Hysteria. Webster now defines it as "(1)a psychoneurosis marked by emotional excitability and disturbances to the psychic, sensory, vasomotor and visceral functions (2) behavior exhibiting overwhelming or unmanageable fear or emotional excess". The root of the word is from the Greek word hysteria meaning womb or uterus. Until about 1920, hysteria was a disease that afflicted women only and was assumed to be caused by a disturbance of the uterus. The medical treatment was manipulation of the clitoris until a feeling of calm came over the patient. Some women returned for this treatment as often as weekly. It became such a "burden" for doctors of the late 19th century that mechanical means were sought to perform the procedure. Large contraptions invented for this purpose were introduced at the 1900 Worlds Fair. Twenty years later, the medical community had a better understanding of the body's sexual functions and eliminated it from their list of diseases.