174 



LOCALIZED ELECTRIZATION". 



that they would furnish subject matter for more than one volume, 

 if it were necessary for me to describe them in detail. Not 

 wishing to exceed the limits that I have set myself, I am com- 

 pelled to give only a brief summary of the principal facts that 

 have been brought to light by these experiments. 



At the commencement of my own researches, galvanic excita- 

 tion of nerve-trunks by continuous currents appeared to me to 

 be the method of electrization most applicable to paralysis in 

 g-eneral. I knew that Alexander von Humboldt, in 1795, had 

 opened the way to galvanic treatment, by an experiment made 

 upon himself that is too well known to be related here, as well as 

 by the general impulse which he had given to such researches. 

 My reading had also informed me that, immediately after the 

 discovery of the pile by Volta, galvanic currents had been applied, 

 in Germany, to the treatment of some forms of paralysis and of 

 nervous affection until 1804 or 1805,^ and that these therapeutic 

 experiments had been repeated in 1823 by Aldini, and afterwards 

 by Nobili and Matteuci. 



It seemed to me that the discoveries of Galvani,^ Volta,' Eitter,^ 

 Alexander von Humboldt,^ Jean Aldini,^ Valli,^ Lehot,® and, since 

 1827, those of Marianini,'' Nobili,^ and Matteuci,'' were alone sufii- 

 cieat to furnish the elements of a rational electric treatment. 

 Their works taught that, in animals, it was possible to destroy or 



* The following are the principal authors 

 ^Yho, from 1797 to 1823, have followed the 

 experiments of Humboldt, with regard to 

 the therapeutic action of galvanic cur- 

 rents : — Loder, Journal fur Ghirurgie, tom. 

 iii. ; Grapiiengiesser, Versuche den Gal- 

 vanismus zur Heilung einiger Kranhheiien 

 anzuwenden. Berlin, 1808. Augustin, Ver- 

 such einer vollstdndigen Systemgeschichte ; 

 Struve, System der mediziidschen Electri- 

 citatheher mit liucksicht auf den Gal- 

 vanismus. Breslau and Leipzig, 1802. 



^ Galvani, Sur I'irritahilite' halle'rienne, 

 Mt'moires commnnique's a I'lnstitut de 

 Bologne, 9 Avril, 1772 ; Siir les mouve- 

 ments musculaires des grenouilles, 22 Avril, 

 1773 ; Sur Vaction de Vophmi sur les nerfs 

 des grenouilles, 1774 ; Commenlaire De 

 viribus electricitatis, 1791. 



1 Volta, Collezione deUe opere. Firenze, 

 1816. 



- V. Eitter, Freuves qu'un galvanisme 

 independant accompagne le processus vital 

 dans le regne animal. Weimar, 1798. 



3 A. von Humboldt, Versuche iiber die 

 gereizte Muskel und Nerven faser. Posen 

 and Berlin, 1797, tom. i. 324. Experi- 

 ences sur le galvanisme. Paris, 1793. 



■• Aldini, Essai th^orique et experi- 

 mental sur le gahanisme. Paris, 1804. 



° Yalli, Lettres sur V e'leciricit^ a Des- 

 genettes et de Lame'trie, 1792. 



^ Lehot, Me'moire lu a. I'lnstitut, 26 

 Frimaire, an. IX. 



' Marianini, Me'moire sur la secousse 

 qu^prouvent les animaux au moment oil 

 Us cessent de servir d'arc, au moment oii its 

 cessent de servir de communication entre 

 les poles d'un electro moteur, et sur quelques 

 autres phe'nomenes pliysiohgiques produits 

 par Ve'lectricite (^Annales de Chimie et 

 de Physique de Gay-Lussac et Arago. 

 Paris, 1829, tom. xl.). M^moire sur le 

 phe'nomene e'lectro-physiologique des alter- 

 natives voltaiques^c'est-a-dire sur les phe'no- 

 menes que pre'sentent les muscles des animaux 

 re'cemment tue's,si Von soumet hngtemps ces 

 muscles au courant e'lectrique {Annales de 

 Chimie et de Fhysique. Paris, 1834, tom. 

 Ivi.) 



^ Nobili, Analisi sperimentali e teorica 

 degli effetti electro-fisiologici della rana, 

 con un' Appendice intorno alia natura del 

 tetano, della paralisi, ed al modo di curare 

 queste due malattie colla elettricita. Fi- 

 renze, 1834. 



® Matteuci, Traits des phe'nomenes €lec- 

 tro-physiologiques des animaux. Paris, 

 1844. 



