The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-09-22
PACIFYING NERVES BY PR ESSURE Reprinted With Technical Amplifcation, From Every
 bodys Magazine.
 (By DIR. EDWIN F. BowERs.)
(By DIR. EDWIN F. BOWERS. ]

rocking chair, that, with the peTNerS1Iy of all inaninate objects takes up point of vantage directly in our path, immediately we clasp the offended shin with more than brotherly ardor.2 In those daysHnow thankfully be- yond recalI-before the blessed era of nitrous-oxfde and local anesthetics- when. the unfee1ing, muscular dentist leaned towards the door with our pet tooth in the firm embrace of his shiny lforceps, we helped him to our utmost by gripping the arms of his chair with a vice like clutch. This manoeuvre had no more connection with the me cflanics of tooth extraction than the effu1gent rays of the moon have on the pumpkin crop. But we saw our, duty=and we did it-of our own free will and volition. r
 When fury and anger sweep us in their red flame and the gentle familiar aspects of nature take on the hue of blood, we cIench or fists until the nails are driven deep into the flesh.
 In the first shock of that agony of bereavement that comes to all be- cause it is the way of all flesh, or during the cruelty dragging hours when we are adjusting ourselves to living witha our very hearts torn asunder, we clasp our hnads in frenzy. When our friends come to strengthen us with their warm sympathy, they do not, if they are wise, burden us with mere words of coincidence. They take our hands and press thenn-si- Ient1y and warnnly-and they let the unspoken work speak for their hearts.
 During those bleak hours when we say with the Psa1rnfst Would God that it~were morning: and wher1>it was morning. would God it were evening" unconscious1y we make our petition with fingers interlaced or pressed tightly together.
 We do these things because they are natural and apparently inevitable. We did them automatically and with ought rightly knowing why.
 < If we thought about them at all we probably regarded these activities as a sort of safety valve. Now we know they are not merely instinctive but scientific. They relieve pain, causing a form of analgesia. somewhat sini- lar to that which follows the injec- ton of water or some anesthetic solu- William Fitzgerald, of Hartford, Conn, has indicated this reason a year or more ago, and additional experience and study has served only to estab-, fish the scientific truth and pra cticaI usefulness of this discovery to hirn- self and his associates.
 For, in addition to the approxi- mately three hundred push buttons in the mouth, nose, pharynx,
 
 and tongu e-ori iginally charted by Dr, FitzgeraId-it has been proven that the entire body is symmetrically sudden with push buttons.'' pr. F'itzgera1dx and the physicians sur geons and dentists who have been col laboratfng with him m--experInenting classifying and tabulating s- now reach the broad general conceo sion that the body is divided into ten zones l five on either side including a line drawn mp the middle of the body.
 It is established that reflex anal gesic and theraputic results are ob- tafned by pressure exerted over any and affects any condition in their particular zones, but not to the same extent as tdoes pressure exerted on the little switches inside the mouth and nose and on the tongue.
 The first, second, third, fourth and fifth zones begin in the toess run up over the head and end in the fingers i or vice versa.
 The experinenters c1ainn-and I have proved this to- my own satisfac- l tfon-that pain and many abnormal l conditions in any part of the first zone may be treated and overcome, tenn poTari1y at-least. by pressure over the first joint of the great toe, or the cor responding joint of the thumb Should the pressure be limited to or most marked upon the upper sur- face of the great toe, the anesthetic or ana1gesic effect will extend up the front or anterior. of the body, to that point on the top of the skull known to doctors as the 'tfronto- -parietal suture',-wl1ieJh, by the way. seems to be the dividing line between the posterior and the lateral zones.
 The effect will also extend across the chest and down the front surfaces i of the first zone of the arm and thumb. es
 on the under surface of the great toe the effect will extend along the first zone in the sole of the foot, and up the back of the leg, thigh, body and head in that zone, to the top of the head, and also across the back and down the posterior Cor back) sur face of the first zone. of the arm or thumb.
 Pressure on the end of the great toe O. thumb will affect the entire first zone, front and back. Pressure on the lateral Cor side surfaces) of the fingers or toes will affect lateral boundaries of the zones, governed by these particular fingers or toes. It is essential that these facts be kept firmly in mind if success is to be attained with these various pres sures.
 To illustrate: When I was dfctat- ing the rough draft of this article my stenographer complained of irheunatic pains located in the outer aspect of the right ankle. I grasped | the second joint of his right little finger, and pressed firmly for a few minutes on the top and bottom of the joint.
 He volunteered the information that though the pain was somewhat | .4 men1bered that this pain was locaIiz- ed on the outside of the ankle, irl- stead of on the upper surface So changing my grip to the side of the 1 joint-the lateral aspect of the fin ger-I repeated the procedure, and in less than two minutes he express ed himself as perfectly free from nain And la rernained SD - '