2 24 On the AS'ion of Galvanifrn, &c. 



exaggerated, fo that their adverfaries eafily find reafons to 

 oppoTe them ; but after fome time things come to their pro- 

 per level, ertabliihed on a more complete knowledge of the 

 agent; and thofe \vell acquainted vviih the properties of elec- 

 tricity are able to diftinguifli the cafes in which it may be 

 adminiftercd with advantage, from thofe in which it would be 

 only prejudicial. Often patients affetted with the fame dif- 

 eafe, which undergo the fame ele6lric treatment, five may be 

 entirely cured, and the other five be exceedingly ill. 



"Thofe who are cured extol eleiftricity as the bell of reme- 

 dies ; thofe who have fuffered, fay that it only aggravates the 

 evil. Both fpeak from correal experience, and at the fame 

 time right and wrong, for attempting too much to general- 

 ize; that is to fay, bccaufe they do not di(tinguifli the caufe 

 of the difeafe which requires or oppofes the application of 

 e!e6lricity. Thus the fame pain, the fcialica * for example, 

 rnay be occafioned either by a ftagnation of the fluids, by their 

 too great abundance, or by the want of reaction in the folids: 

 it may arife alfo from organic defefls ; an alteration of the 

 fluids; a poifonous, or, as it is called, acrid principle; or 

 from a j^eculiar virus in tlie fluids. 



" The five patients who labour under a flagnation of the 

 fluids, receive the greated relief from electricity, which puts 

 them in motion; the other five, tormented by fciatica occa- 

 fioned by vitiated humours, will grow worfe under eleftric 

 treatment, which will increafe the acridity of the humours, 

 carrying off a part of the water which kept the poifon di- 

 luted. This theory of the eftefts of eleftricity in the human 

 body is founded on the nature of this fluid, and on its pro- 

 perties edabliflicd by numerous ex)5criments. The eleSric 

 fluid tends always to put itfclf into a ftate of equilibrium, and 

 this tendency is fo ftrong, that it penetrates to a certain di- 

 ftance in the air, and extends along idio-cleftric bodies. It 

 is this tendency which caufes water when eledlriaed to flow 

 from capillary fyphons, whereas a very few drops only flow 

 without this eletirization. It is by the fame tendency that 

 the eleftric fpark, when it pafles from one conducing body 

 to another by non-condufting fubftances, carries with it in 

 its pafljige conducting particles which fervc it as a vehicle, if 

 the folidity of the bodies does not oppofe a very ftrong refift- 

 ance. This property, proved by the common cfR'£ls of thun- 

 der, and by leveral experiments, fcrvcs to account for the 



** Dr. Balbis obferved to me, that fciatica of every kind may be ;!C- 

 counttd for without recnrrini^ to the hypotlictic alteration of the fluids. 

 1 uplv.d, that I uijhcd fT\\j to compare my theory with tiie principal 

 ihewi.'s cf fciatica, wichout concerning niyklf with iheir probability. 



great 



