A text-book of electro-therapeutics and electro-surgery : for the use of students and general practitioners

Front matter

Open Knowledge Commons and Harvard Medical School

A TEXT-BOOK

ELECTRO-THERAPEUTICS

Preface

This work is not by any means intended to be an exhaustive treatise, but is written to endeavor to place electricity in its proper light before the student and general practitioner, from a homceopathic standpoint, and in as condensed a form as possible. I have purposely omitted all uncertainties and dealt only with facts. For the purpose of ready reference, I have divided the work into seven parts. The first part is devoted more particularly to the symptoms produced on the healthy organism by the different forms of electric current. The second part, to therapeutical indications for their use, illustrated by suitable cases, selected as far as possible from the works of others, preferring to prove the homoeopathic relation of electricity to disease, from the lips of other witnesses, rather than by a report of my own cases. As the cases quoted were recorded before the theory laid down in this work was written, it is impossible that they could have been trimmed to suit it. The third part gives general directions for conducting ordinary electrical treatment, and a description for the more common forms of electrodes.

The indications for the use of electricity in obstetrics take up the fourth part. Electro-diagnosis the fifth. In part six is discussed the various uses of the electric current in surgery, illustrated by my own cases (having here no new theory to support).

Part seven is a mere outline of the principal points of electro-physics, the author considering it quite unnecessary to dwell on this subject, there being already so many excellent treatises upon it.

Vill PREFACE.

Mention of the nse of statical magneto-electricity has been purposely omitted, as no positive or reliable experiments have yet been made with it. The machines are moreover unreliable and troublesome, and do not admit of being so readily graduated in strength as the galvanic and electro-magnetic currents.

My thanks are due to Drs. H. C. Houghton, of this city, Wm. N. Tooker, of Chicago, and E. Murphy, of New Orleans, who have kindly furnished me with the reports of cases and other data. I would also acknowledge the kindness of Mr. Bartlett, of the Galvano-Faradic Company, Mr. Clelland, of the Western Electric ^Manufacturing Company, and Messrs. Flemming & Talbot, of Philadelphia, who liavc lent me some of the wood-cuts of their

instruments.

John Butler, M.D.,

• 25 East Thirty-first Street, N. Y.

Stationary or OfTicc Batteries, ......... 2G0

PAET I.

THE POSITION ELECTRICITY SHOULD OCCUPY IN THE MATERIA

MEDICA.

Chapter I

From the time of Kratzenstein clown to the present day electricity in one form or another has been used in the treatment of disease. At one time taken up by the so-called " Regulars " as a panacea for all the ills that flesh is heir to; at another condemned and consigned to oblivion, to be again resurrected and resuscitated by some aspiring charlatan, who boasts exultingly of the marvellous cures he has made and can make through its agency. That empirically numbers of cases abandoned as hopeless have been restored to health, both by the quacks of years gone by and those of the present day, is an indisputable fact ; but what percentage of all the cases treated were benefited we know not, neither do we know how many were injured by their great cure-all. Such men's experience, if indeed it can with any degree of propriety be called such, has been of little value to the profession, except so far as it has stimulated others to investigate for themselves and for the profession.

To the scientific physician, who would be an accurate prescriber and a sound pathologist, there is perhaps nothing so utterly distasteful as empiricism. Yet one cannot take up any work on electro-therapeutics of the allopathic school (and it is a matter of regret that almost all, if not quite all, of our literature on the subject emanates from that body), without being struck with the amount of quackery and guesswork on which their theories are based. Chapter upon chapter is de-

10 SOURCES OF ELECTRICITY.

voted to so-called electro-physiology, which enters into the minutest detail of the action of electricity upon every tissue in the human frame, without its being put to any use whatever in their chapters on the treatment of disease. After perusing any and all of such works the reader is in a greater state of confusion, and knows absolutely as little of the practical value of the electrical current at the bedside and in the consulting-room as he did before reading them.* If we take, for example, the latest work on the subject, Electricity in 3Iedicine and Surgery, by G. V. Poore, jNI.D., which perhaps is without exception the best work that has been ever written on it, we find that the sura total of all this author's experience and research is, that electricity is a stimulant, anodyne, sedative, caustic, styptic, or cautery. In other words, that it may be used as a substitute for Alcohol, Opium, Bromide of j^otash, Nitrate of silver. Persulphate of iron, or the last-mentioned metal at a high temperature. Now if that is all that electricity is we certainly can do as well without its use as Avith it. But, as I hope to show further on, electricity is a force, which on being transmitted through any tissue in the human body, produces a certain train of symptoms, and is capable of curing just such symptoms when they occur idiopathically. Before entering upon the details of our subject, it is perhaps advisable here to consider the various modes of generating the electric current, etc. In any text-book on electro-physics we find that electricity is divided into three forms :

1. Static or Frictional.

2. Galvanic or Contact.

3. Induced or Faradic.f

To which I woukl add Animal Electricity, as generated by the electric eel, Natural Electricity, or that generated during thunderstorms, etc. I call it natural advisedly, for the want of a better term to disliiinuish i( I'ldiii (hat nrlilicinllv generated by apparalus lor the purpose. But however generated, it is the same force, is governed

SOURCES OF ELECTRICITY. 11

by the same laws, and yields to the same tests. These divisions only allude to its method of generation, which necessarily influence it in quantity, tension, etc., but do not change its identity. This vis naturce is still a unit, wherever found or in whatever garb it may be clothed, though it may be influenced as far as quantity and intensity are concerned by its mode of generation, by the resistance through which it is transmitted, by duration, interruption, reversion of direction, etc., but the force remains the same, whether the current is called galvanic, faradic, or static. It is the same subtle power that destroys man and beast, and tears up trees by the roots, that relieves the pain of, and lulls to sleep, a sensitive child ; just as the warmth of fire will call back into life half-famished nature, or totally annihilate and destroy it, according to the intensity with which it is used, or the control which we have over it. So with any of our remedies.

Writing these lines calls forcibly to mind a passage from one of the greatest of poets, Schiller, which is quite as applicable to the force of electricity as to the energy of fire.

It is SO difficult to investigate all the facts of galvanism in anything like progressive order, that it seems best to first examine the sources of the force and the laws which govern it, assuming for the present that the reader possesses a knowledge of the principles necessary to an understanding of the facts, and afterwards, when we come, to consider electro-physics, to go over this ground again thoroughly and in detail, though feeling that in so doing we may be telling the reader much that he may be familiar with. .

12 GALVANIC CURRENT.

If we partially immerse a sheet of zinc in a mixture of ordinary sulphuric acid and water, we find that as the zinc is dissolved bubbles of hydrogen are formed and the liquid becomes heated.

If we vary the experiment by placing in the same liquid with the zinc a sheet of copper, we see that the bubbles of gas still rise to the surface from the zinc, while none come from the copper. Should the metals touch, however, the bubbles rise in large quantities from the copper, though none of the copper is dissolved, as can be easily ascertained by chemical tests. If we connect the immersed metallic plates by wires above the liquid, we discover that tliis wire becomes immediately capable of influencing the mariner's compass, so that it no longer points to the north and south ; of magnetizing iron and steel; and if the wire be severed, and the ends dipped into a liquid, the liquid undergoes chemical decomposition. Now what does all this? The energy that is eliminated during chemical decomposition, in other words the galvanic current, and the copper and zinc plates immersed in the dilute acid, is the simplest and most primitive form of galvanic battery, and though defective for all uses in electro-therapy, will answer the purpose of describing the generation of galvanism better than perhaps any other. To sum up, the result of the immersion of a plate of zinc and a plate of copper (connected by a wire) in a vessel of dilute sulphuric acid is, the water HO.^ is decomposed, and gives off' its hydrogen. The zinc is dissolved and unites with the oxygen of the water, forming ZnO, which oxide is redissolved by the acid, and the resultant salt is ZnSO, ; at the same time energy or the galvanic current is set free. 'J1ie zinc plate, or the metal acted upon, is called the positive plate, and the copper, or the metal not acted upon, is the negative plate. The wire connected with the negative })]ate is culled the jiositivc J^ole, because the current positiveli/ i\ows i'roni liiat direction, and (he wire from the ])ositive jilate is called the negative pole. These technical terms, about whicli there has been much confusion, are, therefore, not arbitrary terms, and will be again entered into more fully. Now if we waul a imnc inlcnsc (unciil (that is, a current capable of overconiing a greater anioimt ol' resistance)* than is generated in

FARADIC CURRENT. 13

a single cell, we unite a series of these cells ; the positive wire of one cell being connected with the negative of the next, and so on to the end of the series, leaving a negative wire at one end of the circuit and a positive at the other free, to be used to transmit the current through any object we may wish to act upon.

But if we wish to generate a larger quantity of current than one cell is capable of doing, we connect the poles positive to positive and negative to negative. However, this kind of battery is not necessary in electro- therapy ;* at least is only employed to heat wire, etc., in galvano-cautery operations. It is alluded to for the purpose of avoiding any misunderstanding with regard to the terms quantity and intensity. If we wish to reduce the quantity of current passing through any body, it is only necessary to introduce into the metallic part of the circuit a resistance or series of resistances. Brenner's rheostat answers this purpose admirably, and by its means we can control the amount of actual current we wish to use.

The effect of the current in magnetizing iron or steel has been cursorily spoken of If the wires joining the poles of the battery be coiled around a bar of iron the bar becomes magnetized. If the bar be made of soft iron, it remains a magnet only so long as the current flows. Should it be made of steel, however, it becomes permanently magnetized, or remains a magnet until demagnetized by some other means. But there is another effect. The current in its passage becomes highly intensified, though reduced in quantity in the direct ratio of the thickness of the wire composing the coil, and in the inverse ratio of its length. Otherwise expressed, the shorter and thicker the wire, the larger the quantity and less the intensity. The longer and finer, the less the quantity and the greater the intensity. Now suppose, over any given coil of this kind, we wind a coil of finer wire, but perfectly insulated from the first coil, we have a current induced in it infinitely more intense, and infinitely less in quantity, and flowing in the opposite direction to that in the primary wire, and should- we still add coil over coil, we may dynamize, and at the same time potentialize our current ad infinitum. This current can, however, only be felt at the opening and closing of the circuit,

* The resistance of the body is so great that it is incapable of transmitting but a very small quantit}" of electricity.

14 THE POSITION ELECTRICITY SHOULD OCCUPY

as, during its transmission, it expends its force in magnetizing the inclosed bar of iron. For the discovery of these facts we are indebted to Faraday, and this manner of using electricity is called faradaism, in honor of the discoverer. It is also called electro-magnetism.* Now what does electro-magnetism mean ? A mixture of electricity and magnetism? Surely it cannot mean that, for the bar of soft iron, before it was influenced by the action of the current transmitted through the coil surrounding it, was nothing but a bar of soft iron, and, after the current discontinues to flow, is nothing but a bar of soft iron still. It is, therefore, evident that it is the same current increased in intensity and diminished in quantity by this process that still exists. Nor does it require a very great stretch of the imagination to compare the galvanic current used as it flows from the cells to our crude drugs and mother tinctures. When influenced so that its quantity is reduced by resistances placed in the circuit, to our low dilutions, and when intensified and reduced in quantity by induction, to our attenuations. If, added to this, we take into consideration that many symptoms produced by one form of current are capable of being cured when they occur idiopathically, by the other form, the analogy is still more striking. A consideration of statical or frictional electricity is purposely omitted, as the use of it in therapeutics is impracticable.

In my first researches in clectro-therapoutics I could not help noticing how frequently symptoms were aggravated by the action of the current, which it was my design to ameliorate, and in which electrization was seemingly indicated (that is, reasoning as alloj)athists do, because it had cured other diseases of the same kind); I therefore determined to study systematically ihc symptoius that electricity produced on the healthy organism, and fintl out with some degree of precision at least whether the same symptoms were not curalile when occurring in diseased conditions. First, having compiled a list of positive symptoms from works on electro-physiology, giving the preference to those which had been repeatedly verified,

■ I would prefer IIk; tcnn " iii<luc(il cli'drii-ity," but, «s it is iilri-ndy bettor known undor the naiiic rnniilic current, I Imvr licri" continued tiio use of the liUlor numc.

IN THE MATERIA MEDICA. 15

I began to prescribe electricity for such symptoms M'hen I noticed them in diseased conditions, always using a much milder current (higher dilution) than the one that had produced the symptoms. The success of these experiments more than surprised me. . It is, therefore, with no small degree of confidence that I offer to the profession the following pathogenesis of electricity, gathered and verified during many years by careful research and experience, and shorn of all unreliable and inconstant symptoms; and meagre though it be, and far from perfect, 1 hope it may be considered a first step in the right direction. Under the heading "Pathogenesis" the symptoms produced by the galvanic and faradic currents are given separately, together with the name or authority by which such effects were first recorded. Effects recorded by any one authority of reliability, though not repeatedly verified, that possibly might be of utility in practice, are marked by a ?, together with the authority's name attached. For all symptoms not so marked, and without any name attached, the author is responsible.

Under the heading " Symptomatology," the effects of every form of current are arranged under the subheadings of the organs affected. This method is adopted not only for the sake of precision, but as a ready mode of reference. For instance, if we refer to "chest" for the symptom, "heart's action retarded." By returning to pathogenesis we find how and where the current was applied that produced that symptom, and so on. It will, no doubt, be noticed that nothing is said about the strength of current to be used; but if the dose required of drugs taken by the mouth into the stomach is still in a state of uncertainty, is it anything to be wondered at that the " dose" of electricity necessary to be administered in any given case cannot, with any positive degree of accuracy, be always determined ? At least no absolute rule for the guidance of the profession can be given, so on that account it was deemed best to omit a discussion of it altogether, leaving it an open question, to be discovered by individual experience, remembering it is ahvays better to give too small a dose than too large a one, and that the question of dose is not how much a patient will tolerate, but how little will cure. The repetition and duration of treatment I would also leave an open question ; but, in the cases hereafter related, the notes generally contain a full account

PATHOGENESIS.

of these, from which we may glean a proximate idea as to how frequently it is necessary to repeat the dose, and also the length of seances ordinarily required.

Chapter II. Pathogenesis

CTTRRENT TRANSMITTED THROUGH HEAD AND CERVICAL SYMPATHETIC.

Galvanic current.

Dizziness. Vertigo. Dimness of sight. Feeling as if about to fall towards the side on which the anode is placed. Both eyes turn towards the cathode. At the moment of discontinuing the action, the reverse is observed and felt. — Hitzig.

After a prolonged galvanization of head, throbbing congestive headache, quickened pulse, and increase of temperature. Vertigo. Hajmorrhage. Convulsions.— Neftel.

Insomnia.

Applied to auriculo-maxillary fossa, vertigo with loss of equilibrium, nausea.— Neftel.

Anffimia of brain. — Hammond.

Dilatation of pupil.

Phosphenes.

Muscas volitantes.

Paleness of conjunctiva and tympanum.

Protrusion of eyeball, and drowsiness during tninsmiHsion of current.

TliiH condition after the removal of electrodes is soon followed by a throbbing headache, congestion of brain, quickened jiuLso, general cxcitenuMil, and increase of tcnipcralun;.

Faradic.

Dazzling. Suffocation. Sharp piercing pain, especially when applied on forehead. Occasionally dizziness and same symptoms as galvanic current, with very sensitive patients. These symptoms are produced no matter in what direction the current be transmitted, but are most marked when a rheophore from each pole is placed in each auriculo-maxillary fossa.

Tlie same rule applies to the galvanic current.

Muscular contractions in the jiarts supplied by the facial nerve. Lancinating pain through facial nerve and its ramilications.

PATHOGENESIS.

n

Galvanic current.

Eyeballs suffused.

Ringing in ears.

Profuse perspiration in axilla.

Insomnia.

Budge says, galvanization of medulla oblongata produces relaxation of the heart, and makes it spread out ? — Archiv von RoserundWu7iderlich, 1846, Band V.

Vertigo. Haemorrhage. Convulsions.

— Neftel.

Vertigo, with loss of equilibrium and nausea, when current is applied in auriculo-maxillary fossa. — Neftel.

Faradic.

Galvanization of that portion of the spinal cord lying between the seventh cervical and sixth dorsal vertebrae produces dilatation of pupils. — Waller AND Budge.

Direct galvanization of head in the neighborhood of the eye or of the cervical sympathetic produces dilatation of pupils.

Phosphenes.

Muscse volitantes.

Anaemia of retina. — Hammond.

Paleness of conjunctiva.

Protrusion of eyeball, decrease of temperature, and drowsiness during transmission of current. After electrodes are removed, hyperaemia of conjunctiva.

Secretion and flow of tears and mucus.

Sense of increased heat. Cathode produces a reddish-yellow light, anode a blue light. — PuRKiNJE.

Plashes at opening and closing of circuit. Cathode, objects appear more distinct; anode, less distinct. — Helm-

HOLTZ.

Duchenne records a case of amaurosis, accidentally produced by the galvanic current. — Localized Electrization, p. 17.

A current passed directly through the eye produces lancinating pain, copious secretion of tears, oval, vertical, or transverse dilatation of pupil, according as the current is transmitted horizontally or vertically. Pupil can be dilated or constricted according as the current is made to act upon the dilator or constrictor muscles pf iris? — Beard AND Kockwell.

•18

PATHOGENESIS.

EFFECTS OF CURRENT TRANSMITTED FROM EXTERNAL MEATUS OF ONE EAR TO ANOTHER.

Besides the symptoms just reeorded, as caused by transmitting a current through the auriculo-maxillary fossa, we find :

Galvanic curTcnt.

Burning pain. Noises like the bubbling of boiling oil. — Volta.

Vertigo.

Metallic taste on lateral and middle part of tongue, most marked on side of negative rheophore. Sensation of warmth. Increased secretion of ear-wax. First paleness of tympanum, afterwards hypertesthesia and congestion of tympanum. Distinct musical sound at opening and closing of circuit.

— KiTTER.

Positive electrode in ear produces a sensation of pressure from without inwards; negative, from within outwards.— Brenner.

Lower current intensities call forth murmurs. Higher musical sound. — Neftel.

Cathode gives a higher musical sound than anode. — Nkftel.

Torpor of nerve. — Brenner.

Faradic.

Pioaring, rushing noise, as if of wind.

Tickling, pricking sensation, followed by lancinating pain. Metallic taste on tongue.

Tinnitus aurium.

Hearing distance decreased, but whether this symptom was caused by the action of the current, or by the water introduced into the ears, could not accurati'lv be determined.

electrodes applied to schneiderian membrane.

Titilhition. Sensation as if about to sneeze. Profuse watery secretion, fol-

Sensation as if about to sneeze, with inability to do so. Congestion. Copious secretion. Anosmia. Suppuralowcd by a thicker secretion. Sense tion. Numbness of palate. Metallic of stiUncss and fulness. Congestion of taste. Congestion of eyes.- Tears. eyes. Tears.

Peculiar metallic taste. Profuse sc- Metallic taste. LinuinatiMg jiains crcition from all the salivary glands, tlirougli teeth. Twitchings of tongue. Flushes of light. Toothache. Vitia- Nuniiniess of tongue. Profuse salivation of taste. Loss of taste. Tongue tion. feels paralyzed.

Ill .■iildilioii to these, \v(! have .some of (he syinplonis before rcconlcil uii(h'r " I hud and Cervical Syii>j>nlh(llG Nerve."

PNEUMOGASTRIC NERVE.

Above Junction "with Spinal Accessory.

BOTH CURRENTS.

Contraction of larynx, pharynx, and oesophagus.

Peripheral Galv. Inferior Laryngeal Branch.

Galvanic current. Faradic.

Spasm of glottis. KetarJs heart's Indefinable prjecordial sensation, with action to complete paralysis in diastole ? sense of suifocation. — Duchenne. — Neftel.

Contracts smooth muscular fibres of Spasmodic breathing and cough, bronchi, diminishing their calibre; Spasm of muscles of larynx and pharand contracts stomach, intestines, and j'nx. Pain in chest and pit of stomuterus? — Neetel. ach. Frequency of respiration in-

creased. Syncope. Sugar in urine. — Bernard, Duchenne, and others.

Galv. of Cervical End.

Accelerates the inspiratory movements to tetanic inspiration. Increases production of sugar and salivary secretion. Diminishes pancreatic secretion, and retards heart's action.

— Neftel. , , , ■

Trunk of Nerve.

Coughing at cathodic closing and anodic opening. Less marked at duration.— Keimer and Romberg.

Upper Part.

Sugar in blood ; in cerebrospinal Frequency of pulse diminished, fluid. Secretion of urine suspended. Tetanic respiration. Saliva increased. Eespiration quick- Diaphragm contracted, ened. — Bernard.

Lo'wrer Part.

Pulsation of heart ceased ? — Ber- Nausea, vomiting, gastralgia.

Tetanic respiration.

Diaphragm permanently contracted during transmission of current. — Traube.

SPLANCHNIC NERVES.

Galvanic current. Faradic.

Pallor of surface and syncope. — Same as galvanic, but not so con-

Neftel. stant, and in a less degree.

Peristaltic motions of intestines cease. — Pfluger.

PHRENIC nerves.

Inspiratory movements at cathodic Tetanic respiration. Inspiratory

closing and at anodic opening of cir- movements at each interruption of

cuit. Hiccough, sobbing, etc. circuit. Hiccough.

SPINAL CORT).

Convulsions at moment of closing Kigid cramps of all the muscles of

circuit. Paralysis by continuous cur- body. — Matteucci.

rent. — Meyer. Muscles of trunk and extremities

Pupil of eye enlarges when current thrown into convulsions, which last

is transmitted through upper part of some time after breaking the circuit,

dorsal spine. — Waller and Budge. — Matteucci.

Galvanism of lumbar portion of Pain in back,

spinal cord produces contraction of Exhaustion,

the ducti deferentes, bladder, lower Weariness, part of rectum, and uterus.

CURRENT PASSED FROM MOUTH TO ANUS.

Gastralgia, with sinking feeling in Tetanization of sacro-spinal mus-

stomach. Muscles convulsively con- cles, respiratory muscles, and muscles

As the brain, sympathetic, pneunio- Should the current be sufficiently

gastric, and spinal cord are more or strong, complete opisthotonos; heart's

less acted upon, and included in the action accelerated. llespiration in-

circuit, we have many of the symp- creased in frequency, torns manifested before recorded under their proj)er headings.

urinary oucans.

Bladder contracts at opening and Bladder contracts violently and ex-

olosing of circuit, loss so during trans- pels contents.

mi.«sion. Continues to contract after Pain along ureters exteruling to

current ceases flowing. Contents ex- kidneys.

pelled. Pain in al)domon followed by Horrible |i!iiii in hypogastric region,

nausea. Piiin along ureters and in — Duchknnk.

region of kidm'ys. A profuse flow of Primary fiir:ulic current acts on

urine gi-ncrally follows the use of a bladder more pdwerl'nlly tliim seeon-

current pas.scd from lumbar region dary.

through bliujder. Continual desire to pass water.

PATHOGENESIS.

SEXUAL Qalvnnic current.

Vas deferens contracts. Testes drawn up. Scrotum rugated. Burning-tearing pain through testes and cords.

Penis becomes erect by transmitting a current from anus to glans penis.

Pulsations in spermatic artery fuller.

— Tripier.

ORGANS.

Faradic.

The lancinating cliaracter of the pain so characteristic of this current is more marked in its effects upon the testicle than perhaps any other organ in the body. Spermatic cord contracts. Scrotum rugated. Acute pain as if the testes were being torn from the cords. — Duchenne.

Contracts both during and after transmission of current. Contractions more violent if the current is passed through the length of the organ than transversely. Pain in lumbo-sacral region. Nausea and vomiting. Profuse flow of blood, lasting three or four days. Leucorrhcea at first watery and transparent, afterwards yellow, viscid, and flaky. Congestion, inflammation, and oedema of cervix.

Contracts violently during transmission of current.

Transient hyper^emia. — Tripier.

Cutting pain, which gradually changes to a severe bearing-down pain.

— Tripier.

Profuse bloody discharge, both at the time of seance, and for two or three days following. Slight mucous leucorrhcea. Pain in hypogastric region Nausea.

Burning sensation under both rheophores, most marked under negative.

Increase of temperature, hypersemia, and hyperaesthesia. Herpetic and eczematous eruptions. Urticaria. — PooRE, Lincoln, and others.

Congestion, erythematous patches.

Tingling. Elevation of papilla.

Acute darting lancinating pain under points of contact, most marked under negative electrode. Ansesthesia of skin between rheophores, more especially marked if the points of contact be close together. Congestion and redness of skin most marked under current of second helix. — Duchenne.

Itching, coming on eight or ten hours after application. Acne of back and shoulders has followed several instances of faradization of spine, where before the current had been used the skin was perfectly healthy. Urticaria, several cases.

KERVES, MOTOR AND SENSORY.

Galvanic current. Faradic.

Strong current paralyzes nerve and Pain tingling, acute, darting, Ianrenders it incapable of transmitting cinating. After electrodes are reits contraction-producing stimulus. — moved, the pain under the points Valentine. where the electrodes were in contact Nerve paraly/.ed by constant cur- still remains, sometimes producing rent. — Eckhart. great agonj', with anaesthesia or par- Irritability of nerve decreased. tial antesthesia between those points. Contraction of muscles sujiplied by Contraction of muscles supplied b}' nerve at opening and closing of cir- nerve.

cuit; most marked under cathodic Duchenne in speaking of experi-

closing ; less so under anodic opening, ments with this current says: "These

Pain burning, acute, as if molten metal experiments are far from harmless,

was running through the nerve; most because in many cases the acute sensa-

severe under the points where the rheo- tions have been followed by neuralgic

phores were applied. pains in the organs overexcited."

Burning pain under rheophores. Sliarp lancinating pain extending Tingling, as if the part were asleep, to surrounding textures, most severe Contraction at opening and closing of under contact of rheophores. Concircuit. Lame, tired feeling. Numb- traction. Lameness and soreness of ness and paralysis. muscles. Paralysis.

The symptoms of general electrization, as produced cither by the electric bath or by applying any form of electricity over every part of the body consecutively, only repeat, and in a confused manner, those already given; and such treatment used for the cure of disease amounts only to empiricism, confusion, and to a confession of ignorance of the pathology of the local lesion, and is too much like an allo|)athic bolus, or shooting into the bush to kill the bird, to have any place in the literature of a school of medicine whidi lias (he slightest pretensions to accuracy <>i" i)rescribiug.* And for these reasons I omit further allusion to it here, as a recoril of such a proving coidd only be of use for the sake of verilying the symptoms

* Of course I must not Itc understood to allu<li' lo Ihc clcclro-cdii'inical tmth used for the purpose of (diminaling poisons, smli as lead, copiicr, I'lc, iVoiu tlic body, as I consider .such baths eminently useful.

SYMPTOMATOLOGY. 23

already recorcled under their proper headings, which really are much more clearly verified under the following heading :

EFFECTS OF LIGHTNING.

Although not wishing to add thunder and lightning to our list of therapeutic remedies, or to treat disease by its agency, a word or two on its action may not be out of place here, for, as I have already shown, the force under consideration is the same, no matter what its mode of generation. That paralysis has been cured by lightning, also deafness, there is no doubt; for reports of cases cured I would refer the reader to Altliaus's work on 3Iedicai Electricity , page 350 ; also Thunder and Lightning, by De Fonville, page 259. Leaving out its chemical effects, the symptoms recorded as having been produced by lightning are as follows :