The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-06-28
CURING BY NERVE PRESSURE

cient history and regular routine to
| our grandmothers are the basis of
some of the greatest medical discov-
cries of modern times. For instance,
remember how effectively grand
mother used to relieve Group by
pressing her finger against the back
wall of the baby's throat? And how
she used to soften down that dry
ringing cough that was epidemic
among the youngsters about every SO
often by pressing with the broad
handle of a tablespoon on the back
part of the children's tongues?
| Recall how she used to stop a nose
bleed by pressing a piece of ice
against the back of your neck; or else
the big handle Of the front door key;
If there was no ice handy? And don't
| you remember how, when you were a
little tot, restless and horribly ner-
vous after hard days play she US
ed to quiet and soothe you, and bring
] you safely across into Sleepy Land,
merely by sitting beside your bed and
scratching your head or the back of
your. little bare arm? And haven't
Eyou yourself checked many an i'm
pending sneeze by pressing the up
per lip tightly against the teeth with
the fingers?
But now we know that these actions
signify. We understand the princi-
pie that impels them They are done
because they tend to relieve pain and
overcome discomfort in the zones in
which the original trouble is located
So the clenching Of the fists, the
grinding of the teeth, the death-like
| Of Et,&s.
chair, and all our other automatic
contractions and pressures are natur-
al and logical, inasmuch as they tend
to diminish the response to nerve
stimuli.
These things we now know with
comparative certainty, for one Of the
most far-reaching advances in medi-
cal progress has made them clear to
us. This is the discovery by DR.. Will
liam H. FITZGERALD, nose and throat
surgeon in Hartford, Conn, that the
body is divided into ten longitudinal
zones Give on either side of line
drawn up the middle, and that these
zones have their origin in the thumb,
first, second, third and fourth fin
gers, run up the arm, over the face
and head, and down the back and
front of the body, ending in the toes
corresponding to the fingers.
The experiments of DIR. Fitzgerald
and of the physicians, surgeons, den
lists and osteopaths all over the coun-
try who have been following out his
practices, prove that, notWithstand.
ing that zone therapy las it is called)
antagonizes present accepted teach
ings, there is, nevertheless a distinct
relation between, for instance, the
first and second fingers and the thy
roid gland las in goiter), or between
the palm of the hand the small of the
back (as in lumbago), or the gums,
back of the wisdom teeth, and the
ear Gas in catarrhal deafness), Ex=
actly why this is SO we do not yet
rightly know. But eminent medical
men are at work on the problem and
we shall soon find out,
Perhaps the complaint that calls
most frequently for relief is head
ache, Headache and neuralgia can
be corrected almost as often by zone
therapy as by headache powders"
And there is no danger of depressing
the heart or of temporarily paralyz-
ing the nerves of sensation, as there
, is with coal tar pain cures,''
If, then, one of the family should
happen to have headache, carefully
wash the hands and insert the first
and second fingers in the patients
: mouth. Then make a strong pressure
, upon the roof of the mouth (the hard
palate) as nearly as possible direct
ly under the area where the pain is
located.
If zone therapy were universally
known and practiced it is quite likely
n that there would never need be an
other operation made for goiter nor
another dose of thyroid extract given
I for the relief of the disease. For
tthe results of properly applied zone
therapy are almost uniformly sue
, cessful.
Upwards of three hundred cases
: have now been reported cured. The
tape measure shows that in some of
these patients the swelling decreased
l three inches in as many weeks. One
f very responsive case was reduced
from fourteen and one-half inches
to thirteen inches in three days.
The absurd and utterly impossible
thing of today is the accepted truth
of tomorrow. On its face zone Their
apT seems ridiculous. But next month
or next year, perhaps, the most ridi-
1 culous thing about zone therapy may
I be that we ever doubted it.-From
Curing by Nerve Pressure" by Ed
e win F. Bowers, NJ. D., in June Physi-
: cal Culture.