ELECTRO-PHYSIOLOGY. 3 1 9 



bodies, the melioration "wns but transient. But if the electric treatment had no 

 other object than to mitigate the tortures of so intractable a malady, I deem it 

 incumbent on physiciAns to make new trials of the application of the continuous 

 electric current on this form of disease. 



The electric treatment of paralysis is founded on such a number of cures as 

 to justify us in regarding it as an important resource. I shall abstain, however, 

 from miiuitely describing all the distinctions which have been drawn by thera- 

 peutists between the effects of the currents, according as they are obtained 

 directly with the battery or inducted in different modes. These distinctions are, 

 in a scientific, view so obscure that, before taking them into consideration, it 

 would be necessary to be assured, as we certainly are not at present, that they 

 are founded on a large number of observations accurately made. 



The cure of paralysis is conducted with interrupted currents, by applying the 

 electrodes on the moistened skin of the extremities of the paralyzed members. 

 According to the principles above established, if the paralysis is that of sensa- 

 tion, the direct current should be employed, while, on the other hand, the inverse 

 current should be preferred for the paralysis of contraction. It is proper to 

 commence with very weak currents, to suspend frequently the application of 

 electricity, to make at first short applications and gradually to prolong their 

 duration. All physicians who have conscientiously tried these electric cures 

 acknowledge that recovery is not to be expected till after treatment of long 

 duration, whence both physician and sufferer should arm themselves with 

 patience, and not be discouraged by delay in realizing the effects of electricity. 



Lecture V. — Animal electricity. — Principal facts of Galvani and Nobili. — Methods of ex- 

 perimenting^ in electro-physiology. — Precautious for destroying secondary polarity. — 

 Diiferential method by the confrontation of electro-motive powers. — Muscular batteries. — 

 Fundamental facts of muscular electricity. — Entire muscles. — Divided muscles. — LavFS 

 of Matteucci and Du Bois Reymond. — Piopositions on muscular electricity. — Muscular 

 electro-motor, independent of the thickness of the muscle and the integrity of the nerve, 

 proportional to the length of the muscle. — Relation of muscular irritability. — Distinction 

 between the voltaic pile and the muscular electro-motor. — Electric cm'rent of the nerves. — 

 Electro-tonic state and its explanation by the secondary electro-motive power. 



We commence to-day the second part of this course — that is, the study of 

 electricity developed within the living organism. In this investigation it will 

 be shown that there are in nature certain animals provided with a particular 

 organ by which electricity is constantly developed. We shall further see that 

 in all animals there are certain tissues which are true electro-motors, and that 

 the electricity, developed in these stands in relation to the proper functions of 

 those tissues. But, before proceeding with this subject, I should explain and 

 describe the apparatus and the methods which are requisite to guide us to exact 

 results in a field once so intricate and obscure. It is by virtue of these methods 

 and apparatus that this part of electro-physiology forms at present a depart- 

 ment of general physics, founded on exact experiments reproduced with fa- 

 cility, and in Avhich our acquisitions are every day extended and verified. 



Such as it exists to-day, this part of electro-ph^'siology has derived its impul- 

 eion from two capital experiments which were made at two epochs very distant 

 from one another, and which remained without development till 1840. The 

 first of these experiments had its origin in the well-known discussion between 

 Galvani and Volta, towards the close of the last century. Galvani, after having 

 discovered that the prepared frog furnished a very delicate instrument for indi- 

 cating by strong muscular contractions the passage of electricity, inferred from his 

 experiments that electricity was developed within the animal, and that the nerves 

 and muscles of a frog thus prepared were as the two armatures of a charged jar, 

 discharged through the metallic arcs between Avhich those animal parts were 

 placed and in contact with them. Volta, after having invented the pile and 



