Ligon v. State

• Decision Date: 21 December 1905
• Citation: Ligon v. State, 145 Ala. 659, 39 So. 662 (Ala. 1905)
• Parties: LIGON v. STATE.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

39 So. 662

145 Ala. 659

LIGON v. STATE.

Supreme Court of Alabama

December 21, 1905

Appeal from City Court of Mobile; O. J. Semmes, Judge.

"Not officially reported."

Greenwood Ligon was convicted of practicing osteopathy without having procured a certificate of qualification from the state board of medical examiners, and he appeals. Affirmed.

It is agreed, subject to legal objection as to the relevancy of all or any part of the same, between the attorney prosecuting for the state and the defendant, that the following statement of facts shall be used at the trial of the above-styled case "The defendant within 12 months before the finding of the indictment practiced, in Mobile county, Ala., what is commonly known as 'Osteopathy,' without first having obtained a certificate of qualification from one of the authorized boards of medical examiners of this state; that he practiced the same as a profession and means of livelihood that osteopathy is a new method of treating diseases commonly said and understood to have originated with one Dr A. T. Still, of Kirksville, Mo., about the year 1871; that said Dr. Still practiced osteopathy until about the year 1890, when he established a school for instruction therein that said school has subsequently grown until it is now a chartered college. The defendant was regularly educated in and graduated from the said college, which has the name of the American School of Osteopathy, and holds a diploma from that institution certifying his capacity and fitness for the practice of osteopathy. Osteopathy is the science of treating diseases manually by the adjustments of all parts and organs to their natural relation with each other, thus removing the irritations resulting from the abnormal relations, and removing obstructions to the vital forces and fluids of the body, and by stimulating mechanically all organs to their proper function, or inhibiting abnormally active processes or movements or portions of the bodily organism. The method of treatment by the practitioners of osteopathy is a system of scientific manipulation of the bony and muscular structure of the body of the patient. In the treatment, no drug, medicine or other substance is administered or applied, either internally or externally, nor is the knife used, or any form of surgery resorted to, in the treatment. The practitioner himself performs the manipulations. The teaching and theory of those skilled in osteopathy are that it is a system of treatment of disease by adjustment of all the parts of the body mechanically. Osteopathic treatment, it is claimed, overcomes contracted conditions of the muscles, stimulates the nerve centers to greater activity, and increases the circulation to the parts by mechanical means, without the aid of any sort of medication. The repudiation of drugs and medicine in the treatment of disease is a basic principle of osteopathy, and a knowledge of drugs or medicines, their administration for the cure of diseases, and the writing and giving of prescriptions, are not essential to the...