chafing wrists for fainting

In old novels, when a lady faints, they try to revive her by chafing her wrists. What exactly does that mean, and what good is it supposed to do? Why wrists? (My guess is that the wrists were one of the few parts of the female anatomy that it was acceptable to touch in Victorian days.)

Possibly. I always assumed it was to stimulate blood flow, which would eventually get to the brain.

Yeah, I’ve always wondered about this one…I like your theory that the wrist was about the only anatomical area accessible in Victorian times. Even when I was a kid, I was doubtful that patting or rubbing someone on the wrist would really help increase blood flow to the brain.
And I was astonished just last week, when I ran across someone doing this in a book written recently, set in modern times --and it was done by a doctor, no less!
Another rather astounding fact is that I’ve so far been completely unsuccessful in looking for clues on this subject on the internet; this thread is it as far as discussions or explanations go, & I’ve been looking for a while. Google rarely lets me down to this extent.
Bizarre. Is it a conspiracy? The Trilateral Commission? Bilderbergers? Illuminati?? :eek:
Or maybe I’m just not coming up with the right search terms.
Naahhh, gotta be a conspiracy.