280 GENERAL THERAPEUTICS FOR VETERINARIANS 



blood infection is the greatest. In addition, phlebotomy fistulae 

 and venous thrombi should not be massaged, since lung emboli 

 may result from the disintegration of the thrombus. Massage of 

 arterial thrombi cannot be unqualifiedly recommended because 

 of the danger of peripheral emboli. Finally, massage is forbidden 

 in animals in many cases by the local sensitiveness. 



Technique of Massage. — To massage correctly requires on the one hand 

 good instruction and practice and on the other hand a certain adaptabihty 

 of the fingers and hand. Definite rules concerning the variety and the con- 

 tinuance of massage can not be laid down. Massaging according to a fixed 

 system should be especially avoided; each case is to be scientifically individ- 

 ualized. The principle of massage is that the stroking, rubbing and kneading 

 movements should be centripetal where possible, i.e., in the direction from 

 the periphery toward the heart. On the legs, for example, one massages from 

 below upward, and on the neck from above downward, following the course 

 of the venous blood and lymph. The movements may also be circular, from 

 above downward and the reverse alternately; the chief result is then altera- 

 tion of the circixlation. Usually, massage is begim and ended with stroking. 

 The "introductory massage" is begun on the healthy, centrally situated parts 

 in order first of all to clear the paths of diversion. Massage is usually per- 

 formed with the dry hand (finger tips, surface of the hand, thmnbs, fist); 

 when massage is long-continued the hand is moistened or is anointed with 

 pure oil, paraffin ointment, lard or with a medicated ointment (camphor 

 ointment, iodoform ointment). The official paraffin ointment^ (white vaseUne) 

 is the best. Massage is continued on the average for 10 to 20 minutes and is 

 appUed once or twice daily. In massaging articulations, flexing, extending 

 and rotating movements are employed. Very hard indurations, as spUnts, 

 etc., can be massaged with the assistance of sticks and plates. Aids of this 

 kind are unnecessary in other conditions; this is also true of the use of objects 

 placed upon the skin to receive the pressure or blow. Tapping is used in 

 paralytic conditions and as a preUminary massage in distortions. The sur- 

 face of the fingers and the hollow of the hand are well adapted for stroking, 

 both hands being used alternately; deep-lying parts are massaged with the 

 tips of the thiunbs. Rubbing is performed with the joints of the fingers and 

 hand held rigidly, the hands moving in straight lines or in a circle over small sur- 

 faces. In kneading, the soft parts are grasped transversely with the hands and 

 pressed with the fingers progressively toward the centre of the body. Tap- 

 ping consists of elastic taps with the loose-jointed hand or slapping with the 



[^ Petrolatum album of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia.) 



