BY ELECTRICITY. 39 



produce relief, we shall conclude this chapter, by referring to 

 the maladies in which Voltaic Electricity alone, is likely to 

 prove advantageous. 



In Asthma and Dyspepsia. Galvanism, in the form of the con- 

 tinued current, has been strongly recommended by Dr. Wilson 

 Philip for the treatment of indigestion, and what he calls habi- 

 tual Asthma, that is, simple difficulty of breathing, unaccompanied 

 by pulmonary spasmodic action, or any tendency to thoracic 

 action. This application of Voltaic Electricity suggested itself 

 to him, from his having observed in the course of the experi- 

 ments we have already related, that, after the excision of 

 portions of the par vagum, a current of electricity not only 

 restored the digestive process, but also removed the difficulty 

 of breathing. He describes the benefit obtained, as greatly 

 exceeding his expectations. His method is, to apply a disc of 

 silver to the nape of the neck and another to the epigastric 

 region, and then to press the positive wire of a galvanic battery 

 against the former, and the negative wire against the latter ; the 

 circuit is to be maintained until decided relief is experienced, 

 which usually occurs within from five to fifteen minutes. In 

 every instance, a suspension of the dyspnoea was thus effected, 

 and in many cases the cure was permanent. The success which 

 Dr. Philip experienced in his treatment of habitual asthma on 

 this plan, led him to peculiar views respecting the pathology of 

 the affection. The disease, he conceives, to consist in some 

 impediment residing in the nerves, to the transmission from the 

 brain of galvanic influence ; and the artificial electric current he 

 supposes to operate by removing such impediment. 



Of the proposal to electrolyse Urinary Calculi, as also of the 

 Galvanic Moxa, we have already spoken. Pravaz * has proposed 

 to cauterize the bites inflicted by rabid animals by galvanic 

 agency, and the principle on which he acts is as follows : If 

 the connecting wires of a common pile be made to touch a cut 

 or ulcer, within a short distance of each other, the animal fluids 

 undergo coagulation, and by properly shifting these wires, this 



t Revue Medicale, Decembre, 1840. 



