Was this the first 'Crapophone', then?
> Date: Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:29:30 -0800 > From: lo...@oldcrank.com > To: phono-l@oldcrank.org > Subject: [Phono-L] The Graphophone in Therapeutics > > I love Google Books. Just when you think you've read it all, out pops > a little gem. Here's a letter to the editor from the Boston medical > and surgical journal, Volume 150. > > Enjoy ;) > Loran > > THE GRAPHOPHONE IN THERAPEUTICS. > March, 1904. > Мн. Editor: In Japan during the summer of 1899, a friend of mine and I > hired a small island situate in the bay of Sagami, about a dozen miles > south of Kamakura and a hundred and fifty yards from the mainland, > upon which was a small fishing village called Sajima. The island was > of about two and a half acres in extent, sacred to Teujin, the god of > caligraphy, and therefore known as Teujinshima. Upon it was a single > house large enough for us and our entourage, together with a shrine > devoted to the memory and worship of Teujin. The whole outfit was the > property of the Imperial household and came into our temporary > possession in a very complicated, roundabout and Japanese fashion, the > details of which are too numerous to mention. A common friend of ours > came to visit us on the island. He had just returned from Formosa and > was broken down from a combination of dysentery, malarial fever and > rheumatism which had confined him to hospital for six months. He had > been very ill and came to us in hopes that the quiet and isolation of > our insular paradise might benefit him. He did not improve, but > gradually grew feebler and finally was obliged to take to his bed, as > we say, which in Japan means that he did not rise from the floor. With > this increasing weakness there developed a constipation upon which > neither Cockles pills nor Hunyadi Janos water had any effect. After a > week's delay in having a movement of the bowels, my friend and I held > what is known in the practice of medicine as a consultation. We > decided that the case demanded the administration of an enema. We > commanded and carefully supervised the concoction of an injection > composed of hot water, glycerine and soapsuds, a pailful. After the > injection fluid had been compounded and pronounced good, we made the > discovery that although we had plenty of ammunition we had no gun. > There was no syringe on the island, not even a Royal P., and none > nearer than Tokyo, a distance of some sixty miles. We had a small > bamboo which we fashioned into an excellent anal pipe but nothing > more. It was suggested that we each blow successive mouthfuls of the > injection into the rectum. This idea was rejected as being more likely > to produce nausea in us than defecation on the part of the patient. > There was a graphophone in the house with which we used to amuse the > Japanese kids who swam over every day from the mainlaind to visit us. > We were both struct with the fact that the india-rubber tubes of this > machine which serve to conduct its vociferations to the ear would also > convey fluid. With the help of bamboo, twine and surgical adhesive > plaster we spliced the tubes together and attaching the aforesaid > bamboo nozzle to one end and the tin trumpet of the graphophone to the > other we had an injection apparatus of novel construction but of rare > efficacy as its use proved. As the crow flies the distance between the > trumpet and the nozzle was a matter of about four feet. The intricate > tortuosity of the tubes, however, rendered the distance traversed by > the injection one of some yards. The practical results of the use of > this acoustic enema were two-fold. Upon the patient the effect was all > that could be desired. Upon the graphophone, however, the effect was > prejudicial in the extreme. The sounds which issued from it after its > prostitution were so fecal and unfit for ears polite that we were > obliged to destroy the instrument. I venture to say that this is the > first and probably the only instance of the application of the > graphophone as an aid to therapeutics. > _______________________________________________ > Phono-L mailing list > http://phono-l.oldcrank.org _______________________________________________ Phono-L mailing list http://phono-l.oldcrank.org
