se of fulness in the head or
ache in the back. The actual large increase in the number of corpuscles
in the circulation brought about by massage may be one of the reasons
for this. We have added, perhaps, millions of cells to the number in the
vessels in a very short time, and need not be astonished if some signs
of plethora follow. Moreover, in some spinal maladies it has effects not
to be altogether explained by its mechanical stimulation of the muscles,
nerves, and skin.

That the deep circulation shares in the changes which are so obvious in
the superficial vessels has been shown by various observers of
experimental and clinical facts. Firm deep muscle-kneading of the
general surface will almost always slow and strengthen the pulse. If the
abdomen alone is thoroughly rubbed the same effect appears in the pulse,
but less in degree, and massage of the abdomen has also a distinct
effect in increasing the flow of urine, a fact worth remembering in
cases of heart-disease. In a case of albuminuria from exercise, W.W.
Keen has shown that massage did not cause the return of the albumin
after rest, though exercise did, a difference due to the opposite
effects upon blood-pressure of the two forms of activity. Lauder-Brunton
has shown that more blood passes through a masseed part after treatment.
Dr. Eccles and Dr. Douglas Graham both found a decided decrease in the
circumference of a limb after massage, showing how completely the veins
must have been emptied, for the time at least,--an emptying which would
surely be followed by an increased flow of arterial blood into the
treated region. Dr. J.K. Mitchell, in 1894,[21] made a large number of
examinations of the blood before and after massage, some in patients
under treatment for a variety of disorders affecting the integrity of
the blood, and a few in perfectly healthy men. With scarcely an
exception there was a large increase in the number of corpuscles in a
cubic millimetre, and an increase, though of less extent, in the
haemoglobin-content. Studies made at various intervals after treatment
showed that the increase was greatest at the end of about an hour, after
which it slowly decreased again; but this decrease was postponed longer
and longer when the manipulation was continued regularly as a daily
measure.[22] The author's conclusions from these examinations were
interesting, and I quote them somewhat fully. The fact that the
haemoglobin is less decidedly increased than t