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A Treatise on Massage, Theoretical and Practical
A Treatise on Massage Theoretical and Practical Author:Douglas Graham Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II. HISTORY CONTINUED. " Vivifying old and neglected truths needs as much prophetic insight as to see near truths for the first time." Having se... more »en that massage has been practised after a fashion by the Greeks and Romans, it is reasonable to suppose that it was also made use of by their common ancestors, the Aryans. It may not be amiss, just here, to let history tell us who the Aryans were, and where their original place of abode was. The Aryan branch of the Caucasian race includes nearly all the past and present nations of Europe, and it is that division to which we ourselves belong. The Aryans were a fair-skinned, noble people, progressive, practical, and warlike, and it is said that they speedily subdued the country adjacent to them, and also the peninsula of India, 3000 B. c. The original seat of the undivided Aryan stock was to the northeast of Persia, in the region of the Oxus and Jaxartes rivers. The water of the Oxus is said to have been extremely soft, so as to have made the skin of those who bathed in it to glisten. Now we certainly may be allowed to imagine that from the pleasant sensation of drawing the hand over the skin in admiration of the effect of the water of the Oxus upon it may have arisen the methodic use of friction amongst the Aryans. It may be very interesting to learn that some form of friction, kneading, or handling has been in use amongst savage races from the most remote periods; but such testimony alone would not be of much value did we not learn at the same time that such treatment had been known and used, and its merits recognized and recorded, by the descendants of that branch of the human race who have made the greatest progress in the history of the world, and who have contributed more than any other towards its civilization. We re...« less