DISEASES RELIEVED 



stimulating the motor nerves by electricity is likely to be service* 

 able. There are several curious cases on record, with regard to 

 the effect of electricity in Palsy. In the Haerlem Transactions, 

 a case is recorded in which a hemiplegic patient recovered the 

 use of his side after a hundred strokes from the gymnotus elec- 

 tricus, or electric eel ; and in the Medico-Chirurgical Review, 

 the following curious but well-authenticated anecdote occurs. A 

 vessel on the Atlantic was struck several times by lightning, 

 insomuch that many of the crew were strongly electrified. 

 Among the passengers was a man who had been paralysed in 

 both his inferior limbs for three years ; at the time of the electric 

 discharge he lay on his bed, but soon after perceived the return 

 of power to his limbs, and was enabled to rise with the perfect 

 use of them. The cure in this case was permanent. 



But though it is generally admitted that electricity is occa- 

 sionally a successful remedy in Palsy, still the remarks we have 

 made above must ever be borne in mind ; for in those palsies 

 which depend upon compression of the brain, the application of 

 so powerful a stimulant is likely to increase the evil we seek to 

 remedy, especially when it is so employed as to act upon the 

 vessels of the head. Applied as a topical remedy it will be less 

 apt to produce mischief; and for this purpose the operation of 

 electro-puncture, presently to be described, may sometimes be 

 resorted to with advantage. The facility afforded of gradually 

 increasing the force of the shock by the employment of the gal- 

 vanic apparatus, renders galvanism a more safe and suitable 

 arrangement than electricity ; and according to the conclusions 

 of Dr. Bardsley, its efficiency is superior to that of electricity. 



The . researches of Matteucci, to which, allusion has been 

 already made, have thrown much light on the use of voltaic 

 electricity in paralysis, and from the work before cited, we quote 

 his remarks on its therapeutical application : 



" These are then facts, which independently of theory, or of 

 all hypothesis on the nature of nervous force, may guide us in 

 the therapeutical application of the electric current in paralysis. 

 In fact, we may admit that in some forms of paralysis, the nerves 

 of the affected limb are altered in some way similar to that which 



