Palmer.12 (It is unknown whether Tom Morris was aware of the only other chiropractic trials in the Midwest during those years.)
Morikubo responded to the allegation from the ACA. Morikubo writes of Modernized Chiropractic, “I fail to see in it any argument which might in the slightest degree add any strength to my position against the false accusation made by Osteopathy.”15 He also notes that the prosecution tried to use the book to demonstrate similarities (not differences) between chiropractic and osteopathy. He writes,
“On the contrary, the principles set forth by its authors are no more Chiropractic than Osteopathy. It was with difficulty that we succeeded in detracting our opponent’s attention from referring to “Modernized Chiropractic” to show the judge and jury that Chiropractic was a smattering knowledge of Osteopathy.”15
Even though Lerner quotes from several issues of The Chiropractor, he must have not had access to the issues that debunked his claims. (It is unknown whether he had access to the original statement about Langworthy’s essay.)
New evidence proves that Modernized Chiropractic was written by O.G. Smith, D.D. Palmer’s 10th student.12 According to Smith’s 1932 edition of the book, Langworthy was the publisher.19
Assertions: According to Rehm, “Modernized Chiropractic purported to establish for the first time these ideas: ‘A correct philosophy, a well-developed technique, a dependable systems of diagnosis, and a reliable and extensive system of correction.” Also, that the brain was the source of the “unseen power,” and that the book introduced the importance of intervertebral foramina, the chiropractic thrust, and the central role of the nervous system in chiropractic theory.1
Facts: D.D. Palmer wrote about all of these ideas between the years 1899 and 1905.22-27
Assertion: Chiropractic only relied on philosophy after the court case.
Fact: D.D. Palmer’s wrote about Subluxation and IVF in 1902,28, 29 Innate Intelligence and Educated Intelligence can be dated at least to 1903,25 and his writings on Universal Intelligence can be dated to 1905.27
Assertion: B.J. abandoned his father’s philosophy and embraced Langworthy’s theories.
Fact: Both B.J.’s theories and Smith’s theories (as described in Modernized Chiropractic) were built upon D.D. Palmer’s theories.12, 30
Assertion: Tom Morris was “the brains behind B.J.” and “developed the idea of chiropractic philosophy.”1
Fact: B.J. Palmer had already delivered two sets of unique lectures, published his own textbook in 1907 as Vol. 2,30 and contributed several essays to the 1906 text, The Science of Chiropractic,31 before working with Morris. Morris and B.J. Palmer worked together for two decades defending chiropractors. They mostly relied on the new theories B.J. developed in 1907 and 1908, which were based on D.D.’s theories.30, 32-34
Assertion: B.J. and Morris split because of a new UCA policy in the 1920s, which only defended chiropractors practicing “straight chiropractic,” who did not include extraneous methods or therapies.
Fact: The UCA policy always focused on this defense. In fact, Holmes, Morris’ law partner, even wrote of this in a textbook called Malpractice as Applied to Chiropractors, published by the Palmer School of Chiropractic as Green Book Vol. 17, in 1924.35 Morris endorsed the book. The splits in the ranks of the UCA in the 1920s were complex.11
Precision
Apart from the obvious inaccuracies reported, Rehm’s article makes several statements, which lead to conclusions that are questionable. For example, Rehm inserted his own opinion by using the term “dogma” twice. Once was in regard to B.J. Palmer’s theories. The second time suggests that the Morikubo trial was an attempt to merge “science and dogma.” In this regard, he also quotes the term, “unscientific and cultist” in referring to the philosophy of chiropractic, but there is no source for the quote. These types of unsubstantiated opinions were misrepresented as facts in future publications citing Rehm.36, 37
Relevance
In light of the many problems with accuracy, clarity, and precision, Rehm’s article should no longer be considered relevant and should not be cited to support its basic claims.
Depth
Rehm’s article is lacking in complexity and dimensionality. It relies on Lerner’s one-sided account, historical errors, and a bias against the chiropractic paradigm, which emphasizes Innate Intelligence and vertebral subluxation. We now know that the context of the Morikubo trial is far more complex than the article suggests.
Breadth
Rehm’s article also lacks breadth, which is defined as a “full spectrum of thinking on the subject.”2
Logical Consistency
Rehm’s article tells a clear enough story but it is based on so many gaps and an inherent bias against core chiropractic theories that it does not meet this criteria. For example, a reading of D.D. Palmer’s articles and chapters from 1902 to 1906 demonstrates that his theories were developed well before the Morikubo trial. The logic of Rehm’s article is deeply flawed.
Critiques and Revisions
There have been several critiques of Rehm and Lerner in the literature of the past few years.38-44 Any peer-reviewed papers published at this point referencing Rehm to support the spurious claims should call into question the adequacy of journals, reviewers, and editors that let it pass as a valid reference.
The literature citing Rehm is extensive.11, 13, 36, 37, 45-89 It is difficult to estimate the impact of the article on the chiropractic literature, chiropractic education, and even chiropractic policy decisions.
The Institute Chiropractic Wiki will continue to list seminal articles from the chiropractic canon. Statements that do not meet the criteria of a critical approach, especially the criteria of clarity due to unsupported statements, will be noted. It is hoped that this contribution to the literature will help to reshape the future discourse in chiropractic and inspire revisions of arguments that rely on inadequate citations.
References
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- Lerner, C., The Lerner report. 1952, Davenport, IA.: Palmer College Archives.
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