Colonizing the body: state medicine and epidemic disease in nineteenth-century India

chosen to illustrate various themes in the emergence and evolution of chiropractic theory and therapy within the American medical environment. These reflections on the survival of a medical alternative are directed first to the nineteenth-century environment of manual (bonesetting) and harmonial (magnetism, spiritualism) healing traditions so as to expose the roots of the peculiar blend of "poetry with science" that young chiropractic embraced. Founder D D Palmer's mystical pathology, son B J's almost pathological mercantilism, the intramural fervour and fragmentation inspired by both those early leaders ("the chiropractic kaleidoscope"), the eventual housecleaning and bootstrapping leading to marginal respectability, and the "bones of contention" between this upstart group and the medical establishment provide the topics for subsequent chapters. Finally, the flourishing of chiropractic in the holistic era, as poetry with science became fashionable again, provides an insightful summation and the basis for a short speculative postscript on the profession's future. And throughout, Moore maintains a posture that is sympathetic without being worshipful, critical without condemning. There is nevertheless a certain disjointedness in the structure of the book. Reversing the order of the first two chapters, for example, would provide easier access to chiropractic's formative years, particularly for readers not already versed in the subject. Similarly, it would be useful to know about the cult of "uncritical fidelity" that had grown around Palmer pere etfils by the 1910s, before learning about the falling away of disciples in the 1 920s due to the son's commercial exploitation of gadgetry; instead, that development is presented 40 pages later. There are weight imbalances too, some subjects being discussed at length, others, though of comparable import, being handled rather cursorily. There are admirably thorough expositions of the variety of theories and methods among the straights and mixers of early century; of the religious impulse in chiropractic development; of the profession's anti-trust suit against the American Medical Association in recent years. One would like to see as much attention given to matters such as the upgrading of chiropractic education to a status beyond oxymoron, or the struggle to transform the DC's public image. These are relative quibbles, though, for overall Moore's is a complete outline that presents a number of intriguing ideas relevant not only to the maturation of chiropractic, but also to broader issues of conventional and unconventional healing. Photographs (especially of instruments), appendices (lists of chiropractic licensing laws and articles on chiropractic in the popular press), and an extensive bibliographic essay add to the interest and value of the work. Now for a history of naturopathy.