Massage Gymnastics from Outer Space (1895)

by Jenny Heslop

The Public Domain Review has published an article about a strange-looking, unintentionally funny book on medical massage that was written for doctors, specifically gynecologists, in 1895. The exercises illustrated in the book are based on techniques invented by the Swedish obstetrician and gynecologist, Thure Brandt (1819-1895).

What is amusing about the book is the artwork, for which they appear to have employed space aliens as models. You could call it the "Massage Gymnastics from Outer Space" book and quite a few UFO enthusiasts would be convinced. Please tell me if I'm crazy and this stuff isn't hilarious, okay? Judge for yourself!

All kidding aside, according to The Public Domain Review, after Dr. Brandt's methods were studied by German gynecologists starting in 1886, he lived to see his techniques become widely adopted throughout Europe. The actual title of the original book, which was written in German, is "Die Heilgymnastik in der Gynaekologie: und die mechanische Behandlung von Erkrankungen des Uterus und seiner Adnexe nach Thure Brandt," translated as "The physiotherapy in gynecology and the mechanical treatment of diseases of the uterus and its appendages by Thure Brandt."