Just when I thought I knew where I was with this topic, I find this article by Dr. Kate Lister. In a nutshell, while there is next to no evidence for Victorian doctors using the vibrator to stimulate women’s clitorises as a cure for hysteria, there is actually quite a bit suggesting they used manual stimulation of the vulva or pelvic massage.
According to my understanding of the article (and, truth be told, I am beginning to doubt my ability to understand anything about this subject), the point of the treatment was not to induce orgasm (though people at the time worried this would be an unfortunate (?) side-effect), but to treat a miscellany of conditions including “prolapses and protrusion of the uterus; prolapse of the vagina; hypertrophy and induration of the uterus; ulcerations; abnormal haemorrhage, depending on relaxation of the uterus; tendency to miscarriage; slight hypertrophy of the ovaries.”
So, no vibrators, but apparently fingering was fine and dandy. And recommended by The Lancet.
Julia Bennet 