FRICTIONAL ELECTRICITY. 47 



" In the employment," remarks Dr. Apjohn,* " of electricity 

 as a curative agent, there are certain precepts to be borne in 

 mind, without an attention to which, disappointment will often 

 be experienced, and unmerited discredit thrown upon a really 

 efficacious means of subjugating morbid action." These may be 

 reduced to the following heads : 



1. Electricity should only be considered as auxiliary to other 

 modes of medical treatment, which experience has shewn to be 

 advantageous. Thus, in rheumatism, it may be combined with 

 diaphoretics ; in chorea, with tonics ; and in paralysis, with 

 medicines which, like strychnia, stimulate the nervous system ; 

 a practice which has also been adopted for the cure of palsy, 

 arising from the absorption of lead. 



2. We should always commence with its weaker forms, such 

 as the bath or aura ; next proceed to sparks ; and finally, should 

 these prove insufficient, to shocks, taking care to regulate their 

 strength by the means already described, and avoiding their 

 exhibition when of such degrees of energy as to prove distressing 

 to the feelings of the patient. The sparks applied in amaurosis, 

 or for the discussion of glandular swellings, must be feeble, and 

 in such cases, shocks are quite inadmissible. To communicate 

 the latter, a jar, four inches in diameter and six in height, will 

 be found amply sufficient. 



3. The electrization should be performed daily, and be 

 persevered in for at least a month, if necessary ; and a cure 

 must not be despaired of because there is no immediate relief 

 experienced ; for the good effects of electricity generally require 

 a long time for being developed. 



4. The Aura may be applied for from five to ten minutes. 

 The number of shocks passed in one direction should not exceed 

 twelve, nor the number of sparks twenty-four. 



5. In local affections, the electric fluid should be confined to 

 the diseased part or organ ; but in diseases such as chorea and 

 epilepsy, in which the entire system seems to be engaged, it must 

 be applied generally over the body ; such parts, however, as are 

 affected with pain or any unusual sensation, should be particularly 

 dwelt on. 



* Cyclopaedia of Practical Medicine, vol. i. art. Electricity. 



