What's the Matter With You? 



The illuminated skeleton tells. The organs 

 are indicated by incandescent lamps 



DR. RATLEDGE, of Los Angeles, 

 has a novel and rather startling 

 method of explaining to you what 

 he thinks is the mat- 

 ter with you. He 

 hangs a skeleton in a 

 frame of piping and 

 indicates the posi- 

 tions of the vital or- 

 gans by means of 

 incandescent lamps. 

 Small lights are placed 

 in the eye sockets, 

 and long lights are 

 placed along the arms 

 and legs. 



Along the spine, 

 where the many nerves 

 branch off to the vari- 

 ous organs, are placed 

 electric switches 

 which control the 

 various lights. To il- 

 lustrate what hap- 

 pens to the vital or- 

 gans when the nerves 

 leading from the 

 spine become pinched 

 or otherwise injured, 

 he turns the switch so that a very small 

 amount of current is supplied to the par- 

 ticular light that represents the organ which 

 is supposed to be diseased or misplaced. 

 This lessening of current causes the light 

 to burn very dimly. This is supposed to 

 illustrate the manner in 

 which the force flowing to 

 the vital organ is shut off 

 when the nerve leading to 

 that organ is in any way ob- 

 structed. To illustrate 

 what happens when this 

 obstruction is removed by 

 the manipulations of the 

 spine, the switch is turned 

 over a notch to supply 

 more electric current and 

 cause the lamp to glow 

 brightly again. To ex- 

 plain what happens when a 

 nerve is so pinched that 



Current is turned on or off to indi- 

 cate a healthy or diseased condition 



no nerve force can pass, the switch is 

 turned so that all current is cut off which 

 extinguishes the lamp. The switch 

 works somewhat like 

 the familiar high-and- 

 low light that burns 

 brightly in one posi- 

 tion of the switch 

 and low in another. 



There are five 

 switches, each work- 

 ing independently of 

 the other. For in- 

 stance the light repre- 

 senting the heart may 

 be burning brightly, 

 but the one repre- 

 senting the stomach 

 may be exceedingly 

 dim, thus illustrating 

 the fact that the cur- 

 rent leading to one 

 vital organ may be 

 exceedingly strong 

 while the current 

 leading to another 

 may be very weak. 



We are not in ac- 

 cord with the doctor's 

 medical theories, but we think his ap- 

 paratus is one that can be employed to 

 advantage in driving home knowledge to 

 people who cannot understand the jargon 

 in which doctors usually manage to con- 

 ceal what they think they mean. 



Metal 

 strip 



^. 



Switch 



O 



■•■O 



■oa 



Bright 

 ■light 



Dim 

 light 



' Switch on spine swinging to 

 contacts varies brightness 



208 



Licking Stamps Is Very 

 Unsanitary 



USE a dampened sponge to 

 seal your letters and to 

 moisten the stamps. The glue 

 used on stamps and evelope flaps 

 is made of bones and hoofs 

 of cattle, and all sorts of 

 rags are used in paper. 

 Besides, although they may 

 have been sterilized, '^the 

 articles pass through many 

 dirty hands while on their 

 road to you. 



