These new ideas cannot hope for full and immediate credence and must be presented carefully, with this fact in mind and with due consideration for the degree of intelligence of the listener. Avoid argumentative discussion with patients, seeking rather to enlighten them about those facts peculiar to Chiropractic and unknown to them than to antagonize them by contradicting their cherished beliefs. It is much wiser to begin with that knowledge of disease which you hold in common with the patient and advance with him, step by step, from that firm foundation to new truths than to begin by attempting to tear down his beliefs. Reason from the known to the unknown. Replace an old idea as to the causation of disease by quietly inserting a new one of greater verity and it will presently and painlessly crowd out the old. This process is much the simplest and easiest. Nevertheless in presenting Chiropractic we must be gently positive. Chiropractic is known and provable. Always able to fall back upon the clinical test as a final argument with supreme assurance that it will not fail to vindicate our claims, we may present an unshaken front before the most powerful and intelligent attack. Promises to Patients The majority of patients will require from the Chiropractor an expression of his belief in his ability or inability to cure them. They will desire a statement as to the probable time required for a cure. They may even ask a guarantee of success. These questions are hard to meet truthfully and convincingly, for the truth is that every Chiropractor fails sometimes and is unable to predict that failure in advance and that no one wise enough to predict the length of time which will be required for the cure of any given case has yet arisen. And these truths do not sound reassuring or convincing. Explain to the patient that nature alone is the curative agent and that the cure depends not alone upon the skill of the adjuster but upon the exact condition of the vertebrae, the exact amount or degree of damage to tissue, the patient’s habits of living, etc. Any accidental interjection of other factors into the case may have an important bearing. You may assure him of the excellent results you have obtained in other cases similar to his, or even cite individual cases if to do so does not violate a professional confidence. But you had best avoid a promise to cure or an exact statement of the time which will be needed. State your belief or opinion but do not bind yourself to a promise. Offer your best skill and closest attention; you can do no more. The patient should rely upon the skill of the Chiropractor as upon the skill of his lawyer or his physician. Neither can honestly promise that he will succeed in his efforts, even though all indications point that way. Re-Tracing of Disease