The Midwest pioneer, his ills, cures, & doctors - University Library ...

238
the shade. He would confess, on attending one of the
Doctor's lectures, and witnessing some of his wonderful
experiments in 'neurology', (as he styles the science,) that
there were yet things in heaven and earth, which had not
been dreamt of even in his philosophy.
"We would not exactly class the Doctor's science with
witchcraft and hobgoblinism, though it seems to be quite
as marvelous as either; for the fact of his having made
converts of some of the most intelligent of our citizens,
would dispose us, aside from our own observations, to
believe there is something in the matter worthy, for its
novelty at least, the attention of the curious."
Possibly John Bunyan Campbell of Pennsylvania, who,
after the Civil War, opened the American Health College
in Cincinnati, had read some of Buchanan's works. At any
rate he founded Vitapathy, and built up a considerable
following. Although his school did not fare well at the
hands of the Ohio State Board of Medical Registration and
Examination, it seemed to prosper otherwise. Largely a
one-man affair, the school granted diplomas, but not
M.D.'s; taught how to "pull out poison and rabid bites"
with a special engine, practice obstetrics, treat diseases of
women and children, lockjaw, cancer, and so forth, all
without laboratory, dissection, or drugs. Graduates of this
school of "vitapathic physicians and ministers" were
empowered to heal the sick, give the vitapathic breathing
prayer, administer the milk-sacrament, and emanate higher
spiritualization.
This whole cult was based upon the presence everywhere
of "Vita," a therapeutic agent which could be introduced
into the body of a sufferer if handled by a properly qualified
vitapathic physician. In order to facilitate this introduction,
since "The higher wisdom and spiritual power comes
in at the top of the head," and since "Hair is a nonconductor,"
according to Campbell, "the hair must be
parted there to let the spirit in." Students of Campbell