A manual of treatment by massage and methodical muscle exercise / by Joseph Schreiber ; translated, with the author's permission, by Walter Mendelson.

Date:
1887
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of treatment by massage and methodical muscle exercise / by Joseph Schreiber ; translated, with the author's permission, by Walter Mendelson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    MASSAGE AND METHODICAL MUSCLE EXERCISE. INTRODUCTION. HISTORY OF MECHANO-THERAPY. The method of healing disease by mechanical means dates back to the oldest literary records of the Hindoos and Chinese; the celebrated book of the Hindoos, the Susruta, written long before the Christian era, containing excellent descriptions of medical gymnastics. The system was originally free from all superstitious observances, but it soon became invested by the Brahmins with various mysteries, of a kind calculated to deceive the popular mind into a belief in its divine origin. The priests thus not only increased their revenues, but, at the same time, fostered the credulity of the common people in the power of the remedy. The Brahmins continue, to the present day, to use the same methods they did three thousand years ago. The oldest book of the Chinese, the Cong-Fou, contains detailed accounts of medical gymnastics, illustrated by draw- ings which show what correct ideas on mechano-therapy this ancient nation had. In a book by F. Lutterbacli, bearing the pompous title, Revolution in the Art of Walking, which appeared in Paris in 1850, we find most divers modes of respiration treated of; yet they were known to Chinese physicians centuries ago. The title of the book Cong-Fou indicates its contents: “Cong” meaning an art, “Fou ” a man ; therefore, “ the man who uses an art ” [or perhaps “ the art used upon man ” ?]. According to recent researches, there can be no doubt that it contains directions for treating, by gymnastics, sprains, dislocations, and other similar surgical ailments. 2
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