The Practice of Massage; its Physiological Effects and Therapeutic Uses

THE rubbing and kneading of the surface of the body, and various modifications of such processes for the relief of pain, have been in vogue from time immemorial in many countries, both civilised and uncivilised. It is well known, indeed, that the natives of India have always largely employed such measures, and that even among the aboriginal tribes of America something of the kind has been practised. Mechanical frictions and rubbings were included by Hippocrates and Galen in their systems of therapeutics, and in some form or shape they have ever since been in use in the older spas and baths of Europe. But although the practice is so ancient and so widespread, its admission into modern medicine as a recognised means of treating disease only dates from the present century, and the literature of the subject—now comparatively large—may be said to have had little or no existence fifty years ago. The Scotch and French physicians seem to have been the first in modern times to investigate the subject scientifically; and it is to the latter, in particular, that we owe the systematic ways of application of the various manipulations now in use, as well as the nomenclature which is now practically universally adopted by practitioners in all civilised countries. Within the last few decades a considerable number of valuable observations on the uses and effects of massage have been published, as well as several comprehensive text-books on the subject. Among these latter, the work now before us is likely to take an important position; for not only is it the outcome of a lengthy and extensive practical experience on the part of the author, but it is written in a scientific spirit, and, indeed, constitutes a very able résumé of the whole subject.The Practice of Massage; its Physiological Effects and Therapeutic Uses.By A. Symons Eccles Aberd. Pp. 377. (London: Macmillanand Co., 1895.)