16 



LOCALIZED ELECTRIZATION. 



the manner of Middeldorf, or to produce electrolysis, as by MM. 

 Nekton and Ciniselli.' 



By reason of its power to excite the retina, galvanism should 

 be applied to the face with great circumspection. The luminous 

 sensation produced by it is so dazzling that it may injure the sight 

 if the application is too prolonged, the intermissions too rapid, or 

 the current too intense. The following case is an example : — 



Case I.— For about a month I had electrified a patient, .suffering from 

 paralysis of the muscles of one side of the face, with my electro-dynamic 

 apparatus (an induction apparatus with battery). Improvement was 



' It was in France that the calorific 

 action of galvanism was first employed as 

 a means of canterization. Kecamier and 

 Pravaz, in 1841, attempted to destroy 

 cancers of the neck of the uterus hy a 

 galvanic current. In 1850 M. Ne'laton 

 also made some very felicitous api^licatious 

 of the calorific properties of galvanism ; 

 and was ably seconded by BI. Jules 

 Eegnauld, then chief physician in his 

 clinique, who contrived a galvanic battery 

 of small size, easy application, and great 

 heating power (Gaz. des Hopitaux, 1852). 

 M. Nelaton thought that this method of 

 cauterization might be employed with 

 advantage in cases where the diseased 

 part was deeply situated — as in the 

 pliarynx, for example. After him M. 

 Alpli. Amussut, and in Germany, Dr. 

 Middeldorf, of Breslau, have employed, 

 in analogous cases, the cauterizing power 

 of galvanic currents, with no less success 

 than ]M. Ne'laton. 



The electrolytic action of galvanic cur- 

 rents has also been applied with good 

 results to the destruction of certain 

 tumours. Humphry Davy, in 1807, was 

 the first to show" the power of elec- 

 tricity to produce decomposition of the 

 body, by means of the following experi- 

 ment. He subjected a morsel of muscular 

 fibre to the action of a pile of 150 pairs 

 for five days. The fibre hardened and 

 dried rapidly ; and, when incinerated, it 

 left no trace of saline residue. The 

 potash, soda, and ammonia had gone over 

 to the negative pole; the three mineral 

 acids and the phosphoric acid to the 

 positive pole. Davy obtained similar 

 results by subjecting to the action of the 

 battery living bodies and the leaves of 

 plants. Matteuci has also shewn the 

 action of the pile upon living animal 

 substances. In the writings of Crusel 

 we find the fundamental principles of 

 the electrolytic method. In 1841 he 

 published his first work, — {Sur le cjol- 

 vanisme comme moyen curatif chimique 

 cnntre leu mnlndies locales), and since 



then, up to 1819, he sent a succession 

 of memohs and papers to the Academy of 

 Sciences, in which he first called the 

 method the electrolytic treatment. The 

 Academy, when solicited to make a report, 

 declared that " these comnumications, in 

 the opinion of the commission appointed 

 to examine them, do not seem sufficiently 

 developed to allow of a judgment being 

 formed upon the method." The essays 

 fell into oblivion ; and the author himself 

 abandoned the j^ractice in order to return 

 to the galvanic cautery, for whicii he has 

 since substituted a hydrogen fiame for the 

 destruction of tumours. In 1860, Cini- 

 selli recalled attention to the researches 

 of Crusel upon the electrolytic or decom- 

 posing properties of galvanism as applied 

 to the destruction of morbid growths, and 

 made a communication ujtou the subject 

 to the Surgical Society of Paris, from 

 which I have taken the following extract : 

 " My first attempts at electro-puncture 

 have led me to the axiom that, in apply- 

 ing electric currents to the tissues, it is 

 not always by the calorific action that 

 scars are produced. They are formed 

 also, even frequently, when there is no 

 appreciable elevation of the temperature 

 of the conductors." In 1862, M. Ciniselli, 

 in a new work, proved that the tissue 

 changes produced by electric currents are 

 analogous to those produced by potential 

 caustics. In July 1864, M. Ne'laton had 

 the merit to be the first to popularize elec- 

 trolysis in France. — (Nelaton, Comptes 

 rendus de I'Acad. des Sciences, 1864). He 

 published a most interesting account of 

 the destruction of a naso- pharyngeal 

 polypus by the electrolytic method. I 

 need not farther continue this history ; 

 and will only add tliat M. Ciniselli em- 

 25loyed a columnar Voltaic pile, composed 

 of from 20 to 40 or more elements ; and 

 M. Nelaton a Bunsen's battery of nine 

 elements, each sixteen centimetres in 

 height by eight in width, and of high 

 tension. 



