BY ELECTRICITY. 



would be produced by a continued passage of the electric cur- 

 rent. We have seen that to reimpart it to a nerve, which has, by 

 the passage of an electric current, lost its excitability ; it is neces- 

 sary to act upon it by a current made to traverse it in an opposite 

 direction. In the same way, to cure the paralysis, we should pass 

 a current of electricity through it, in an opposite direction to that 

 which would have produced it. From this it will be seen that " 

 we are supposing that the paralysis we are about to submit to 

 electrical treatment is either of the nerves of motion or of sensa- 

 tion. Thus, for a paralysis of a nerve of motion, the inverse 

 current should be applied ; while for a nerve of sensation, the 

 direct current should be had recourse to. In cases of complete 

 paralysis there is no reason for selecting one in preference to 

 another. There is still another rule for its application, which 

 theory has taught us it is, never to continue the application of 

 the current for too long a period, lest we should augment the 

 malady which we wish to cure. The time for the application of 

 the current should be shorter in proportion, as the current itself 

 is more intense. Theory has taught us the necessity of applying 

 the electrical current, varying the intensity according to the 

 extent of the disease, for two or three minutes, at intervals of a 

 few seconds. After these two or three minutes, during which 

 time twenty to thirty shocks should be given, the patient should 

 be left at rest some little time, after which the treatment may be 

 renewed." 



The cases of cure, which- are recorded by Matteucci, prove 

 incontestably the necessity for perseverance ere we can hope for 

 successful results. Marianini in some cases continued the ap- 

 plication of the voltaic current for some months ; in two cases 

 the cure was not effected till two thousand five hundred shocks 

 had been passed through the paralysed limb; and Matteucci adds 

 a case, in which both inferior extremities were paralysed ; but 

 where, after a continued electrical treatment, their use was 

 perfectly restored. "These results," he adds, "although far 

 from numerous, are sufficient to induce physicians seriously to 

 study electro-physiological phenomena, in order that we may be 

 able scientifically to adopt some therapeutical method of combating 

 B 5 



