ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE 259 



certain sera, and chill are direct causes, and in every case 

 the affected part will yield a subnormal deflection, 

 indicating treatment by ionic medication. 



VARIOUS FAULTS. 



When there is any functional throat trouble, asthma, 

 or irregular action of the heart, the vagus nerves should 

 always be tested by placing a small electrode (J in. boss) 

 directly below and a little forward of the angles of the jaw ; 

 while " nervous breakdowns," excessive nervousness, 

 insomnia, and some uncertainty of movement may have 

 their origin in spinal faults which can be readily detected. 



I remember one case of supposed epilepsy (grand-mal) 

 in the patient of a medical friend. The pulse was 40, 

 the eyes lack-lustre, and fits (so-called) were of frequent 

 occurrence. Galvanometric examination revealed a line 

 of chronic inflammation extending from the base of the 

 cerebellum to the right cervical . Under diel ectric treatment 

 the pulse went from 40 to 70 in a fortnight, his 

 health became normal, and he has since been able to pursue 

 his avocations. His trouble was that when the inflamma- 

 tion became acute as it did from time to time and the 

 quantity of nerve-current escaping became excessive, he 

 fainted. 



I mention this merely to emphasise the importance of 

 the galvanometer in obscure morbid pathology. 



Reverting for a moment to the vagi, it must be borne 

 in mind that they have both efferent and afferent branches, 

 and that when they or one of them exhibit a high and 

 intermittent both positive and negative deflection, it 

 inferentially argues intermittent contact between those 

 branches. The afferent branch is sensory but the efferent 

 is not ; the escape, therefore, from the sensory branch 

 might be constant and that from the efferent only active 

 when the nerve conveyed an impulse. 



