Cluthes Advice to the Ruptured | Page 2

with blushes.
This lack of frank discussion-- lack of light on the subject-- has kept people in the dark.
So the majority of sufferers haven't known just what was needed; in seeking relief they have had to trust largely to luck.
That is why rupture has heretofore been such a terrible handicap.
[Sidenote: The Misery It Has Caused]
It has ruined the health of hundreds of thousands, simply because they couldn't find anything that would do any good. Kept them from getting much enjoyment out of life, sapped their strength and vitality, left them more or less helpless, robbed them of the ability to provide for themselves and families.
It has probably kept more people from doing their best work than any other one affliction.
It has kept many from doing any kind of work whatever.
It has cheated American workingmen-- all those who have been its victims-- out of vast sums of wages. For there's a big difference between what a badly ruptured man can do and earn, and the earnings of one who is sound and strong.
Some employers won't even hire a man if they know he is ruptured-- afraid he'll have to be so careful of himself that he can't do a good day's work.
Rupture has kept lots of business and professional men down--
By robbing them of part of their efficiency, it has robbed them of the chance to get farther along; robbed them of money they might have made. For no man can be at his best in any capacity if his rupture is bothering him-- the drain on the strength is too great.
It has interfered with the pleasures of thousands.
Deprived them of recreation, kept them from taking part in athletics, kept them from getting proper exercise because they have known of no way to escape the danger that lies in sudden movements.
It has made the lives of many women a burden; made it hard for them to do their work or to enjoy social affairs; deprived many of them of the blessings of motherhood.
It has seized upon countless children; filled their days with suffering, robbed them of childhood's happiness.
[Sidenote: Not Hard To Get Rid Of]
But in spite of all that, when taken in time, rupture is no longer a hard thing to get rid of.
So easy to overcome that many ruptured people can now be cured while working.
And those who can't be cured, can at least, unless in the last stages, keep their ruptures from giving any trouble.
The main point about rupture is that it requires very different treatment than any other ailment humanity is heir to.
Medical treatment, as everybody knows, can accomplish nothing whatever.
Surgical treatment or operation, as later explained, is usually dangerous.
There remains only one means of relief. That is mechanical treatment.
Now, hundreds of methods of mechanical treatment-- trusses, "appliances," etc.-- have at different times been devised.
But most of them absolutely worthless.
For to perfect a beneficial mechanical treatment requires, in addition to considerable mechanical ability, a thorough knowledge of rupture; something few have ever taken the pains to acquire.
But here at the Cluthe Rupture Institute we have had over forty years of day-after-day experience-- and successful experience-- in the study and treatment of nothing but rupture. And this has given us a thorough knowledge of the needs of ruptured people.
As with all the great discoveries which have done so much for suffering mankind, there were many weary years of disappointment before we finally perfected the simple mechanical treatment which has since brought complete recovery to thousands.
And, as shown in the following chapters, this simple, inexpensive way to relieve and overcome rupture is within the reach of every sufferer.
Moreover, as explained on page 65, every sufferer can easily prove its merits by trying it sixty days at our risk.

+Our Forty Years of Experience+
Day After Day We Have Dealt With Every Form and Condition of Rupture
Like his father and grandfather before him, Chas. Cluthe, founder of the Cluthe Rupture Institute, made his start in life in the Surgical Instrument business.
Learned his trade in the old country-- over in Germany, where the world's finest surgical instruments are made.
Learned the business under the old-fashioned German apprentice system; and got a mighty thorough training, as most men do over there.
When still a young man he came to this country; and in course of time, he started up for himself.
Now, nearly all surgical instrument houses-- in those days same as now-- make or sell trusses.
And Chas. Cluthe soon saw the utter worthlessness of all the trusses then in existence.
[Sidenote: He Saw The Need For Something Better]
He saw what a multitude of people were ruptured. Saw the great need for something better than ordinary trusses or appliances, something better than operation.
He decided that by supplying that need he could be far more useful than by manufacturing surgical instruments.
And from that day to this-- now over forty-two years-- the