MCKENZIE, R. Tait
Author Robert Tait McKenzie (1867-1938) was a Canadian doctor, medical professor, sculptor, athlete, and soldier born in Lanark County, Ontario. While he spent most of his career teaching at the U. of Pennsylvania, he retired in the 1930s to the Mill of Kintail in Almonte, Ontario, now a museum dedicated to his life and work. Convinced of the need to train and condition the human body, he developed a program of physical exercise he hoped would prevent disease, physical breakdown and accidents. While working at McGill as Director of Physical Training, he became interested in sculpting and maskmaking. In World War I, he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps where he was assigned to the physical training of new soldiers. He later spent time working in orthopedic care centres, designing prothetics for individuals disabled by war. In this book he explains his methods of physical therapy for war injuries, including medical electricity, muscle exercise, hydrotherapy, massage, gymnastics, re-entrance to civilian life, and the creation of metal masks to hide severe facial disfigurements. The latter combined his interests in rehabilitation and sculpture with the extraordinary results pictured in the last chapter.
