pressing against the nerves which innervate the
heart. I adjusted the vertebra and gave immediate
relief—nothing ‘accidental’ or ‘crude’ about this.
Then I began to reason if two diseases, so dissimilar
as deafness and heart trouble, came from impinge-
ment, a pressure on nerves, were not other disease
due to a similar cause? Thus the science (knowl-
edge) and art (adjusting) of Chiropractic were
formed at that time. I then began a systematic inves-
tigation for the cause of all diseases and have been
amply rewarded.”
Palmer founded chiropractic on principles of
osteology, neurology, and functions of bones,
nerves, and the manifestations of impulse, and
originated the art of adjusting vertebrae and the
knowledge of every principle included in the con-
struction of chiropractic science.
“The amount of nerve tension determines
health or disease,” Palmer wrote. “In health there
is normal tension, known as tone, the normal
activity, strength, and excitability of the various
organs and functions as observed in a state of
health. The kind of disease depends upon what
nerves are too tense or too slack.”
See also CHIROPRACTIC.
Palmer Method See PALMER, DANIEL DAVID.
palmistry The art of reading an individual’s char-
acter and divining the future by interpreting lines on
the palm of the hand. Palmistry may have originated
in ancient India, and it was probably from their orig-
inal Indian home that the traditional fortune-telling
of the Gypsies was derived. It was also practiced in
China, Tibet, Persia, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and
ancient Greece. In medieval Europe it was used to
discover witches, who were thought to have pig-
mentation spots as signs of a pact with the devil.
Though palmistry is still practiced, there is no
known scientific basis for it. http://education.
yahoo.com.
panchakarma The Ayurvedic term for the five
types of therapeutic internal cleansing: vomiting,
purging, two kinds of enemas, and nasal inhala-
tion. These therapies are meant to restore balance
and prevent disease.
See also AYURVEDA.
Paracelsus The pseudonym of the German-Swiss
physician and alchemist Philippus Aureolus
Theophrastus Bombast von Hohenheim (1493–
1541), who claimed to have received his doctoral
degree at the University of Ferrara. He adopted the
name para-Celsus—meaning “beyond Celsus” (the
Roman authority on medicine)—and wandered
throughout Europe and the Middle East, studying
with alchemists. He valued the common sense of
common people more than the dry teachings of
Aristotle, Galen, and Avicenna and stressed nature’s
healing power. He gave open lectures in German at
the University of Basel and was eventually forced to
flee the city as his broadmindedness scandalized
authorities. His written works include Der grossen
Wundartzney(Great surgery book, 1536). He antici-
pated by centuries the treatment of syphilis by mer-
cury compounds, the realization that inhaled dust
causes miners’ silicosis, and homeopathy and was
the first to connect goiter with minerals in drinking
water. http://education.yahoo.com.particularsSymptoms described in homeopathic
medicine as personal to the patient and expressed
as “My ———,” as opposed to generals, which
relate to the whole person.
See also HOMEOPATHY.past-life regression therapy A combination of
hypnosis and psychiatric analysis that can reveal
experiences in past lives thought to influence ill-
ness and wellness in the present lifetime of an indi-
vidual. Most recently, this technique of
psychotherapy/psychiatry has been popularized by
Brian Weiss, M.D., psychiatrist, head of the Weiss
Institute in Florida and author of several books,
including Many Minds, Many Masters(New York:
Fireside, 1988). Through Time Into Healing(New
York: Simon & Schuster, 1992), and Messages from
the Masters, (New York: Warner Books, 2000).
According to Denise Linn in Past Lives, Present
Dreams (New York: Ballantine Books, 1997), “Past-
life therapy can sometimes give answers that nei-
ther traditional medicine nor traditional therapy
provides. Of course, there can be many contribut-
ing reasons for our problems in life, and it can be
all too easy to blame these on past-life behavior.
Nevertheless, past-life exploration has proved124 Palmer Method