Vibrations of Vitality: Jean-Martin Charcot and D.D. Palmer on Tuning Forks, Tone, and the Hermetic Principle of Vibration

By Michael Dorausch, D.C.

In the late 19th century, as science and spirituality converged to unravel the mysteries of human vitality, pioneers Jean-Martin Charcot and Daniel David Palmer explored the nervous system’s role in health through the lens of vibration. Charcot, the founder of modern neurology, used tuning forks to probe hysteria and hypnosis at Paris’s Salpêtrière Hospital, while Palmer, the founder of chiropractic, harnessed spinal adjustments to restore “tone,” a balanced state of nerve tension. Both men, operating in an era of intellectual giants like Emil Kraepelin, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, Pierre Janet, and Alexis Carrel, were captivated by the idea that vibrations could influence mind and body. Their work resonates with the Hermetic Principle of Vibration, an ancient esoteric tenet positing that all matter and energy vibrate at specific frequencies. This article compares Charcot and Palmer, the use of tuning forks, vibration, and tone, and connects their insights to later discoveries, such as Itzhak Bentov’s work on aortic frequencies and the intriguing role of the 64 Hz frequency.

Charcot and Palmer: Pioneers of the Nervous System

Jean-Martin Charcot (1825–1893), a French neurologist, transformed the Salpêtrière into a global hub for studying neurological disorders, including hysteria. His experiments with hypnosis and sensory stimuli, conducted in the 1870s and 1880s, aimed to uncover how the nervous system responded to external triggers. Charcot’s theatrical demonstrations, immortalized in André Brouillet’s A Clinical Lesson at the Salpêtrière (1887), influenced contemporaries like Freud and Janet, who explored the unconscious mind.

Daniel David Palmer (1845–1913), an American magnetic healer turned chiropractor, founded chiropractic in 1895 in Davenport, Iowa, after reportedly restoring a janitor’s hearing through spinal adjustment. Operating in the same intellectual milieu as Kraepelin, Freud, Jung, Adler, Janet, and Carrel, Palmer sought to regulate “Innate Intelligence,” a vital life force, through the spine. His concepts of tone, nerve tension, and autosuggestion, detailed in The Chiropractor’s Adjuster (1910), positioned the nervous system as health’s cornerstone, echoing the era’s fascination with energy and vibration.

Both men shared a belief that the nervous system mediated vitality, responsive to stimuli like sound or spinal alignment. Their approaches converge in their use of vibration, a concept rooted in both science and the esoteric Hermetic Principle of Vibration.

The Hermetic Principle of Vibration

The Hermetic Principle of Vibration, drawn from the Kybalion (1908) and attributed to ancient Hermetic teachings, states, “Nothing rests; everything moves; everything vibrates.” This principle posits that all matter, energy, and consciousness exist in a state of vibration, with distinct frequencies determining their form and function. In the 19th century, as acoustics and electromagnetism advanced, this esoteric idea gained scientific traction, influencing fields from neurology to alternative healing. Charcot’s tuning forks and Palmer’s nerve vibration theories reflect this principle, suggesting that health depends on harmonizing the body’s vibrational state.

Charcot’s Tuning Forks: Vibration as a Neurological Trigger

Charcot’s experiments with tuning forks, documented in Iconographie photographique de la Salpêtrière (1876–1880), were a cornerstone of his hysteria and hypnosis research. He used large tuning forks, often set on resonating boxes to amplify sound, to provoke autonomic nervous system responses in patients diagnosed as “major hysterics.”

Charcot’s method involved:

• Inducing Hypnotic States: Patients exposed to a 64 Hz tuning fork’s hum would enter catalepsy, appearing absorbed and unaware, their bodies frozen in posed positions. Stopping the vibration could shift them to somnambulism, another hypnotic state.
• Neurological Testing: Tuning forks, used in Weber and Rinne tests, assessed hearing loss by placing a vibrating fork on the skull or jaw, helping Charcot distinguish sensory from psychological symptoms.
• Theoretical Framework: Charcot believed the tuning fork’s vibrations directly stimulated the auditory nerve or nervous system, bypassing conscious control. He speculated about “excitation of auditory sensitivity, or that of sensitivity in general,” reflecting the era’s interest in vibration as a neural mediator.

The 64 Hz frequency, roughly corresponding to a low C note, was significant in Charcot’s work, though specific data on its physiological impact is sparse. Modern studies suggest low-frequency sounds (50–100 Hz) can influence brainwave activity, potentially inducing alpha or theta states associated with relaxation or trance, which may explain Charcot’s observations.

Palmer’s Tone and Nerve Vibration: Spinal Harmony

Palmer’s chiropractic philosophy centered on the spine as the nervous system’s regulator, channeling Innate Intelligence. His concept of tone, defined as “the normal degree of nerve tension,” represented a balanced state of elasticity and vitality. “Tone is expressed in functions by normal elasticity, activity, strength and excitability of the various organs,” he wrote, framing health as nervous system harmony disrupted by subluxations (vertebral misalignments caused by trauma, toxins, or autosuggestion).

Palmer’s notion of nerve vibration was central: subluxations altered nerve “carrying capacity,” shifting tension and producing disease. He described nerves as vibrating like “strings of a musical instrument,” with optimal vibration equating to health. This aligns with the Hermetic Principle of Vibration, where life’s essence is a frequency to be tuned. Palmer’s autosuggestion, the idea that mental states could induce subluxations by directing “unusual impulse” to nerves, further linked mind and body, paralleling the era’s psychosomatic theories.

Palmers focus on vibration resonates with Charcot’s experiments. The later chiropractic neurocalometer (1924), introduced by Palmer’s son B.J., measured spinal heat as a proxy for nerve tension, echoing Charcot’s use of sound to detect nervous system imbalances. Both men saw vibration as a window into vitality.

Comparing Charcot and Palmer

Charcot and Palmer, though divergent in method, shared a fascination with vibration and nervous system dynamics:

• Vibration as Mediator: Charcot’s tuning forks used sonic vibration to trigger nervous responses, while Palmer’s nerve vibration reflected Innate Intelligence’s flow. Both aligned with the Hermetic Principle, viewing vibration as life’s animating force.
• Tone vs. Catalepsy: Charcot’s cataleptic states, induced by 64 Hz vibrations, were temporary nervous system alterations; Palmer’s tone was a sustained ideal, disrupted by subluxations. Both sought to harmonize the nervous system (Charcot through external stimuli, Palmer through spinal adjustments).
• Mind-Body Link: Charcot’s suggestible hysterics and Palmer’s autosuggestion highlight mental influence on physiology, connecting to contemporaries like Freud (hysteria) and Janet (dissociation). Charcot’s tuning forks exploited suggestion; Palmer’s autosuggestion caused physical misalignment.

Their shared era, marked by Kraepelin’s psychiatry, Freud’s psychoanalysis, Jung’s archetypes, Adler’s goals, Janet’s subconscious, and Carrel’s vitality, was a crucible for exploring energy’s role in health. Charcot’s tuning forks and Palmer’s nerve vibration reflect a common thread: the nervous system as a vibrational nexus, tunable for healing.

Itzhak Bentov and Aortic Frequencies

The vibrational insights of Charcot and Palmer find a modern echo in the work of Itzhak Bentov (1923–1979), a Czech-American inventor and mystic whose book Stalking the Wild Pendulum (1977) explored consciousness and physiology through vibration. Bentov proposed that the human body operates as a resonant system, with organs vibrating at specific frequencies. His most intriguing discovery was the aortic frequency, the rhythmic oscillation of the aorta during heartbeat, which he measured at approximately 6–7 Hz in meditative states.

Bentov’s experiments, using ballistocardiography to detect bodily micromovements, showed the aorta’s pulsations create a standing wave that resonates through the body, influencing brain and nervous system activity. He suggested this 6–7 Hz frequency aligns with theta brainwaves, associated with deep relaxation and heightened consciousness, linking physical vibration to mental states.

• Charcot’s Legacy: The 64 Hz tuning fork’s trance-inducing effect prefigures Bentov’s aortic frequency facilitating meditative states, both using vibration to alter nervous system function.
• Palmer’s Tone: Bentov’s resonant body mirrors Palmer’s tone, where optimal vibration equates to health. Palmer’s nerve vibration, disrupted by subluxations, parallels Bentov’s idea that bodily disharmony alters resonant frequencies.

Synthesis: A Vibrational Continuum

Charcot and Palmer, through tuning forks and spinal adjustments, tapped into the Hermetic Principle of Vibration, seeing health as a harmonious frequency. Charcot’s 64 Hz tuning forks, inducing catalepsy, and Palmer’s nerve vibration, restoring tone, reflect a shared belief in the nervous system’s responsiveness to vibrational stimuli. Their era’s luminaries echoed this quest to understand life energy, whether cosmic or mental. Bentov’s aortic frequencies, measured decades later, validate their intuition, showing how bodily vibrations influence consciousness and health.

From Charcot’s Salpêtrière to Palmer’s Davenport to Bentov’s meditative experiments, the thread of vibration weaves a narrative of vitality as a tunable state. As we explore frequencies, we honor the legacy: a vision of the body as a resonant instrument, vibrating in harmony with the universe’s unseen rhythms.