Chapter I: Front Matter (1)

[Transcriber's Note:
Illustrations without captions are described in the accompanying
text.]

_+The Five Members of the Cluthe Rupture Institute+_

CHAS. CLUTHE
Founder of the Cluthe Rupture Institute
41 Years' Experience

CHAS. CLUTHE, Jr.
23 Years' Experience in the Institute

FREDK. WM. CLUTHE
21 Years' Experience in the Institute

HERMAN CLUTHE
19 Years' Experience in the Institute

ALFRED CLUTHE
17 Years' Experience in the Institute ]

CLUTHE'S ADVICE
TO THE RUPTURED

BY

Chas. Cluthe & Sons

CLUTHE RUPTURE INSTITUTE

Bloomfield, New Jersey
(A Suburb of New York City)

COPYRIGHT 1912
BY CHAS. CLUTHE & SONS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
One of the World's Most Terrible Burdens 5
Our Forty Years of Experience 9
Rupture Always Brought On by Weakness 12
How to Overcome the Weakness Which Causes Rupture 16
How Your Rupture is Kept from Coming Out 20
The Care and Attention We Give You 23
Able to Work While Being Cured 30
Don't Let Yourself be Scared into
Risking an Operation 32
Why Ordinary Trusses Do More Harm Than Good 34
Law Should Stop the Sale of Drug-Store Trusses 38
Physicians Advise Cluthe Truss Instead of Operation 44
Ruptured People Swindled Out of
Thousands of Dollars 46
What We Have Done for Over 290,000 Others 50
Costs More to Do Without it Than to Get it 52
The Special Advice You Get in Connection with
the Cluthe Truss 57
Forms and Conditions of Rupture 60
Let Us Send You a Cluthe Truss on 60 Days' Trial 65
See How Little it Costs to Get Relief 68
Don't Let Yourself Keep on Getting Worse 70

_+One of the World's Most Terrible Burdens+_

Why So Few People Know of Anything That Will Do Any Good

In a good many ways, rupture is one of the world's most terrible burdens.

It is almost as common as poor eyesight.

And the cause of far more trouble, far greater suffering and worry.

For, while it's easy enough to get glasses that will improve the _sight_, only a small proportion of the vast host of sufferers have ever been fortunate enough to find anything that would even keep _rupture_ from growing worse.

And about all a doctor can do is to suggest an operation.

Though there are plenty of good physicians, plenty who can conquer other ailments, there are mighty few who can do anything whatever for rupture.

But that is no fault of the physicians.

[Sidenote: Medical Treatment is Powerless]

This affliction, like trouble with the eyes or teeth, falls entirely outside the physician's province; for medicines, the physician's chief means of cure, are utterly powerless either to relieve or overcome it.

And, unfortunately, scarcely one sufferer in a hundred knows of anyone else to turn to, with the exception of the surgeon, after finding that physicians can give no relief.

For the proper treatment of rupture has received little attention as a specialized profession.

Scientific treatment of the eyes and of the teeth have both become special professions; you'll find good oculists and good dentists in nearly every town.

But, in all America, the Members of the Cluthe Rupture Institute are probably the only men who have honestly and conscientiously taken up the scientific study and treatment of rupture as their exclusive profession.

There have always been plenty of places where a ruptured man could go for a truss; surgical supply houses, truss manufacturers, truss dealers, drug-stores, etc. But at these places, though their intentions are good, the men who undertake to fit you have made no special study of rupture, and therefore can do little or nothing for you.

And the trusses they give you, because not based on a scientific study of rupture, don't make proper provision for your requirements.

Then many sufferers, in their search for relief, have been handicapped by wrong ideas about rupture.

[Sidenote: Many Wrong Ideas About Rupture]

There has grown up a general impression that rupture is something to be ashamed of.

But a badly mistaken impression.

For the plain fact is that rupture, if you don't let it go till complications set in, merely indicates a weakness of certain muscles, and is no more to be ashamed of than a weak stomach or deafness, or poor eye-sight.

Such wrong ideas-- and the false modesty they have bred-- have made rupture a tabooed subject; one to be talked about in whispers, one to be discussed 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 scientific study and relief of rupture have been the one aim of his life.

That led, later on, to the founding of the Cluthe Rupture Institute.

And there are now five of us-- father and four sons. For as we sons grew up, we were trained in our father's work in the field of rupture; and have become Members of the Institute.

We four sons have all had the benefit of our father's forty years of experience. And the youngest of us has now had seventeen years of individual experience.

And here, day-after-day, we have dealt with rupture in all its forms and stages.

Altogether, at this writing, we have treated, by mail and in person, over 290,000 cases.

All kinds, from infants in their mothers' arms to men and women over sixty and seventy. Among them some of the worst cases on record.

We have made impartial, fair-and-square tests of every known method of treatment.

We have had experience with all kinds of medical applications, and all kinds of mechanical appliances.

We have fitted belt and spring trusses in all their variations. We long ago found just why they all fail to hold or relieve rupture-- just why they usually cause the wearer untold torture.

We have had the co-operation of some of this country's most noted physicians and surgeons.

We have studied the effects and watched the results in hundreds of operations.

We have found just why operations are frequently fatal. Why they are nearly always dangerous. And why the rupture frequently breaks out anew, after the operation apparently heals.

Every remedial means in existence for the relief of rupture has been tried.

[Sidenote: The Result Of Our Study]

And the result of all this study and experimenting was the invention of the famous Cluthe Truss and Automatic Massager.

Something so vastly different from everything else for rupture that it has received _eighteen separate patents_.

Something far _more_ than just a _truss;_ something far _more_ than merely a device for holding the rupture in place.

Yet the _simplest_ truss ever invented.

* * * * *

The Cluthe Automatic Massaging Truss is so utterly unlike anything else for rupture-- so much more than just a _truss_-- that sometimes we feel we should have adopted some other name.

For the country is full of _worthless_ trusses; and so many people have tried truss after truss without being in any way benefited that they think that nothing called a truss can do any good. Although when people get an inferior article of some other kind-- like clothing or shoes-- they don't condemn everything similar.

This fear of anything called a truss has kept lots of people from answering our advertisements; lots of people, because of disappointing experience with other trusses, won't even take the trouble to investigate; give themselves no chance to find out about the merits of the Cluthe Truss.

We would like to have these people believe in us and have them believe in our truss; but, by being so suspicious, they lose far more than we; they lose the chance to get better, and probably the chance to get well.

We sometimes speak of the Cluthe Truss as the Cluthe Automatic Massager; both names are necessary if we would do our truss full justice.

But we have decided never to give up the word truss; in spite of the fact that its use makes it harder to get people to believe our advertisements.

We don't want to fly under false colors.

We don't want to do any of the things done by those who have _worthless_ trusses to sell; those who have cheap contraptions which they call "appliances," "methods," etc., in order to deceive ruptured people.

If we were willing to call the Cluthe Truss by some other name, we would probably disarm much of the suspicion many people have against the word truss.

But we don't want to adopt any subterfuges. And there are now so many people wearing Cluthe Automatic Massaging Trusses, or who have worn them until cured, that simply by one man recommending the Cluthe Truss to another the prejudice against the word truss is bound to be overcome in time.

_+Rupture Always Brought On By Weakness+_

The word _Rupture_ is _wrong_; a relic of the days when no one understood the real nature of this affliction.

In its true definition, the word means a _break_ or _tear_. And that is how this ailment got the name _Rupture_-- people used to think the muscles had broken or torn in two.

But we have examined hundreds of ruptures under the searching X-rays.

And we long ago found that rupture is _not_ a break or tear; something all physicians and surgeons now concede.

The muscles at some point have simply lost their _strength_-- lost their _elasticity_-- like a piece of old rubber which has lost its "_stretch_."

[Sidenote: The Cause Of The Weakness]

Sometimes this weakening is due to general poor health; sometimes to lack of exercise; and sometimes the weakness is inherited.

Now the bowels are always _pushing_ or _pressing_ more or less against the abdominal wall-- any one, whether ruptured or not, can plainly _feel_ that pressure when coughing or sneezing; while lifting or other exertion greatly _increases_ the pressure or strain.

When in a healthy or sound condition, the abdominal wall is _elastic_; and when the bowels push against it, the muscles which form it simply _stretch_ until the strain on them is over.

Just as when you pull at your cheek, the flesh falls back in position the instant you let go.

[Sidenote: Why The Muscles Give Way Under Strain]

But if the muscles of the abdomen are in a _weak_ condition, they can't _stand_ much strain-- can no longer _stretch_-- any quick movement is often enough to cause them to spread apart, forming an opening through which a part of the bowels _pushes out_ or _protrudes._

Now there is only one way to _overcome_ that weakened condition; only one way to get rid of rupture without undergoing the dangers of operation.

As a first essential, proper artificial _support_ must be applied at the point of rupture.

Comfortable mechanical support that can be depended upon to hold the bowels always in _place_.

Just as a broken bone must be held in place, while healing, by a bandage or plaster cast.

Dr. Birkett, of the famous Guy Hospital of London, and one of the world's most eminent medical and surgical authorities, says this:

[Sidenote: What Dr. Birkett Says]

"The expediency of judiciously pursuing the mechanical treatment of every variety of hernia (rupture) cannot be too strongly urged upon the laity by the profession. In both sexes it should be carefully conducted the moment that the slightest protrusion shows itself; whether the hernia occurs in infancy, youth, middle age or at later periods of life, if properly watched and judiciously supported, it usually gives but little trouble; in many cases it is even cured. But on the contrary, if it be neglected, increase in bulk and, sooner or later, diseased states of the rupture, often leading to the death of the individual, will almost infallibly occur."

And there is only one thing in the world that can _give_ the mechanical support which Dr. Birkett and other famous physicians say is essential.

That is the right kind of _truss_.

Any system of treatment (except operation) which claims to relieve or cure rupture _without_ the use of a truss is simply a fraud.

[Sidenote: Why You Need a Truss]

The weak muscles at the rupture opening can't possibly get strong without the aid of a truss that will do what the muscles themselves are _too weak_ to do; a truss that will hold the bowels in place.

But trusses which will do _that_ even _half_ the time are mighty _scarce_.

Thousands of sufferers have tried truss after truss in _hopes_ they would finally get one that would do it; and to this day haven't found such a truss.

All trusses and "appliances" _claim_ to hold you together.

But ordinary trusses-- those with bands or belts or springs around the body, those with leg-straps, those sold by drug-stores and "Hernia Specialists"-- are absolutely _wrong_ in principle, construction and action.

They are like trousers worn without suspenders or belt-- continually slipping-- you've got to keep adjusting and "hitching them up."

The "harness" shifts or pulls the holding pads _away_ from the rupture opening.

Thus your rupture is continually coming out-- Nature never gets the ghost of a chance to start any healing process.

But even if such trusses _did_ hold the rupture in place, that _alone_ could never result in cure; couldn't even result in improvement.

Because that alone does nothing whatever to _strengthen_ the weakened muscles, or to overcome the muscle _lifelessness_, the conditions which _cause_ rupture.

No man ever made his _arm_ strong by not _using_ it.

And if a truss does nothing _more_ than hold the rupture in _place_, the _muscles_ at the rupture opening are never _used_, get no _exercise_, so they grow constantly _weaker_ instead of _stronger_.

We have had cases here at the Institute where, for lack of _activity_, the muscles around the rupture opening had withered almost completely away. And usually, in addition to lack of use, the deadening, benumbing pressure from a wrong truss was partly responsible for that withered or deadened condition of the muscles.

We can do nothing in cases like that. Neither can an operation or anything else. It is entirely too late.

Like a man whose _arm_ has been _broken_.

While carried in a sling or plaster cast, the arm tends to lose its _strength_-- loses it through lack of use.

And if, after the bone has knit, the arm is still carried in a sling, never used, its muscles would soon _atrophy_ or become _dead_, weaken and waste away until useless.

A _doctor_ would insist that the arm be _used_ or _exercised_ as soon as the bone had knit, thus gradually restoring it to strength.

Same way with rupture. It can be _cured_ or made _better_ only by _strengthening_ the weakened muscles, gently _exercising_ them, giving them support which takes the _strain_ off them while _helping_ them do their work until, gradually, they _regain_ their _full_ strength and _need_ no help.

Yet we of the Cluthe Rupture Institute are the only people to-day who take that physiological fact into consideration.

How to _apply_ our knowledge of that physiological fact, _how_ to exercise and thus strengthen the weak ruptured parts while at the same time _supporting_ and holding them in _place_ wasn't the easiest thing in the world to discover.

However, the Cluthe Truss or Cluthe Automatic Massager provides a way. And is the _only_ thing ever invented that can both _hold_ the rupture and give Nature the necessary assistance in the process of _strengthening_ the weak parts.

Just _how_ it assists Nature is explained in the next chapter.

_+How to Overcome the Weakness Which Causes Rupture+_

A New Way, But Based on a Principle as Old as the Hills-- A Principle Recognized by all Doctors

As everybody knows, you can make most any part of the body _strong_ simply by _exercising_ it.

Exercise is a wonderful thing.

Keep a child cooped up-- give it no place to play-- and it will probably grow up puny and sickly.

While a boy on the farm-- with the big out-of-doors for a playground-- is usually a picture of health.

Or take a blacksmith. He is constantly _using_ or _exercising_ his _arms_. So you'll find _them_ as hard as nails.

While his _legs_-- because he doesn't _use_ them so much-- aren't likely to be nearly so well developed.

A man in an office or store usually has soft, flabby, _weak_ muscles.

But let that man take up some form of _exercise_, like tennis or base ball, and his muscles will soon be strong.

It is a law of Nature that our minds and muscles grow by proper use, building themselves up to meet any demands made on them.

That is why, after any sickness which leaves the body _weak_, doctors nearly always tell you to take plenty of _exercise_.

Until recent years, the only way to develop strength was by _active_ exercise; movement of the muscles by their own force, as in walking, chopping wood or playing some game.

But nowadays there is a _substitute_ for exercise.

[Sidenote: Massage Is a Substitute For Exercise]

Called _Massage_; a sort of _artificial_ exercise; a way to strengthen muscles _without using_ them.

In simple language, massage consists in alternately expanding and contracting the muscles by applying a gentle force _externally_, instead of moving them by voluntary and _internal_ force.

Now massage-- like ordinary exercise-- is so _strengthening_ that it will overcome almost any kind of _weakness_.

So _invigorating_ and _beneficial_ that many well-known physicians say the day is coming when it will be an almost _universal_ method of _cure_ for every trouble in any way due to weakness.

At the Vanderbilt Clinic in New York, many cases of weak _ankles_, weak _backs_, etc., have been cured by massage.

Now Rupture, as shown in the last chapter, is _also_ a weakness.

But massage, as given at hospitals, can't be used to advantage for rupture.

Too _expensive_-- requires an _expert_. And could be given only when you are lying flat on your back in _bed_; therefore couldn't be given very _often_; and it would take years for only _occasional_ massaging to overcome rupture.

Moreover, hospital or hand massage could be used only in combination with a truss that would keep the rupture from _coming out_. A protrusion every day or so, as happens with most trusses, would _undo_ all the beneficial effects of the massage.

But the invention of the _Cluthe_ Truss-- the _only_ truss that can be _depended_ on to _prevent protrusion_-- makes hand or hospital massage unnecessary; it takes their place.

It massages the weak ruptured parts as well as a skilled hand-massager could, as well as could be done at a hospital. And charges nothing for giving the massage-- there is no expense beyond the price of the truss.

[Sidenote: This Strengthening Massage Given Automatically]

It massages the weak ruptured parts entirely _automatically_ or _mechanically_. And does it in a wonderfully simple way; the massaging device-- so small it would go in a watch case-- is so simple that you'll wonder when you see it how it can produce such a strengthening effect.

Keeps massaging the weak ruptured parts _all day long_-- all without a moment's attention from you, all without keeping you from your work, all without in any way interfering with your pleasure.

And, at the same time, holds the rupture constantly and comfortably in place.

Takes all _strain_ off the ruptured parts, _rests_ the weakened muscles while the _massage_ is _strengthening_ them; just as you must rest a strained _ankle_-- keep your _weight_ off it-- while it is healing.

Keeps you from even _feeling_ a single one of the strains that are apt to do so much harm when _other_ trusses are worn.

That is how this remarkable truss, while overcoming your weakness, rids _work_ of all its _dangers_.

Takes away all risk of further weakening yourself or of making the rupture worse.

[Sidenote: Rids Work of All Its Dangers]

Instead, any work you do will actually help make your rupture _better_, actually have a _healing_ or _curative_ effect.

Every movement you make-- in working, walking, exercising, even in breathing-- so acts on the Cluthe Truss as to help produce the strengthening massage.

This massage is wonderfully _soothing_, like gently rubbing a bruised spot.

And is so remarkably beneficial that in about one hundred and ninety-nine cases out of every two hundred, the rupture usually begins to get better almost the day a Cluthe Truss is put on.

So remarkably beneficial that the Cluthe Truss has cured some of the worst cases of rupture on record-- cured many of them even after everything else, including operation, had done no good whatever.

For this massage does for the weak ruptured parts exactly what _exercise_ does for the _arms_ or _legs_-- gradually gives _new_ strength-- in most cases soon makes the ruptured parts as strong and sound as a dollar.

* * * * *

This massage, in some ways, is like _Osteopathic_ treatment.

Which, as a cure for certain ailments, is fast taking the place of _drugs_ and surgical _operations_.

Most likely you've heard or read about some of the Osteopathic cures. Nearly everybody, nowadays, has. Maybe you know of Osteopathic cures right there in your own neighborhood.

Some of the cures made in this way seem almost magical.

And it is largely because _massage_ forms a big part of it that Osteopathic treatment does so much good, especially in many kinds of _weakness_.

[Sidenote: _+Something Like Osteopathic Treatment+_]

Like a weak back, or weak kidneys, or weak or worn out nerves, etc.

And there's only one reason why Osteopathic physicians can't cure _rupture_ as easily as any _other_ weakness.

Like _hospital_ massage, it can be given only when you are flat on your back; and, unless a Cluthe Truss is worn-- which takes the _place_ of Osteopathic Treatment and makes it unnecessary, just as it does the hospital massage-- there would be no way of preventing protrusion _between_ treatments.

Moreover, Osteopathic treatment, like hospital massage, would be too _expensive_ for most people. Even if given only occasionally. For Osteopathic physicians charge $3.00 to $5.00 a treatment.

But the _Cluthe Truss_ keeps giving the _massage_ part of Osteopathic treatment-- the _strengthening_ part of the treatment-- all day long; and all without any expense, except the small cost of the truss.

_+How Your Rupture is Kept From Coming Out+_

And How the Cluthe Truss is Held in Position by Suction-- No Belt, Leg-straps or Springs Around the Body

The Cluthe Truss is the only kind in existence which applies the support at the proper _angle_-- _upwards_ against the rupture opening; thus counteracting the internal _downward_ pressure of the abdominal organs, the natural tendency of the bowels to push out.

And, unlike all others, it is _self_-adjusting, _self_-regulating. Automatically adjusts itself with every one of your movements when you in any way exert your strength.

Sudden strains or movements, like coughing or sneezing, like in working or exercising-- strains which would cause _other_ trusses to slip or shift out of position-- simply cause an instant, _automatic increase_ in the comfortable _support_ a Cluthe Truss gives to your rupture.

[Sidenote: Holding Power Automatically Increases To Meet Any Strain]

Every strain of any kind is instantly and automatically counteracted.

After fitting men here at the Institute, we have had them do everything we could think of, but they couldn't throw the Cluthe Holding Pads out of position, couldn't force the rupture out.

The holding power of this truss instantly increased to meet every strain the men made.

The Cluthe Automatic Holding Pads-- the pads which hold the rupture in place-- are free acting-- work on a ball-bearing, universal joint. Thus they are wonderfully sensitive to the slightest movement, instantly respond to each movement.

No other truss in the world has this self-adjusting feature-- no other can hold a bad rupture, no other can keep the rupture from getting worse.

Just as no other can overcome the weakness which causes rupture-- no other can give the strengthening massage which the Cluthe Truss gives-- no other can make the rupture better.

We have so much confidence in the Cluthe Truss that we guarantee in writing-- as fully explained on page 66-- that it will at all times prevent protrusion.

* * * * *

Another thing about the Cluthe Truss.

In cases of Double Rupture, this truss is of course equipped with Automatic Holding Pads on both sides.

While in case of Single Rupture, the side not ruptured is protected against strains by a free-acting Protection Pad; this supports and strengthens the well side, prevents all danger of double rupture. Every man who has a double rupture originally had only a single rupture. Most other trusses fail to provide any _dependable_ protection for the well side in Single Rupture.

* * * * *

And now note that when you put on a Cluthe Truss, there's no belt, band or elastic around the waist, no springs, no legstraps, nothing that can pinch, squeeze or bind, nothing that can cut, chafe or in any way irritate the skin.

[Sidenote: Holds Securely Without Unnecessary Pressure]

It is the only truss without "harness" of any kind whatever.

It is held on the body by free-acting _suction_ or _vacuum_ Pads.

These Pads rest lightly and comfortably over the natural cushion of muscles forming the rump.

And hold the truss securely in position on the body in much the same way suction holds a properly fitting set of false teeth so comfortably in place that they seem like natural teeth.

Because free from "harness," there is nothing about the Cluthe Truss that can bulge the clothing. It can be worn under corsets; or worn under _tights_ without _showing_. Many acrobats wear Cluthe Trusses under their tights when performing.

Yet the Cluthe Truss doesn't squeeze or hug, doesn't bind against the body at any point save where the Suction Pads rest and where the Holding Pads support the rupture.

This makes it the most _comfortable_ truss ever invented.

Many people have written us that it is as comfortable as their _clothing_.

* * * * *

Another feature.

Every part of the Cluthe Truss is covered with vulcanized rubber or waterproof casing.

No leather or cloth or similar material to heat up the skin and make it tender.

Nothing that can absorb perspiration; nothing that can get sweaty, sticky or foul-smelling.

And because waterproof, it can easily be washed; easily kept clean.

[Sidenote: Wear It When Taking a Bath or Swim]

It is about the only truss that is _all_ waterproof. Therefore about the only truss you can keep on while taking a bath or swim-- a time when you are in danger, if you have no truss on, of having the rupture thrown out by the bending and twisting you do.

Other trusses which claim to be waterproof can't be depended upon to hold-- won't hold successfully when you are in the water or any other time. It takes more than waterproof quality alone to keep rupture from coming out.

* * * * *

Yet, with all its exclusive superiorities, the Cluthe Truss-- including the professional services of the members of the Cluthe Institute-- costs only a trifle more than the worthless trusses which do little or no good whatever.

_+The Care And Attention We Give You+_

All Without Taking You a Single Step From Your Home or a Minute From Work or Business

When you try a Cluthe Automatic Massaging Truss, you will find that you get vastly different treatment-- vastly better care and attention-- than when you go to a drug store or local truss dealer.

For you will get from us-- in connection with the Cluthe Truss, and without extra charge-- the skilled care and attention of five men (the five members of the Cluthe Rupture Institute) who are pretty well known throughout America as being foremost in the field of rupture.

And you will get our care and attention-- and our special advice on your case-- without putting yourself to half as much trouble as when you go to a drug store--

You will get it merely by sending us-- as explained farther on-- a little simple information.

[Sidenote: Distance Makes No Difference]

We can study and understand your case as well with you five to five thousand or more miles away as we could with you right before us; or just as well as the best physician could study and diagnose a case of typhoid or other sickness right at the bedside of the patient.

Our system of attending to people by mail is so exact-- and our knowledge and skill so great-- that no matter how far away you are we can fit you correctly with a Cluthe Truss just as surely as a high class tailor could fit you with a suit of clothes after taking your measurements himself.

Here we have on file-- in writing-- complete particulars concerning each of the 290,000 cases we have attended to.

Every case is carefully indexed and ready for instant reference.

Nothing is left to memory or guesswork-- nothing can be overlooked, nothing forgotten.

Thus your case can be easily and accurately compared with hundreds of similar cases.

You see we have made mail order fitting and mail order care and attention a science.

That-- together with the superiority of the Cluthe Truss-- together with the knowledge and experience gained through attending to thousands of widely different cases-- gives us a tremendous advantage over your local druggist or any one else you could go to.

For years our Institute was located in the heart of New York City-- within a short car ride of several million people.

[Sidenote: Our Advantages Over The Drug Store]

And there-- in the course of years-- among the thousands of people who came in person to be attended to at our Institute, we had in our care case after case of every kind and condition of rupture ever known.

And all this time we were also attending by mail to cases of all kinds in all parts of the civilized world.

No druggist-- no truss fitter in any drug store or surgical supply house-- no one else in all America-- ever had such a wonderful opportunity to learn all the peculiarities of rupture.

Our experience has been so complete that in the last five years we haven't come across a single case-- either by mail or among those who came to the Institute-- which presented any peculiarities that we were not already familiar with.

Yet-- because he has never seen a case like it before-- a case that would seem simple to us often completely baffles the best of truss fitters in drug stores, local truss concerns, surgical supply houses, etc.

Now it is only in the largest drug stores, local truss establishments and surgical instrument houses-- perhaps in only five or six places in a city like New York or Chicago-- that a special or "expert" truss fitter of any kind is employed.

So if a comparatively simple case puzzles these "expert" fitters, a man certainly can't expect much satisfaction at the small drug store, where whichever clerk that isn't busy-- at best someone with little or no knowledge at all of rupture-- will undertake to wait on you.

During our long experience, for every person who came to our Institute we have probably attended to ten others by mail.

And we have proved over and over-- year after year-- that we can give relief by mail to the man five or five thousand miles away just as well as to the man who came to our Institute.

[Sidenote: Give Entire Time To Attending Cases By Mail]

So now we have moved our Institute to Bloomfield, N.J.-- only ten miles from New York City-- a quiet suburb where we can give our entire time to attending to cases by mail.

For we have found that the great majority of the victims of rupture can't afford to lay off from work or business long enough to undergo operation-- the only thing besides the Cluthe Truss which can be looked upon as a means of relief; we have found that most ruptured people can't spare the money required for an operation; and that many of them-- largely because they have been wearing, for years, perhaps, trusses which have been letting them get worse all the time-- are so weakened and run down in health that they stand little chance of recovering from the shock of an operation.

These are the people who are most in need of our truss and most in need of our skilled care and attention.

And here in Bloomfield we can do more good, give relief to more people by mail, than we could had we remained in New York.

And here, day after day, we are attending by mail to people in New York City-- only ten miles away-- just as we are to sufferers in Maine, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, California, etc.

[Sidenote: Well-Known Business Men Order By Mail]

Big business men in New York-- bankers, presidents of big corporations, noted lawyers and others-- men perhaps living in the same block with some noted physician or surgeon-- men who could send for their autos and in fifteen to thirty minutes be in any one of New York's best hospitals-- men who can afford the best medical and surgical care in the world-- are among those who have ordered Cluthe Trusses from us here in Bloomfield in exactly the same way-- by mail-- that a man out in Ohio or Oregon would.

Now when men like these-- many of them acting on the advice of famous physicians-- are taking advantage of the care and attention we give by mail in connection with the Cluthe Truss, it is mighty good proof of our ability to attend to any kind of case by mail.

[Sidenote: How We Study Your Case]

The first thing we do, when a man writes for a Cluthe Truss, is to make a careful, scientific study of his case. We must understand your case thoroughly-- know all its peculiarities.

And please bear in mind that your case will receive the personal attention of at least three members-- perhaps there will be a consultation of all five members-- of the Cluthe Rupture Institute.

No order is ever put in the hands of a clerk or helper or other inexperienced person.

In each case we give our complete professional service. Each case is treated _individually_.

We take into consideration the kind of rupture-- the location of the rupture opening-- the size of the protrusion, the length of time ruptured, the cause of the rupture, whether or not an operation has been performed, etc., etc.

You will find, on our information blank (one is enclosed with this book, or see duplicate questions on page 73) some simple, easily-answered questions concerning these points.

And your answers to these questions, if your answers are correct, furnish us all the guidance we need as to the special requirements of your case. Just as a physician in writing a prescription is guided by the answers to his simple questions.

That is how we determine the shape and size of the Automatic Holding Pad (in case of Double Rupture, each rupture is _individually_ treated, usually a different kind of pad for each side, for both sides are seldom the same).

And that is how we determine the adjustment of the pads and all parts, the amount of support needed and the regulation of the holding pads to give the support, etc., etc.

Then, after deciding all these points, we make for you a _special_ Cluthe Truss-- one exactly adapted to your individual case-- every part of it exactly what your condition requires. (Compare _that_ with the way drug stores and local truss dealers try to fit you with a ready-made "stock" truss.)

We next take this specially made truss to our Gallery of Statues-- which consists of life-size and life-like models or dummy figures.

[Sidenote: Our Life-Like Models]

And here, no matter what your size or build, we have a dummy model corresponding to your living self in shape-- a form your clothes would fit just as they fit on you.

When we see the measurements you give when ordering (they are all provided for in a simple way on our Information or Question blank) we know at once which one of our many models or forms to use.

And on this form-- duplicating your size and build-- we fit your truss, as soon as it is made, just as if you yourself were right here in front of us.

We can usually make up your truss, fit it, and have it ready to send within twenty-four to thirty-six hours after receiving your order.

Every day we fit in this way scores of people we have never seen.

And it's only in about one case out of several hundred that we fail to give perfect fit. While in such cases, usually only some slight adjustment is needed to make the fit perfect-- some simple adjustment which the patient himself can easily make. Our common-sense instructions fully provide for proper adjustment if any is necessary.

Our ability to meet the exact requirements of your case-- our expert skill and care in fitting-- are things no one else can give you-- for no one else has had our forty years of professional experience-- no one else has learned _how_, as we have.

The method we follow (which is exclusively our own), is the only method of fitting that can result in continuous and comfortable holding.

And continuous and comfortable holding, combined with the soothing, strengthening and healing massage treatment which the Cluthe Truss automatically gives, is the only thing (save an operation-- which can't always do it)-- that can effect a permanent cure.

_+How Day-After-Day Holding is Given by the Cluthe Automatic Pad+_

The above illustration represents the side view of the lower abdomen of a person of medium size. C, A and E is the natural line of the abdomen. D, B and F is the line when the abdomen is inflated by coughing, sneezing, or any exertion or strain. The black disc is the pad. When the wearer coughs or strains, pad end A is forced to position B, while the lower or retaining end of pad E is instantly forced inward to position F, thereby completely checking the descent of the rupture and effectively locking it in. Thus rupture is at all times retained with the least possible pressure of pad under normal conditions, yet the extra pressure needed is instantly and automatically given when any exertion or strain demands it.

This automatic action of the Holding Pad also _massages_ the ruptured parts. This massage has a soothing, healing effect-- like gently rubbing your forehead when you have a headache-- or like rubbing a bruised spot-- and, gradually overcomes the weakness which _causes_ rupture-- gradually _strengthens_ the weak ruptured parts, just as exercise strengthens the muscles of the arms.

_+Able to Work While Being Cured+_

For men with a living to make, work to do, business to attend to, families to provide for, the Cluthe Truss is nothing less than a godsend.

And it means just as much to men who want to take part in athletic games, men who want active outdoor exercise.

Some, in their letters to us, have called it a _life-saver_.

For the Cluthe Truss rids work and exercise of every one of their dangers; rids them of every one of their injurious effects on rupture.

You who read this-- by letting us send you a Cluthe Truss on sixty days' trial-- can easily prove all that; just as thousands of others have proved it.

With this truss on there isn't the slightest risk of having your rupture forced out by sudden strains or movements.

Just bear _that_ in mind-- you who have been compelled, because your truss has been doing no good, to drop everything perhaps two or three times a day or more and put your rupture back.

This truss puts an end to all danger of further weakening yourself while working-- puts an end to all danger of making your rupture worse.

Just keep _that_ in mind-- you who now scarcely dare do a thing-- scarcely even cough or laugh, for fear of bad effects on your rupture-- for fear your truss will yield and let the rupture escape.

[Sidenote: What You Can Do With a Cluthe Truss On]

And with a Cluthe Truss on, work, exercise or outdoor sports will never cause any discomfort.

Don't overlook _that_-- you who have been putting up with old-fashioned trusses or "appliances" with their belts, bands, elastics, leg-straps and other torturing harness-- trusses which hurt so much every time you move that they almost drive you frantic.

Instead of letting work injure you in any way, a Cluthe Truss (as previously explained) makes the work you do and the exercise you take actually help make your rupture _better_-- makes your work actually have a _healing_ or _curative_ effect.

There is plenty of proof of that.

Men doing _heavy_ work, and doing it every day-- men like farmers, blacksmiths, railway firemen, factory workers, miners, etc.-- are among those cured by this truss; cured while _working_ right along, cured while earning good incomes.

Also men taking more or less violent exercise, like base-ball players, tennis players, horse-back and bicycle riders, etc.

[Sidenote: A Few Of The Men Who Were Cured While Working]

Some of them, while working, remember, cured in less than three months.

A lot of them cured in from four to twelve months; among them men who had been ruptured as long as fifteen to thirty years.

And took only a little while longer for some who had been ruptured as long as fifty years to be cured.

You will find, at the back of this book, many letters in proof of this.

* * * * *

We have seen the Cluthe Truss do so much good for so many other people that we feel sure it can do wonders for you.

So sure it will help you, just as it did them that-- as explained in a later chapter-- we are willing to let you test it on sixty days' trial, to prove just how much it can benefit you.

_+Don't Let Yourself Be Scared Into Risking An Operation+_

Cluthe Truss Has Done Away with All Need For Operation, Except in Occasional Cases

People _used_ to think that an operation was the only way to cure rupture-- thought they had to be cut open.

Just as people _used_ to know no better than to undergo _bleeding,_ no matter in what way they were sick. Histories and biographies tell us it was the loss of blood from this barbarous bleeding which led to George Washington's death.

But nowadays we never hear of bleeding.

Just as fever patients are no longer denied ice water and ice applications. Though, not so many years ago, people were literally allowed to burn up with fever.

[Sidenote: Thousands Have Died Under The Surgeon's Knife]

Operation for rupture, for reasons stated below has never been much more than a life-or-death chance, even for those with a rugged constitution. Thousands of ruptured people have died under the surgeon's knife.

Oftentimes a weak heart-- because of the ether-- makes it unsafe even to attempt operation.

And it has always been a big expense which not one in a hundred could afford. Even though it had no dangers, the cost and the long lay-off from work or business make it useless for the majority of sufferers to think of an operation.

The reasons operation is so risky for most people are these:

The sufferer is seldom in condition for an operation, is run down, the vitality is low-- that is why the muscles over the intestines have weakened and spread.

Another grave danger lies in the fact that a very large opening must be made-- many delicate tissues cut through-- before the surgeon can reach the weakened muscles which caused the rupture.

Moreover, in a surgical operation, the relaxed muscles are tightened simply by shortening them-- by cutting out a piece.

But nothing is done to strengthen these muscles. Nature is in no way assisted. The parts usually remain weak-- that is why, when a man leaves the hospital after an operation for rupture, he is usually told to wear a truss or support.

And that is why, in about six out of every ten apparently successful operations, the rupture sooner or later breaks out anew.

So we would never advise an operation, save as a last resort. As in strangulated hernia, where there is no hope except through heroic measures.

Save in very rare cases, there is now no need whatever to undergo the dangers of an operation-- no need to risk the surgeon's knife. No need to incur the big expense of going to a hospital-- no need to lose any time from work or business-- no need to be in bed a single day.

For since the invention of the Cluthe Truss or Cluthe Automatic Massager, the day of operation is over, save for an occasional case.

The Cluthe Truss has probably effected more _permanent_ cures than all the operations ever performed.

And is always _safe_, and almost invariably _beneficial_, whether or not it brings complete cure. (Cure is sometimes impossible, as told in another chapter.)

_+Why Ordinary Trusses Do More Harm Than Good+_

The country is full of trusses which are nothing but more or less worthless makeshifts. Some with so little merit that they try to hide under other names.

Like the junk handed out at drug-stores. Like the traps peddled by the quacks who pose as Hernia "Specialists."

Trusses and appliances with belts, bands or springs around the waist, trusses with leg-straps, etc.

Some of these trusses cost little more to make than a pair of good suspenders or garters. A little leather, a few pieces of elastic or web band, a cloth-covered pad with sawdust in it, is about all there is to them.

So, like suspenders or garters, they absorb perspiration; that rots them so they soon give out.

But their greatest weakness isn't in their cheap materials; it's in their unscientific construction, in the fact that they usually do more harm than good.

[Sidenote: Your Suspenders Would Do As Much Good As Some Trusses]

A rubber band around your waist would do as much good as some of these makeshift trusses and "appliances"; and not be so apt to do harm.

Might just as well wear your suspenders or garters over your rupture as some of the trusses and devices with which this country is overrun. Some of these trusses would hold your rupture just about as well if you left them hanging in the closet instead of wearing them.

During the many years The Cluthe Rupture Institute was located in New York City, we had daily evidence of the utter worthlessness of all such trusses.

Every day, one after another of the victims of such appliances were coming to us for relief.

When we examined these patients, we usually found that the rupture had pushed the pads aside and worked out above or below them.

Sometimes we found that the pads had worked away from the rupture opening, worked down against the pelvic bone. And the ruptured parts had slipped out and were being squeezed between the pads and the bone. A condition apt to result in strangulation.

Some of these patients came to us suffering intense torture from the terrific pressure of such trusses-- pressure perhaps ten times greater than needed-- and this cruel pressure is exerted from the wrong direction, in the wrong place.

Perhaps merely a slight sneeze or cough is enough to push the pads out of position. And then the pressure of these pads forces the ruptured parts out, instead of holding them in.

Sometimes the pads had slipped down so far on the pelvic bone-- or had been pulled down by the leg-straps-- that there was no support for the rupture whatever.

And this constant pressure against the pelvic bone saps the vitality. Often causing sexual weakness and mental failing. For between this bone and the outer skin is the sensitive life-giving spermatic cord.

[Sidenote: Ordinary Trusses May Bring On Other Ailments]

Also, we have found in hundreds of cases that these belt and spring trusses press against the femoral artery so severely that heart disorders result. Causing dizziness, headaches, irritability, etc. Yet the patient seldom associates his truss with these troubles, seldom knows their cause.

And constipation and stomach troubles are often brought on by these trusses. Gas on the stomach is a common result.

These troubles can be remedied only by removing the cause-- only by discarding the harmful truss.