422 THE TREATMENT OF DISEASES. 



to produce pain, or even severe discomfort, is never to be thought of in the treat- 

 ment of neuralgia, and such practice would inevitably do harm. Only such a 

 current is to be used as produces merely a slight tingling, and, on prolonged applica- 

 tion, a slight burning sensation, with a little reddening of the skin at one electrode. 

 This is a point of the utmost importance, and anything like a shock is quite out of 

 the question ; in fact, it is a different kind of electricity altogether. The application 

 of the current should be made at regular intervals, and at least once a day ; in most 

 cases this is enough, but sometimes it is useful to do it twice a day. The matter of 

 regularity is of importance, and it will not do to abandon the treatment immediately 

 on the occurrence of a break in the neuralgic attacks, but it should be continued for 

 some days longer. The length of the application at each sitting should be from five 

 to ten, or at the utmost fifteen minutes. 



Respecting the surgical treatment of neuralgia we have little or nothing to say. 

 Division of the affected nerve is alike unscientific and useless. Surgical interference 

 is of course justifiable when, along with decided and intractable neuralgic pain, there 

 is distinct evidence of the presence of some foreign body or of an old scar pressing 

 on the nerve, but these cases are rare and exceptional. In some cases, too, decayed 

 teeth may have to be removed for the cure of neuralgia, but it should be re- 

 membered that thousands of teeth have been extracted from the mouths of patients, 

 not only without benefit, but with the effect of distinctly aggravating the complaint. 



NIGHT-SWEATING. 



Night-sweating is of frequent occurrence as a symptom of consumption. It is 

 not present in every case, but it is in a good many. Curiously enough, the perspi- 

 ration seems to have a close connection with the sleep of the patient : it seldom 

 comes on while he continues to lie awake ; but after sleeping he wakes, and finds 

 that he is sweating. In a very large number of cases it comes on about three or 

 four in the morning. It varies very much in degree in different cases ; sometimes it 

 is merely a little dampness about the head and face, at others it is enough to wet 

 the flannel and night-shirt, and even the sheets. In one case the patient assures us 

 that the bed was wet through right to the mattress. We have heard a man say that 

 he was so wet, that it was "just for all the world as if he had been in a bath." We 

 have known instances in which the unfortunate sufferer has been obliged to get up 

 in the middle of the night to change his wet things. The perspiration is generally 

 more profuse about the head and chest than the rest of the body, but sometimes 

 the patient sweats all over, even down to the tips of his toes. Sometimes the 

 sweating exhibits a good deal of capriciousness the patient may suffer from it 

 terribly for a week or two, and then it may suddenly take its departure, there being 

 no return for a month or more. The sweating is no evidence of the existence of 

 high fever, for we have often observed it when the temperature has been but little 

 above the normal. It is most exhausting, and it is always desirable to stop it with 

 as little delay as possible. Fortunately the remedies at our command usually enable 

 us to do so without much trouble. 



A very good remedy for night-sweating is oxide of zinc. One or two of the oxide 



