Stiffness, General.--This is often an adjunct of old age, and sometimes occurs in the young and middle-aged as the result of chills. In _neither_ case is it incurable, but for a cure _rest_ is a first necessity. If there be standing and working for twelve or fourteen hours a day, we should not expect a cure at all. Rest must be had, at least twelve hours out of the twenty-four, and it is well if sixteen or even eighteen hours' rest can be taken (_see_ Rest). Then there must be heating the spine with moist heat (_see_ Fomentation). This is done to revive the organs which supply oil to the joints, by giving fresh vitality to the roots of the nerves which control these organs. But the heating requisite to do this must be gently and persistently applied. An hour's gradual heating is worth far more than half-an-hour's _half-burning_. Then, after the spine fomentation, which must be applied in bed, rub (_see_ Massage) the back with hot olive oil for a considerable time--say half-an-hour, if the patient can bear it (_see_ Exercise). Then the joints may be similarly fomented and rubbed at another time, back and joints being treated, say, every other day. If there be costiveness, treat as in Constipation, and give easily digested food (_see_ Assimilation; Digestion; Nourishment). Such treatment daily should remove stiffness, even in very bad cases. Stimulants.--_See_ Alcohol; Narcotics. Stomach Trouble.--If you would cure thoroughly, you must first make sure that the skin is doing its part well. Very often indigestion arises from irritation of the stomach, caused by the impurities in the blood which arise from defective skin action. With strong people, exercise causing perspiration will often suffice to cure, in other cases where exercise cannot be had the Soapy Blanket (_see_) is effective. After the blanket, give a warm, gentle rubbing with hot vinegar or diluted acetic acid; and, finally, a similar rubbing with warm olive oil. This rubbing may be given by itself, where the patient is too weak to endure the blanket, or where the lather cannot be well applied. Even the rubbing with oil alone will do much to cure.