Jr 



306 APPENDIX. 



Stretching machines are also employed, which, by 

 means of straps passing under the chin, and around the 

 back of the head, keep the spine in a continued state of 

 tension. Nearly the whole weight of the body is sus- 

 pended by the straps, and thus are often used, until the 

 chin becomes ulcerated, and the countenance perma- 

 nently deformed, in consequence of their pressure on 

 these parts. 



Another invention for the same purpose consists of 

 complicated machinery fitted to the back, and which 

 the miserable sufferer is doomed constantly to wear. 

 With respect to one of these, Mr. Shaw says, " I could 

 not have believed (had I not seen the fact) that with the 

 most determined resolution to endure pain, any person 

 would have submitted to the punishment of carrying 

 such a machine on the back for twelve months." 



Of the stretching chair, another apparatus for straight- 

 ening young spines, Mr. Shaw says, " the windlass by 

 which the crane is elevated, and to which the patient's 

 head is proposed to be attached, is so powerful that it 

 might almost tear the head from the body." 



For the same purpose the rope and pulley is not only 

 used, so as to raise the patients from the ground by the 

 chin, but to keep them thus suspended for some time. 

 " Until," says Mr. Shaw, "I saw several patients under- 

 go this experiment, I could not believe that it was ever 

 put into practice ;-. for it is quite obvious that while a 

 child is suspended by the chin, the ligaments of the neck 

 must be stretched to a dangerous degree." On exam- 

 ining girls who had been daily swung up for months,, in 

 this manner, the same writer found, that the muscles 

 passing from the head to the neck, were so increased in 

 size, as to make a new species of deformity. 



It ought, however to be understood, that these are the 

 methods employed by quacks and irregular practition- 

 ers for the cure of distorted spines, and that most of them 

 are condemned by well educated physicians. In this 

 country similar machines are made use of for the same 

 purpose, and with what success the patients and their 

 friends are the best judges. It is certain, however, that 

 the patient, as well as her friends, are often deceived by 

 an apparent cure, when the disease and distortion are 



