INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



utterly without foundation and disgusted with the vauntings of 

 empirical professors and itinerant charlatans fell into the op- 

 posite extreme, and set their faces utterly against the application 

 of Electricity as a medical agent. 



From such causes as these, the scientific application of Elec- 

 tricity to medicine has made less progress than the success which 

 has really, in many cases, attended its use, might have been 

 justly expected to produce. It appears, from every trial of its 

 power hitherto made, that, under judicious management, its 

 application has never been known to produce consequences 

 decidedly injurious, while in many of the most distressing dis- 

 orders, it has frequently been of considerable service. These 

 are powerful recommendations ; and when it is added that it is 

 an external and by no means painful remedy, and that it may 

 be applied immediately to the affected part, without interfering 

 with any other organ, its advantages must appear to be consi- 

 derable. At the same time it must be remembered, that it is 

 a remedy of such a nature, that a long continuance of its 

 application is in most cases necessary ; and it therefore becomes 

 desirable that ample instructions should be given to enable any 

 one to apply it, under its different modifications, with security 

 and ease. The avocations of the medical practitioner, and the 

 constant attention to his professional duties required of him, 

 preclude the possibility of his searching amidst the pages of the 

 various scientific journals for a knowledge of its successes, 

 failures, or mode of application ; and it is to obviate such a 

 necessity, and to induce the profession generally to make trial 

 of its efficacy, that the author has endeavoured to collect, in 

 the following pages, those cases of disease which, upon credit- 

 able authority, have been relieved by the application of Electri- 

 city in some one of its forms. A portion of the treatise has 

 been devoted to a detailed description of those instruments 

 which are requisite for its administration, and their manage- 

 ment. 



