Medicine wheel

“ It is evident that one of the greatest, if not the very greatest, of the requirements of a practical road wheel, or a man-motor carriage, is that the power of the rider shall be transmitted to the said wheel in the most direct manner possible; that is, by causing the strain to come upon the muscles in such a way that these muscles shall be placed in the best possible position to overcome such strain, and to take advantage of such conditions as nature has already provided for, in training our muscles to the work we have had to do under the old régime, without the wheel. ”

“ The wheel receives its motion by the revolving action of the needles in the circle, and the teeth have therefore to be cut to the gauge required, that is, the setting of the machine needles and the teeth in the wheel circumference require to coincide. ”

“ The question is often asked if riding a wheel is not the same as running a sewing-machine. Let the same doctor answer: “Not at all. Women, at least, sit erect on a wheel, and consequently the thighs never make even a right angle with the trunk, and there is no stasis of blood in the lower limbs and [57] genitalia. Moreover, the work itself makes the rider breathe in oceans of fresh air ”

“ He was pleased to find his command over his machine already sensibly increased. He set himself little exercises as he went along and performed them with variable success. There was, for instance, steering in between a couple of stones, say a foot apart, a deed of little difficulty as far as the front wheel is concerned. But the back wheel, not being under the sway of the human eye, is apt to take a vicious jump over the obstacle, which sends a violent concussion all along the spine to the skull, and will even jerk a loosely fastened hat over the eyes, and so lead to much confusion. ”

“ The machine, as represented by Fig. 8, is brought to the desired elevation, about as high as the shoulders, and the hand-holder is attached. One arm is extended horizontally, and the hand grasps the hand-holder, while rapid motion is given by turning the wheel. An alternate twisting motion is communicated to the arm, which causes corresponding pressure and relaxation of all the soft tissues of the limb, combined with slight rubbing or attrition. The action is increased by contracting the muscles, and also by grasping at greater distance from the center. ”

“ One of the best physicians in our [Pg 107] country, who makes diseases of the lungs a specialty, rides the bicycle two hours a day, and prescribes it for his patients. He considers it a great preventive of that scourge of our climate, consumption; and a grand aid to the development and improvement of the human body. Many busy men of the profession in New York, Boston, and other large cities, either have their own machines, or ride daily in the schools and rinks. They regard this preparation of Iron (the velocipede) , as better than any in their Materia Medica. ”

“ The most usual method of transmitting motion through a train of wheel-work is by the formation of teeth upon their circumferences, so that these indentures of each wheel fall between the corresponding ones of that in which it works, and ensure the action so long as the strain is not so great as to fracture the tooth. ”

“ Familiar instances of the same principles are observable in the movement of a hoop, or in the steering of a bicycle; it is essential that the handle of the bicycle should be free to rotate to secure the stability of the movement.
The bicycle wheel, employed as a spinning top, in fig. 4, can also be held by the stalk, and will thus, when rotated rapidly, convey a distinct muscular impression of resistance to change of direction, if brandished. ”

“ Or again, another enthusiast is deluging every visible chink in his bicycle with oil, in the hopes of finding some mysterious squeak, the location of which would be an easy matter if the position of the different bearings were understood. It is conceded without exception by all wheelmen that a fair knowledge of the construction of a wheel is essential to its proper care. ”

“ The Wheel became the most important of mechanical contrivances. Now a wheel is a thing which, in the organic world, is simply impossible. In the days when microscopes were of feeble power, it was thought that the “wheel animalcule,” called Vorticella, had small wheels revolving on the rim of its opening to gather in the floating food particles. ”

“ But if she persists in riding in a tight dress, and uses no judgment in deciding the amount of exercise she is capable of safely taking, it will be quite possible for her to injure herself, and then it is she, and not the wheel, that is to blame. Many physicians are now coming to regard the ‘wheel’ as beneficial to the health of women as well as of men.”
Dr. Seneca Egbert says: “As an exercise bicycling is superior to most, if not all, others at our command. It takes one into the outdoor air; it is entirely under control; can be made gentle or vigorous as one desires; is active and not passive ”

“ If the disease be located in the hips or lower limbs, put the feet in warm water with the tin electrode N. P., or place the sponge-roll N. P. at the soles of the feet, and treat with P. P. upon and a little above the affected parts; using such force of current as the patient can bear. The pain will commonly subside under treatment. If the disease be as low as the ankles or feet, use the long cord with N. P.
If the shoulders, arms or hands be affected, treat them on the same principles as are prescribed for the lower limbs; using the long cord with N. P. when the disease is below the elbows. ”

“ Thus, to be successful in the treatment of paralysis and other nervous diseases, by the application of motor forces with our ingeniously-contrived machinery, the cost of which is beyond the means of most invalids, one must exercise great discretion. ”

“ If there be a feverish condition of the system, attended, perhaps, with pain in the head, place P. P. on the spine, a little below the cranium, and treat with N. P., long cord, all the way down the spine, and over the entire back, sides, thorax and abdomen. In this case let the current be rather mild, and be continued for a considerable length of time, with the view of bringing out perspiration. It is best that the patient should receive treatment in bed, perfectly protected from any cool air that might restrain or check perspiration. ”

“ He had an invitation to take a ride in the doctor's motor, the doctor being a man who, when the hazard of dangerous cases had been extreme, absented himself for a couple of hours, in which, under a breathless and unholy speed of motoring, he reversed the pressure on his nerves, and came to the renewed sanity of a wind-swept brain when every idea had been rushed out of it. ”

“ The impoverishing of the blood may be the ultimate action of such a medicine as Potash or Mercury, but not exactly the primary operation for which it is used in medicine. It is produced by the remedy when taken in excess, and not when given in small doses. Neurotics, or medicines which act on the nerves, are divided into those which affect the brain and spinal system, and those which are supposed to influence the ganglionic system, and through it the heart and great vessels. ”

“ The pedals are attached to the front wheel, and are shaped like slippers, which facilitates the movement of the legs, and at the same time admits of the feet being disengaged simultaneously. The movement required to propel this machine is a natural one, does not produce unusual fatigue, and is analogous to that of walking. ”

“ In our own time the doctor’s carriage and pair is to be seen in all directions. It is now driven for use and not for display as in the days of Queen Anne.
We have seen the bicycle used by doctors of good standing, and we predict the time is not far distant when it will be more generally ridden by members of the medical profession. ”

“ The next improvement was to make the circumference of the wheel as perfectly circular as the art of man could devise, and,{470} instead of having the wheel solid, to fill up its interior with spokes, thus gaining lightness and strength at the same time.
Of all locomotive wheels, I suppose that the modern Bicycle affords the best example. The driving wheel is larger than the hind wheel of an ordinary coach, and yet the spokes are not nearly so thick as the porcupine quill with which this account is written. ”

“ But not only is it a machine which feeds and appropriates to its own support the nourishment necessary to its existence—it is an engine for locomotive purposes. The Horse desires to go from one place to another; and to enable it to do this, it has those strong contractile bundles of muscles attached to the bones of its limbs, which are put in motion by means of a sort of telegraphic apparatus formed by the brain and the great spinal cord running through the spine or backbone; and to this spinal cord are attached a number of fibres termed nerves, which proceed to all parts of the structure. ”

“ Its fifteen teeth are shaped like hooks, and it has seven accompaniments, the balance wheel, the hair spring, and five others. This wheel, together with its accompaniments, is able to stop the motion of the watch five times a second and start it again so quickly that we do not realize its having been stopped at all. A tiny arm holds the wheel firmly, and then lets it escape. ”

“ While we do not wish to detract from the real merits of medicine as a curative agent, yet we must admit that the remedial power of motion, transmitted either manually or mechanically, is founded upon rational and physiological principles. All systems of medicine, however much they may differ superficially, propose, as the chief end to be attained by the administration of medicine, or by other treatment, that motions identical with physiological activity should be incited or promoted. How best to accomplish this result, and with least cost to vitality, is an important consideration. ”

“ The New Zealander saw the spinner in the rope-walk, moving away from a wheel, and gradually forming the hemp round his body into a strong cord. By the operation of the wheel he is enabled so to twine together a number of separate fibres, that no one fibre can be separated from the mass, but forms part of a hard and compact body. ”

“ For, when the wheel of any vehicle is suddenly plunged into a rut or hole of a foot's depth, and from thence violently extracted with a jerk, plunge, and wrench, to be again dropped into another hole or rut, and withdrawn from thence in a like manner,—and when this process is being simultaneously repeated, with discordant variations, by other three wheels attached to the self-same vehicle, it will follow, as a matter of course, that the result of this experiment will be the violent agitation and commingling of the movable contents of the said vehicle ”

“ Not even a breath of wind can pass along the surface of the earth without altering in some degree the proportions of the bodies with which it comes into contact; and not a drop of rain can fall upon a stone without carrying away some portion of its substance. The smoothest and most accurately formed wheel, running along the most level and polished railroad, parts with some portion of its substance at every revolution, and in process of time is worn out and requires to be replaced. ”

“ To render the radial lines capable of use we must let them be the surfaces of lugs or projections on the face of the wheel, as shown in Fig. 25 at d, e, &c., or the faces of notches cut in the wheel as at f, g, h, &c., the metal between f and g forming a tooth j, having flanks only. The wheel b has the curves of each tooth brought closer together to give room for the reception of the teeth upon a. We have here a pair of gears that possess sufficient strength and are capable of working correctly in either direction. ”

“ To give the teeth of the wheel A B F a proper form, (according to the present prevailing system) a style or pencil may be fixed in the circumference of a circle D equal to the wheel C, and a paper may be placed behind both circles, on which by the rolling of the circle D on A B, will be traced the epicycloid d, e, f, g, s, h, of which the circle A B F is called the base, and D the generating circle. Thus then the wheel to which the teeth are to belong is the base of the curve, and the wheel to be acted upon is the generating circle ”

“ Instead of depleting, we, by proper constitutional treatment, strengthen and fortify the system. We do not confine the patient in bed, but permit him to go around and take all necessary exercise. We adjust an ingeniously devised and perfectly fitting appliance or apparatus, by which a gentle extension of the limb is maintained, thereby relieving the tension of the muscles, and preventing the friction and wearing of the inflamed surfaces of the joint, which, without the use of our new and improved appliance, are a source of constant irritation. ”

“ This invention was patented in the United States in 1889, and, if practical, would simply cause the wheel to roll over the obstruction almost as a man would step over in walking,—an ideal92 state of affairs, to be sure! Such a wheel would not only aid man in his transmigration over smooth roads, as claimed for the solid wheel in the fore part of this book, but would be available on the cross-ties of the poorly-ballasted railroad ”

“ The wheel in which he takes his treadmill exercise any tin or wire worker can make, and the hole which connects it with the house should be large enough to prevent any possibility of his getting squeezed if he attempts to go into his house while the wheel is turning rapidly. ”