THEKAPEUTIC VALUE OF ELECTRO-PUNCTURE. 119 



of them are excited by reflex action. The method borders upon 

 that of electrization by reflex action, which forms the subject of 

 the second part of this chapter. 



In order that excitation should be complete, in the treatment of 

 paralysis by electro-puncture, it would be necessary that needles 

 should be inserted into each of the paralysed muscles. Moreover, 

 as it seems to me to be demonstrated, by numerous facts, that the 

 therapeutical action is limited, in general, to the points that are in 

 contact with the rheophores, or at least that it extends over but a 

 small radius, it would be necessary that the number of needles 

 used to excite each muscle should be proportionate to its bulk and 

 length. The operation would become a torture to which patients 

 would never submit, especially in paralysis of some extent, by 

 reason of the time that would be required and of the inevitable 

 suffering that would be produced. 



On the other hand, how simple and rapid is the localized fara- 

 dization of each one of the paralysed muscles, by means of moist 

 rheophores moved over the unbroken skin. In electro-puncture, 

 the needle traverses the thickness of the muscles, whilst, in 

 localized faradization, the moist rheophores act only upon their 

 surface. We might, therefore, suppose that the electro-puncture 

 would possess more therapeutic power than localized faradization. 

 Such an opinion would be unfounded ; for I have already shown 

 that, on applying a moist rheophore to the surface of a muscle, the 

 electric excitation penetrates the tissues the more deeply, the more 

 intense the current. Faradization, therefore, by the aid of moist 

 rheophores, will penetrate a muscle in the direction of its thick- 

 ness as readily as by the aid of needles. Moreover, by moving the 

 rheophores over the whole surface of the muscle, the electricity is 

 distributed to every part of it, which can never be done by electro- 

 puncture. 



I have seen many cases of paralysis undergo improvement under 

 the influence of localized faradization by moist rheophores, in which 

 electro-puncture had previously completely failed. 



If electro-puncture were as eflScacious and as practicable as 

 muscular faradization, the pain inseparable from the former method 

 should lead us always to prefer the latter. I shall, moreover, show 

 hereafter that painful electrization is dangerous in some forms of 

 paralysis, in those of cerebral origin for example. Electro-puncture 

 is therefore contra-indicated in such cases, and also in all those 

 that require numerous applications. (We shall see that the cure 

 of some forms of paralysis requires from sixty to eighty appli- 

 cations.) 



It is especially in children that it is desirable to practise 



