VALUE OF GALVANIC CUERENTS IN MEDICINE. 231 



of a Becker-Muirhead battery, which loroducecl no effect on the healthy left 

 deltoid and infra-spinatus, a marked contraction of both ixaralysed muscles 

 was excited : with forty-five cells (also ineffective npon the healthy muscles) 

 an energetic contraction. Mr. Eadcliffe from this time used the interrupted 

 galvanic current alone, thrice weekly, and each time about ten mimites, 

 until it had been applied thirty times. At the end of this period, seventy-five 

 cells were required to produce the amount of contraction formerly caused 

 by forty-five ; and under the full force of the current from the primary coil 

 of a large Stohrer's induction aj^paratus, sKght contraction was produced 

 in the deltoid. The fiu-ther wasting of the muscles ajjpeared also to have 

 ceased, although they did not gain in bulk. 



At this time treatment was suspended for two months, the patient being 

 compelled to leave town. In the interval, not only was the httle ground 

 which had been gained by electrical treatment lost, but the paralysed muscles 

 had become more and more wasted, and it was now clear that the supra- 

 spinatus also suffered. The wasting, indeed, was so great, that of the deltoid 

 barely a filmy layer of fibres could be presumed to remain. Faradization 

 over the affected muscles did not excite a trace of contraction, and electro- 

 puncture yielded only doubtful action. But again the interrupted galvanic 

 current caused marked contraction ; and, pursuing the same course that he 

 had done before, Mr. Eadclifte used daily for about a dozen times this form 

 of current only. At the end of the twelve ai)]3lications, on using the full 

 force of the current from the primary coil of a large Stolirer's induction 

 apparatus, distinct but slight contraction of the . deltoid and infra-sjiinatus 

 occurred. From this period faradization of the paralysed muscles was 

 persisted in four times in the week. 



The liistory of this case was not completed in the account given by the 

 ' Lancet ' reporter. lam now able to give the result. The affected muscles 

 steadily increased in bulk, their electro-contractility improved, and sensi- 

 bility to the electric current, touch, tickling, heat, and cold retm-ned, and at 

 the end of four months, the patient was enabled to use his right arm freely, 

 and retiun to his ordinary occupation. At this time no difierence could 

 be distinguished between the right and left deltoid, and voluntary control 

 was as complete over the one muscle as the other; but the electromotility 

 of the right muscle was not equal to that of the left. 



In the autumn of 18G9, this case came imder my observation. During the 

 interval the man had followed his occuimtion, using with freedom even the 

 large hammer. But, about four weeks before placing himself under medical 

 care again, he had begim to suffer from severe erratic pains in the right 

 arm and forearm, and an inability to wield the hammer freely. In bulk of 

 muscles and voluntary actioa, no difference could be detected between the 

 right and left arms. The right deltoid was aj^parently as fully developed as 

 the left. There was no alteration of sensibility of any form over the right 

 arm, and all the muscles responded to an induced current of ordinary 

 strength, an interrupted galvanic current producing no contraction until 

 its force was raised to a jioint that it would act upon healthy muscles. But 

 the motor effect produced on the right deltoid by induced currents of equal 

 strength was mi;ch less than on the left. The case unfortunately was seen 

 only three or four times, and its further history is unknown. — 11. T.'] 



