472 



these were used as te^t-spliercs. This substance which fulfils all 

 magnetic conditions is also to be recommended from a clinical point 

 of view; it is neither poisonous nor soluble; it does not rust nor 

 causes hydrogen to develop; it is not resorbed and hardly irritates 

 the mucuous membrane. It gives good RöNTGEN-contrasts, even without 

 addition of bismuth carbonate and it is more satisfactory than ferrum 

 reductum pulverisatum ; it is the principal ingredient of the emulsions, 

 which are given per os or per anum, the prescriptions of which 

 vary in practice. On this point and on the very satisfactory surgical 

 results I need hardly give full details. The following will suffice '). 



The operative conditions were fulfilled and even surpassed. The 

 practice gained with a number of patients led towards a reliable 

 diagnosis of the normal or abnormal mobility of the intestines and 

 of adhesions and their exact place. It was often managed to stretch 

 and to raise them carefully either in the stage of fibrous adherence 

 or even in that of lasting mutual connexion. Of course reliable 

 siatisiics of the results cannot be obtained until later. The treatment 

 may have a great effect on the position of the intestines or of their 

 special sections ; such a locomotion highly influences the peristaltic 

 function; this ought to be especially the case with pulsating magnetic 

 fields of smaller or greater frequency up to about 10 or 20 per 

 second and of different form of pulsation-curve. 



The accelarated or retarded displacement of intestinal substance 

 couiaining ferromagnetic ingredients; the dragging of this into organs, 

 which are too deeply seated to be reached in any other way, especially 

 the appendix, with a view to radiologic diagnosis, the turning and 

 loosening of intestinal slings remain subjects for further research. 

 Tlie principal advantages of this method are its localisation on a 

 special part of the intestines, the precise regulation of the displace- 

 ment, the easy dosing of the effect by regulating pole distance and 

 current and the simultaneous radiologic examination. 



In order to determine the topography of the field for various distan- 

 ces and currents, it was fixed by iron filings, with or without pole- 

 shoes and if necessary it was measured with a standardized test-coil. 

 Advancing along the axis, from the start at the concave pole front 

 a minimum of the field is first met, then a maximum. To these cor- 

 respond theoretically a transverse maximum and minimum respecti- 

 vely, and also an unstable and a stable zero-point of attraction. This is 

 easily shown with a test-sphere in an axial glass tube, which is seen 

 to remain suspended in that very point. With a plane pole front 

 such singularities do not appear. 



1) See also E. Payb, Ber. D. chirurg. Congress, Berlin April 1914. 



