734 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



blood less. It will not be surprising, then, to learn that in practice 

 massage sometimes proves a valuable ally in the treatment of func- 

 tional and organic diseases of the heart, for "the peripheral friction 

 of the blood against the walls of the capillaries and small arteries not 

 only opposes the flow of blood through them, but, working backward 

 along the whole arterial system, has to be overcome by the heart at 

 each systole of the left ventricle." This obstacle is in great part 

 lessened by massage. In exercise there is alternate contraction and 

 relaxation of voluntary muscles, and this is a powerful aid to the cir- 

 culation in general ; for at each contraction the vessels are emptied by 

 compression, and the alternating relaxation allows them to fill up again. 

 Thus each muscle or group of muscles in activity has been appropri- 

 ately likened to a beating heart. In this respect the intermittent 

 pressure of massage aids and imitates the alternate contraction and 

 relaxation of muscles very accurately, and no better praise could be 

 bestowed upon any therapeutical agent than the old-fashioned, 

 haughty, supercilious way of dismissing the subject of massage as 

 unworthy of notice by saying that it was merely a substitute for 

 exercise. Exercise favors all the functions, and people who can exer- 

 cise freely without fatigue, and who can eat and sleep well, seldom 

 need massage. I am aware that this statement includes many neura- 

 sthenics, especially those who suffer from want of occupation. 



While undergoing massage it is well for the patient to take fre- 

 quent and deep inspirations, in order to favor the flow of the venous 

 and lymphatic currents to the thorax. This, however, is often in- 

 stinctively done, and with such ease that the patient feels as if freed 

 from an immense load. From a paper by Professor H. P. Bowditch, 

 in the " Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences," 

 for 1873, " On the Lymph-Spaces in Fasciae," we learn the following 

 valuable and interesting facts : " In experiments on animals where the 

 flow of lymph through the thoracic duct was measured, passive move- 

 ments of the limbs increased this flow in a remarkable manner. Gal- 

 vanization of the muscles had a similar but less powerful effect. The 

 lymph-spaces existing between the tendinous fibers of fasciae and the 

 connection of these spaces with lymphatic vessels have been described 

 by Ludwig and others. By virtue of this structure the fasciae play 

 an important part in keeping up the flow of lymph through the lym- 

 phatic vessels. A piece of fascia was removed from the leg of a dog 

 and tied over the mouth of a glass funnel, with the side next the mus- 

 cles uppermost. A few drops of a colored turpentine solution were 

 then placed upon this surface, and the fascia alternately stretched and 

 relaxed by partially exhausting the air from the funnel and allowing 

 it to return again. In this way the coloring matter was made to 

 penetrate into the spaces between the fibers of the fascia and to enter 

 the lymph-spaces on the opposite side. The same result was obtained 

 when the coloring matter was injected between the muscles and the 



