CLASS I. 2. 2. 1 6. OF IRRITATION. 7* 



and efpecially fuch as can be daily or weekly turned, are pref- 

 erable to others. 



Where frequent lying down on a fofa in the day-time, and 

 Twinging frequently for a fhort time by the hands or head, with 

 loofe drefs, do not relieve a beginning diftortion of the back ; re- 

 courfe maybe had to a chair with fluffed moveable arms for the 

 purpofe of fufpending the weight of the body by cufhions under 

 the arm-pits, like reiting on crutches, or like the leading-fl; 

 of infants. From the top of the back of the lame chair a curv- 

 ed fteel bar may alfo project to fufpend the body occafion ally, 

 or in part by the head, like the fwing above mentioned. The 

 ufe of this chair is more efficacious in ft raightening the fpine, 

 than fimply lying down horizontally ; as it not only takes off the 

 preffure of the head and (boulders from the fpine, but at the 

 fame time the inferior p?.vts of the body contribute to draw the 

 fpiae (Iraight by their weight ; or laftly, recourfe may be had 

 to a fpinal machine firil defcribed in the Me moires of the acad- 

 emy of furgery in Paris, Vol. I'll. p. 600, by M. Le Vacher, and 

 iince made by Mr. Jones, at No. 6, Nortk-ftreet, Tottenham 

 court-road, London, which fufpeuds the head, and places the 

 weight of it on the hips. This machine is capable of improve- 

 ment by joints in the bar at the back of it, to permit the body to 

 bend forwards without diminishing the extenfion of the fpine. 



The objections of this machine of M. Vacher, which is made 

 by Mr. Jones, are firil, that it is worn in the day-time, and has 

 a very unfightly appearance. Mr. Jones has endeavoured to 

 remedy this, by taking away the curved bar over the head, and 

 fubftituting in its place a forked bar, rifmg up behind each ear, 

 \vith webs fattened to it, which pafs under the chin and occiput. 

 But this is not an imprdvement,but a deterioration of M. Vacher' s 

 2nachine,as it prevents the head from turning with facility to either 

 fide. Another objection is, that its being worn, when the muf- 

 cles of the back are in action, it is rather calculated to prevent 

 the curvature of the fpine from becoming greater, tha,nto extend 

 the fpine, and diminifh itj curvature. 



For this latter purpofe I have made a fteel bow, which re- 

 ceives the head longitudinally from the forehead to the occiput ;, 

 having a fork furniftied with a web to fuitain the chin, and an- 

 other to futtain the occiput. The fummit of the bow is fixed 

 by a fwivel to the board going behind the head of the bed above 

 the pillow. The bed is to be inclined from the head to the feet 

 about twelve or fixteen inches. Hence the patient would be 

 conflantly Hiding down during ileep, unlefs fupported by this 

 bow, with webbed forks, covered alfo with fur, placed beneath 

 the chin, and beneath the occiput. There are alfo proper webs 



