initiated seasickness, a "hypogastric belt" 

 was devised. More shocking was a de- 

 vice that placed a pad against the stom- 

 ach and another against the small of the 

 back. When an individual began to feel 

 ill, a mild electrical current was passed 

 between the pads and through the body. 



Some doctors prescribed special 

 diets for those about to embark on the 



THIS BANE OF TRAVEL 

 AFFLICTS AN ESTIMATED 

 90 PERCENT OF AMERICAN 

 ADULTS SOMETIME DURING 



THEIR LIVES. IT CAN 

 HAPPEN ON AN OFFSHORE 

 FISHING CHARTER, ON A 

 TRANS-ATLANTIC AIR FLIGHT, 



IN THE CONFINES OF THE 

 SPACE SHUTTLE ENDEAVOUR 

 OR IN THE BACKSEAT OF YOUR 



FATHER'S OLDSMOBILE. IT 

 TORMENTS YOUNG AND OLD, 

 MEN AND WOMEN, 

 ASTRONAUTS, PILOTS AND 

 NAVY SAILORS. 



high seas. These ranged from austere pick- 

 ings such as dry toast, gruel and sago to 

 exotic feasts. One remedy called for a 

 soup made of horseradish and rice, sea- 

 soned with red herrings and sardines. Pick- 

 led onions were viewed by one doctor as a 

 preventive; lemon juice and pickles, an- 

 other physician's cure. Perhaps doctors 

 theorized that once you consumed these 

 less appealing foods, you would fight like 

 the devil to keep from seeing them again. 



Although most people view motion 

 sickness as a curse, healers of centuries 

 past credited it with therapeutic powers for 

 consumption, insanity, dropsy, tumors, 

 apoplexy and other diseases. Nineteenth- 

 century psychiatrists rotated patients to 

 induce sickness, believing that the rapid 



spinning increased blood supply to the 

 head. 



And the Germans used motion sick- 

 ness as a means of punishment for delin- 

 quent youths. A small sentry box was 

 suspended on pivots, and an offender 

 was placed in the box and spun until he 

 or she retched, often before a crowd of 

 onlookers. 



The Causes 



Just as the remedies for motion sick- 

 ness varied from the mundane to the 

 bizarre, the theories for its causes have 

 also run a gamut. 



Some doctors believed that motion 

 disturbed the normal functioning of the 

 stomach. Others thought the nervous 



Continued 



In the early stages of motion sickness in susceptible people, ifiere is a rise 

 in fhe levels or three hormones — epinephrine, norepinephrine and vasopressin. 

 And the electrical rhythms in the stomach muscles quicken from a normal 

 three cycles per minute to as many as nine cycles per minute. 



COASTWATCH 13 



