MASSAGE. 135 



facility to all prominences and depressions, and rapidly becomes 

 hard under a stream of cold water. The advantages of gutta-percha 

 are its slight elasticity, the ease with which it can be kept clean, 

 its impermeability to fluids, and the facility with which it can be 

 removed. Moreover, the same material may be used repeatedly, 

 so that its first cost is really the chief objection. For small animals 

 like dogs it is particularly useful, and in fracture of the lower jaw 

 in larger animals it renders excellent service, a kind of hollow splint 

 being formed, in which the jaw is embedded. 



Poroplastic felt consists of felt impregnated with a resinous 

 solution. It is made in sheets of varying size and thickness up to 

 three feet square and | inch in thickness. By immersion in boiling 

 water or exposure to dry heat it becomes quite plastic, and may 

 readily be moulded to the shape of the injured part. It becomes 

 firm on cooling, but a " setting " process continues for some time 

 afterwards, so that its greatest strength is not attained for six or 

 eight hours. Its porous character readily permits of transpiration, 

 and the skin is therefore much less apt to become macerated by 

 retained perspiration as occasionally happens when gutta-percha 

 splints are used. The writer has seen very excellent results from 

 the use of this material in the setting of fractured limbs in racehorses. 



IX.— MASSAGE. 



The term massage includes various forms of mechanical treat- 

 ment, which, accordmg to the demands of the case in hand, are 

 either applied singly or in combination, in order to bring about 

 particular curative results. We may distinguish — 



i. Gentle stroking of the diseased parts with the fingers or open 

 hand in the direction of the flow in veins and lymph vessels, that 

 is, from the periphery towards the centre. The maximum pressure 

 to be applied in such case should at first not exceed that produced 

 by the weight of the operator's hand. 



2. Brisk rubbing or pressure followed by stroking from the 

 periphery towards the centre. 



3. Beating of the parts with the open hand or fist, or with the 

 edge of the hand, or a special percussion hammer. 



4. Kneading, in which the affected part, usually a muscle or 

 tendon, is lifted as high as possible with one hand, and then squeezed 

 in precisely the same manner as one would compress a moist sponge 

 to squeeze out its contents. 



