110 LOCALIZED ELECTEIZATION. 



in amenorrlioea, the menstruation is recalled or modified by fara- 

 dization, in whatever manner it is applied. 



I have proved that electro-physiolos^ical excitation is limited, in 

 general, to the jDoints wliich are in relation with the rheophores ; 

 but it is a belief widely diffused among practitioners, that faradism 

 always over-excites the nervous centres. If this belief be well 

 founded, we may see how much danger would attend the use 

 of such a therapeutic agent, in the treatment of certain forms of 

 paralysis, and especially of cerebral paralysis. 



By taking care to keep the rheophores near together, it is cer- 

 tain that the action of the currents is felt but feebly by the nervous 

 centres. In the following chapter I shall describe the means of 

 directing the excitation upon these centres, when it is necessary to 

 excite them. 



It would be easy for me to show that faradization reacts upon 

 the nervous centres, only by the intermediation of the sensibility 

 that it over-excites. When we produce contractions, by the 

 influence of a very intense and rapid current, in muscles that are 

 paralysed in consequence of cerebral hemorrhage, and that are at 

 the same time deprived of their sensibility, the electric excitation 

 will be localized in the parts to which it is applied, the muscles 

 will contract energetically, and the patient will not even have any 

 consciousness of the process. However frequent or long continued 

 the operations, he will be in no way incommoded. If, on the con- 

 trary, the same current be applied, in the same patient, to muscles 

 that retain their normal sensibility, it will not only produce imme- 

 diate and very acute pains in the muscles themselves, but will 

 pi-oduce also a general over-excitation that may be a source of 

 danger to the brain. 



It appears from these considerations that localized faradization 

 reacts very faintly upon the nervous centres, when so practised as 

 not to excite the sensibility too acutely ; and Avhen the rheophores 

 are kept near together. 



But there is a point which it is impoi-tant to know in every 

 application of electricity to man : I refer to the dynamic influence 

 that may be exerted upon patients by the change in their natural 

 electricity that is produced by electrization. In order to give any 

 account of these phenomena, it is essential to explain the physical 

 change that is wrought in the body by the action of the faradic 

 current. At the moment when the rheophores of an induction 

 apparatus are applied to the surface, the natural electricity of the 

 dermis is decomposed, and opposite electricities collect towards 

 each of the rheophores, and escape in sufficient quantity to 

 neutralise the current that comes to trouble their repose. This 



