A Manual of Osteopathic Manipulations and Treatment Wilfred L. Riggs, D. O. 1901      INTRODUCTION  
 
    LIFE is a reaction. Its basis is three-fold: Mind which directs it: physical organization which makes it possible; and the chemical changes which accompany, and arc a part of all its processes. The body is a machine for the transformation of energy. By its subtle changes the latent force of the food is converted into the highest type of human energy. The quantity and quality of this change determines the individual. The completeness of the change and the proper distribution of the energy determine the health of the individual.

    This energy-machine must he in perfect order, else there will be interference with both the quality of the change and its distribution, either of which conditions is abnormal. All life processes are effected through motion.

    The lymph, the blood, all the fluids of the body, the tissues, require to be kept constantly moving. Cessation of motion means imperfect changes, sub-oxides, stagnation, death. To meet these conditions Osteopathy offers the following:
 
    First. Correction of sub-luxations, luxations, and contractures.
 
    Second. Removal of all irritations, central or peripheral, affecting the nervous system.
 
    Third. Removal of impediments to the passage of the forces and fluids of the body.
 
    Fourth. A perfect method of increasing or decreasing the activity of the glandular tissues; and
 
    Fifth. Through the vaso-motor system a perfect control of the blood supply to every organ of the body.
 
    These effects are based known physiological laws.  There is no empiricism in Osteopathic practice.
 
    Osteopathy is that science of healing which emphasizes the diagnosis of diseases by physical methods with a view to discovering, not the symptoms, but the causes of disease; and treats the same by manipulation, the purpose and result of which is to restore the normal condition of nerve control and blood supply to every organ in the body by removing physical obstruction, or by stimulating or inhibiting functional activity as the condition may require.