535 ON THE SCIENCE OF EASY CIIAIES. 



may also be aided bv a pressure from without, in the form of 

 shampooing. Even when the hand is rubbed backwards and 

 forwards upon the leg it will relieve fatigue, but the relief is 

 greater when the leg is firmly grasped and the hand moved 

 gently upwards so as to drive onwards as much as possible any 

 fluid which may have accumulated in the limb, and the grasp 

 being then relaxed, the same process should be repeated. 



But while the lymph is thus most readily removed by the 

 pumping action of intermittent pressure either of the liand 

 without or of the muscles alternately contracting and relaxing 

 within, it seems to us probable that this process may also be aided 

 by steady, constant pressure from without. 'No doubt it is im- 

 possible for such a steady pressure to take the place of the regular 

 pumping action produced by the alternate contraction and 

 relaxation of the muscles when in action, yet it will have a some- 

 what similar action, though to a very much less extent. For at 

 each beat of the heart, as Mosso shows, the entire limb is dis- 

 tended by the blood driven into the vessels, and during the pauses 

 between the beats it again becomes smaller. Each pulse, there- 

 fore, by distending the whole limb and each individual muscle, 

 will press out a little of the fluid contained in the fasciae in 

 the same way as the contractions of tlie muscles themselves, 

 and it seems to us probable that it is the aid which is afforded 

 to this process by the gentle pressure exerted on the outside of 

 the legs by a seat w^liich supports them along their whole 

 extent, that renders such a seat so peculiarly restful and agree- 

 able. For an easy chair to be perfect, therefore, it ought not 

 only to provide for complete relaxation of the muscles, for 

 flexion and consequent laxity of the joints, but also for the easy 

 return of blood and lymph not merely by the posture of the 

 limbs themselves, but by equable support and pressure against 

 as great a surface of the limbs as possible. 



Such are the theoretical demands, and it is interesting to- 

 notice how they are all fulfilled by the afore-mentioned chair in 

 the shape of a straggling W, which the languor consequent upon 

 a relaxing climate has taught the natives of India to make, and 



which is known all over the world, 



i 



