44 APPLICATION OF 



Electric Sparks. The next and simplest method of applying 

 electricity to the cure of diseases, is to present the member, or 

 part affected, to the prime conductor of the machine, and thus 

 cause it to receive a succession of sparks ; or what is more con- 

 venient, to place the patient on a chair, and convey to him the 

 sparks by means of a director connected with the conductor by 

 a chain. 



Insulation and Sparks. The third mode consists in placing 

 the patient upon an insulating stool, putting him in connection 

 by means of a chain or metallic rod, with the prime con- 

 ductor, and drawing sparks from the seat of disease or pain, by 

 simply presenting to such part the knuckle, or should the ope- 

 rator prefer it, an insulated director connected by a chain with 

 the ground. This method of operating has the advantage over 

 the preceding, that it conjoins the electrical bath with the influ- 

 ence of the spark. It is therefore that usually adopted in the 

 medicinal administration of electricity. The force of the spark 

 is proportionate to its length ; so that, by properly diminishing 

 this, its strength may be reduced to any required standard. 



A favourite method with some practitioners of applying 

 sparks is to give or draw them across flannel. For this purpose 

 a director, terminated by a large ball, which is to be covered 

 with a fold of flannel, is approached in the usual way to the 

 organ to be electrified. Instead of a single, strong spark, a 

 series of weak ones will thus be produced, which, emanating at 

 the same instant from several of the woollen fibres, extend over 

 a considerable surface, and produce in it a peculiar pricking 

 sensation. The ball of the director may be naked, the flannel 

 being laid on the part of the body which is to be submitted to 

 the influence of the'sparks. This method is supposed to be 

 particularly suited to the treatment of rheumatism and paralysis, 

 especially in patients who cannot endure the stronger forms of 

 electricity. 



The Aura. The next form of electricity to be noticed is the 

 Aura, or jet of air which proceeds from an electrified point. 

 This is the modification of the electric influence to which ulcers, 

 excoriated surfaces, and delicate organs, such as the eye and 



