314 APPENDIX. 



1007. 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 

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

 the chin becomes ulcerated and the countenance perfectly 

 deformed, in consequence of their pressure on these 

 parts. 



1008. Another invention for the same purpose consists 

 of complicated machinery fitted to the back, and which 

 the miserable sufferer is doomed constantly to w r ear. 

 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." 



1009. Of the stretching chair, another apparatus for 

 "straightening young spines, Mr. Shaw says, " The wind- 

 lass 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." 



1010. For the same purpose the rope and pulley is not 

 only used, so as to raise the patient 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 examining girls 

 who have 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. 



1011. It ought, however, to be understood, that these 

 are the methods employed by quacks and the irregular 

 practitioners 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 purposes, 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 



