The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-08-11
THE LATEST HEALTH FAD
vIBR ALTON THE NEW REMEDY FOR
ALL KINDS or AILMENTS.
Patient Is strapped to n Machine
and Disease shaken 0ut-IIls
Cured by Thrills.

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Of altered vibration. If you have a head
acne, or dyspepsia, or rheumatism, or ner-
vous prostration, or any other ailment in
the catalogue, you are. or that part of you
affected. is out OF %tune-your rate of vibra-
ton has become too fast or too slow and
needs adjusting. To effect the proper ad-
justment the new curists strap you to a
machine and shake you Cor vibrate you)
until, like a pendulum, you get back into
your normal swing.
The system does not belong to any one
person. 1t came from Europe, and already
there are half a dozen Institutes in New
York city and any number of practitioners
who will take machines to private houses
and give special treatment. There is one
place on Fifth avenue where the ashton
ables are shaken to their hearts content.
There is another in the heart of the shop
ping district where tired women may stop
IN and be restored after a days bargain
hunting, and there are Institutes in the
residential district.
Here is the theory upon which the vibra-
~tionists go. In the first place all things
are in a state OF vibration-light sound,
heat. are forms Of vibration. But even
those Things which are popularity sup
posed 10 be in a state Of inanlmate rest,
the houses in which We live. the very fur
niture upon which we sit, are said to be in
a state of vibration. And SO the very act OF
living is q matter of vibration. In other
words, every animal and vegetable pulsateS
according TO it's individual wave length.
Every part OF every animal has it's rate Of
vibration. which, when normally main
tanned, keeps the member in a state OF
health. but when the rate departs from the
normal n state of disease is induced. At
least so say the advocates of the new move
ment, who reason, therefore, that the use
of medicine is Il very roundabout way Of
producing what can be accomplished with
a few odd shakes The machine used to do
this is not 50 complicated but that in the
hands OF an ingenious man 1t might be
constructed from an old sewing machine.
Sometimes it is not advisable for the
sufferer to be trapped 10 the machine. In
dispelling a shopping headache, for in
stance, the operator straps her own hand
10 a long rod attached to the vibrator The
machine moves her hand at the rate of
many hundreds If not thousands OF pull
satiOns a second, and when her hand is
pressed or stroked gently on the sufferers
forehead the thrill communicated is at
least a delicious new sensation. The writer
learned this during q recent visit to one of
the New York institutes, where many
women so daily TO be vibrated.
THE VIBRATING MACHINE.
The place is not p%retentious. 1t looks
like On ordinary doctors office, plus the
machine, which might be taken for one of
those suggestions of the Spanish inquisition
to be found in all dentists offices. An
electric motor is geared to a small spindle,
and 10 the side of the spindle is attached
a long. steel rod which when the motor is
revolved at great speed, moves rapidly in
unison with it, like a piston rod.
To the end of the piston rod is attached a
heavy leather glove with the fingers cut
out. The operator places her hand in the
glove, and the piston rod, moving rapidly
back and forth. gives to her hand Il vibra-
tory motion which makes X feel as though
it were being traversed by an electric cur
rent. In fact. 10 touch her hand gives you
q sensation exactly like that obtained from
the poles of q battery.
Now, imagine a sedate but overworked
Wall-street gentleman sitting placidly with
a far-Off look in his eyes. while the young
woman operator applies the thrilling touch
OF her hand to his forehead or to the base
of his aching brain, and there is the cure in
operation.
While the operator moves her fingers
deity along the bridge of your nose, BIZ
l~ateraily outward via your eyebrows and
then downward back of your ears toward
the upper end OF your spinal column. she
crOOnS softly the reason for il all, telling
you minutely just what is taking place in
side of you while the process is going for
ward. Now, since the feeling in your spinal
cord is precisely that described by the ne
| gro who said that mineral water tasted just
as though his foot was asleep, you are not
as much impressed by her remarks as YOU
might otherwise be. but there are certain
! words, such as "capillarieS." ''stagnation,'
stimulation" ETC., which stick to you. and
you remember it all afterward as you might
a dream.
All" she says. ''you have catarrh. Yes.
every one has catarrh in this climate. Yet
there is 10 need of it. 1t is a matter Of
stagnation. whether from the climate or
something else. You see, the capillaries be-
come clogged and the proper blood supply
does not get to the delicate membranes of
the nose. Then there is trouble. But with
this method we stimulate the capillaries
and presently the catarrh is gone. OF
course it cannot be done i'm a day. All OF
these treatments take weeks to accomplish.
Now | will give you the indigestion move
ment."
THE VARIOUS MOVEMENTS.
Then you stand up and nave a canvas
belt strapped around your waist. The loose
ends of the belt are attached to a metal
rocker on the machine, and the latter is
set going at high speed. You begin TO move
rapidly to right and left with q sort of
shivering movement. It would be excellent
practice for the cOochee-coOchee dance.
But if you have been suffering from that
feeling of oppression on the chest which a
large and undigested meal develops you
suddenly find that the new sensation has
caused YOU to forget it. Perhaps it was
surprised or scared out of you; anyhow, it
Is gone.
| lnen IfltFe Is the 1pOt movement. fOT
this the patient sits with his feet strapped
tightly to a foot board attached directly to
the machine itself. When the motor is
turned on he performs a lively and invol-
untarv iig-steD. the thrilling effects of
which extend even to his knees. One case
the writer saw where this treatment APP
parently banished the paralysis of a man
whose case had been pronounced hopeless
by the doctors. Months previously he had
entered the room on the back of an attend
ant; now he leaned on u stick and walked
in.
His vibration rate went wrong said
the attendant. Paralysis of the lower ex-
tremities suddenly left him helpless and
the doctors couldn't help him. they said,
without opening his head and removing the
blood clot from the motor center. And yet
this mechanical massage has restored him
to his present condition. You see. the
| stimulation is tremendous and it must re-
suit in restoring animation. OF course, the
foot movement Is the least of the treat
ment given him. He was massaged along
the whole length of his spine. and the
treatment was applied to the head repeat
eddy.
But il is to the nervously Frustrated
/ that this system applies the most relief.
Modern civilization has increased the num-
Der of reurasthenics IN the world many
thousand fold. and the condition grows
worse daily. Now. every human being is
put into the world with a certain balance
or equal proportion of nervous and OF
muscular energy. If the activity on the
| part of the nerves IS allowed TO overbal-
ance the activity Of the muscles neuras-
thenia is sure to develop 10 a greater or
tends TO decrease the amount of labor nee
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