544 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The "Law of Manu" prescribed diet, washing, baths, rubbing, 

 and anointing with oil as religious exercises. 



In 1854 an account was published of a German merchant, who had 

 been treated in Stockholm by medical gymnastics, and who made a 

 journey to Calcutta, and went through a course of massage and exer- 

 cises there, in order to become an authority on the subject. He after- 

 ward founded an athena?um for rational gymnastics in Berlin. 



The gymnastic exercises of the Indians consist of (1) wrestling, 

 (2) of what we should call boxing, (3) stick, or sword, exercise. They 

 also practice movements for rendering the limbs supple, and manipula- 

 tions of various sorts. Before the Indians begin their exercises, they 

 cower on the earth, and by turns rub each other with the mud from 

 the delta of the Ganges when they can obtain it. All the muscles of 

 their bodies are pressed and kneaded. When Indians are unwell, they 

 frequently employ a cure called chamboning : the whole of the pa- 

 tient's body is gently kneaded, beginning with the upper extremities, 

 descending to the feet. 



Dr. Stein, of Heidelberg, who spent some years in the Dutch medi- 

 cal service in Java, writes that massage is practiced there, as in almost 

 all the Dutch colonies of the Indian Ocean. It is known as pidjet-ten, 

 and it is also employed in the Society, Sandwich, Feejee, and Tonga 

 Islands. Dr. Emerson, a native of the Sandwich Islands, says it is 

 there called lomi-lomi, and is performed either over the whole or part 

 of the body, usually by old women. It consists in rubbing and knead- 

 ing, and may vary from the gentlest stroke to the most powerful grip. 

 It is considered as a high mark of honor for a host to perform this 

 operation for his guest, or to receive this attention from him. No 

 pain is inflicted. Occasionally the natives lie flat on the earth, and let 

 their children trample on them. In an account of the Isle of Tonga, 

 it is related that, when people are suffering from great fatigue, three 

 or four little children are employed to trample on the body of the 

 patient as he lies on the grass. Massage is frequently applied to the 

 forehead, or the top of the head, in those islands, with excellent results. 



In Forster's account of Cook's travels in Tahiti, we read that the 

 friendly inhabitants rubbed the travelers' limbs in order to refresh 

 them after their fatigues. 



The Chinese are supposed to have learned the use of gymnastic 

 exercises from the Indians, and the subject was mentioned in the most 

 ancient of their books, the " Cong-Fou," or " Science of Living." The 

 Chinese added the use of medicinal plants to the treatment of illness 

 by rubbing and gymnastic exercises. The Egyptians were and are 

 proficients in the art of manipulation, anointing with oil and friction 

 being part of the cure employed. The Greeks employed gymnastics 

 and massage in order to preserve health as well as to restore it. 



Pythagoras taught his disciples to practice moderation, to use veg- 

 etable diet and gymnastic exercises. 





