There is, however, a pitfall to be avoided. Dr William Murrell, in his recent practical work, _Massage as a Mode of Treatment_, gives a very necessary warning to those who would use it ignorantly. He admits that it is not free from the taint of quackery, and that the so-called massage practised in some of our hospitals and under the auspices of some nursing institutions is a painful exhibition of ignorance and incompetence, being simply a degenerate form of rubbing or shampooing. Having lately witnessed the progress of a number of cases under the care of Professor Mosengeil in Germany, he remarks that the massage of ‘medical rubbers’ is not massage at all, as the term is understood on the continent, and has little or nothing in common with it. It is quite a mistake to think we can take John from the stables and Biddy from the washtub, and in one easy lesson convert either into a safe, reliable, or efficient manipulator. Dr Murrell has found it successful in various kinds of paralysis; in writers’, painters’, and dancers’ cramp; and in the cramp of telegraph office operators, who, just as they have attained to the highest point of dexterity, find that every movement is performed with effort and pain, until at last no movement is possible at all. The chief advocates of massage have been men of note; and although it is only recently that it has gained an extensive scientific consideration, it is gradually but surely obtaining a wider circulation and a higher place as a worthy therapeutical agent. BY ORDER OF THE LEAGUE. CHAPTER II.