The treatment of disease by physical methods / by Thomas Stretch Dowse.

Date:
1898
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The treatment of disease by physical methods / by Thomas Stretch Dowse. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    chemical energy into electricity, and so on, so that these are only various forms of that energy which are convertible into each other, and each is the exact quantitative equivalent of that from which it has been converted : amongst the endless transformations which manifest themselves in the phenomena of the material world, there is not the faintest quantity of energy ever abstracted or dissipated, nor the faintest addition to the grand sum ever made. In every voluntary action, an equally arbitrary increase, or an equally arbitrary restoration of the sum of energy takes place. The whole series of phenomena (metabolic), consists in the introduction, assimilation, integration, and excitation of matter, life processes having, in fact, a dynamic basis. When we inquire what is meant by energy we are informed that it means ability to work, and that work is measurable as a pressure into a distance, and is specified as foot pounds. If a body moves, it moves be- cause another body has exerted pressure upon it, and its energy is called kinetic energy, but a body may be subject to pressure and not move appreciably and then the body is said to possess potential energy. In any case it is simply a mechanical action. There is no need to assume anything more mysterious than mechanical action. It must be borne in mind that potential energy can be con- verted into kinetic, and kinetic into potential. The transformation of energy is necessarily attended by the diminution of its availability. Molar energy thus becomes mole- cular, and the transference of energy is always accompanied by the dissipation of energy. Hence it must be clear and evident, even to the uninitiated, that massage processes, from the merely mechanical point of view, possess an interest, and are associated with the accomplishment of some of the highest and most complex transmutations and transformations of energy. The consideration of this leads us to the true dynamical outcome or value of such terms as petrissage and tat>otement. The clear interpretation, and intuitive perception, by practice, of the value of dynamical changes, brought about by, or asso- ciated with, massage processes, are undoubtedly of much value and significance to the masseur. Force applied to living matter causes, or tends to cause, the motion of masses, or, it may be, of molecules, of which the living mass is composed, assuming the living matter to be made up of solids, liquids, and gases. We must take into account the laws of pressure and its area of distribution, as well as its intensity upon the organism upon which its influence is exerted. We must dis- tinguish between the amount of pressure and the intensity of pressure. Quantity and intensity of pressure are analogous to the quantity of heat in, and the temperature of, a body. Pressure applied is transmitted variably, according to the