1 14* ON THE ACTION OF GALVAtflSMi 



This will become more obvious from the explanation of the 

 medical action of electricity on the human body. 

 Difference of Several celebrated writers have placed electricity among 



mjTeTearicity " ^ e mo ^ certain ana * active remedies ; others have demonftrat- 

 arifing from its ed the inutility and even danger of this fluid as a remedy ; 

 implication. each of them haye f upported their opinion by well-afcertained 



facts. 



Nothing is more eafy to be accounted for when we reflect 

 on the very great number of thofe, who, in the application 

 of electricity as a medicine, have only acted empirically with- 

 out having confulted the nature of the diforder, or of the agent 

 by which they intended to cure it. It is for this reafon that, in 

 the memoir which will appear in the volume of the academy, 

 I have recommended the greateft caution in the ufe of galvan- 

 Electricitymay ifm, which, like electricity, may do a great deal of harm ; 

 do harm when an( j tnat j nave a flerted that this remedy, though very excel- 

 p l iedt lent in itfelf, has done more harm than good in confequence of 



improper application. I (hall not fpeak of the chimerical pro- 

 perties which, iii the enthufiafm of novelty, have been attri- 

 buted to electricity, fuch as that of conveying to the human 

 body, by friction with them, the action of remedies fealed up 

 in glafs tubes. 

 New remedies ^ ' s notorious that it is the fate of every new difcovery to be 

 injudicioufly f Q over-rated, that its opponents are at no lofs for reafons to 

 9 ' object to it, but after fome time things are brought to the pro- 

 per level, eftabliflied by the more intimate knowledge of the 

 agent. Thus thofe who are fufficiently acquainted with the 

 properties of electricity, know how to diftinguifli the cafes in 

 which it can be employed to advantage from thofe in which 

 it would be injurious. Of ten patients affected with the 

 fame complaint, who undergo a fimilar courfe of electricity, 

 five may be entirely cured, and the other five fhall be very 

 ill. 



Thofe who are cured extol electricity as the belt of reme- 

 dies ; thofe who fufFer fay that it only increafed their com- 

 plaint ; both fpeak from accurate experiments ; both are right 

 and wrong at the fame time from making the application too 

 general, that is to fay, becaufe they do not difiinguifh the 

 caufe of the diforder which requires to be oppofed by the ufe 

 of electricity. I will explain myfelf: The fame complaint, 

 4 for 



