278 APPENDIX. [No. XVIII. 



altogether depend upon electrical conditions, as we have neutral electricity 

 for days together when cholera does not appear. 



The absence of diffusive power may not be for all gases equally ; and, 

 if subsequent experiment confirm this idea, a cause for each specific epi- 

 demic may be ultimately ascertained by the medical practitioner having 

 proper recourse to chemistry and natural philosophy. 



Within the last month I have had many inquiries upon the possibility 

 of the disease being due to the direct action of electrical states upon the 

 human frame. Upon this matter I can only say that, having kept small 

 animals under electric tension for weeks together, I never could observe 

 any very appreciable effect ; and I do not believe myself that electricity in 

 any form could give rise to cholera. With respect to the statements 

 which have appeared in the papers, of the non-action of an electrical 

 machine, under French auspices, when the cholera raged, I may state that 

 it is contrary to my own experience, and so opposed to physical laws that 

 it partakes rather of the romantic than the real. 



With respect to the effect of electricity as a remedial agent for 

 cholera, there are not sufficient physiological reasons for supposing that 

 in any form it can be applied with great success ; yet, as a stimulus, 

 Dr. Peacock has employed it usefully, and, by using the intermittent cur- 

 rent of the electro- magnetic or magneto-electric machine, the asthenic 

 and dynamic pole of the great peripheral battery may be excited to action, 

 and, according to the experiments which I have elsewhere described, the 

 entire capillary system of the surface and extremities of the body would be 

 stimulated, and the blood thereby drawn off from the interior. There 

 would be no difficulty in keeping a cholera patient under electrical tension, 

 by simply placing the legs of the bed on blocks of glass, and connecting 

 the bed with the conductor of an electric machine ; but, upon physiological 

 grounds, I do not apprehend that much benefit would arise in so severe a 

 disease as cholera. 



I invite the attention of our profession to the non-diffusive theory, for 

 its universality or its incorrectness can only be proved by a multitude of 

 observers. At present, it appears to me to express the greatest number of 

 facts, and to be the most useful for practical application, as it declares 

 that cholera may be avoided by pure air, proper ventilation, and perfect 

 drainage. 



The practical man is never contented without inquiring into the best 

 mode of action. It is clear that in a few days we cannot alter our 

 gigantic sewage works, and therefore the best preventive which can be 

 adopted is to cause the flow of such a great abundance of clear water that 

 the poison may be retained in the sewers. Clear water contains oxygen 

 to combine with the noxious products, and it is found that, up to a certain 

 state, water takes from the atmosphere, gases to which it has an affinity, 

 instead of yielding them to it, to spread abroad the poison. 



The supply of water in London must in a great measure be procured 

 from the New River, though thousands of tons might probably be thrown 

 into the sewers by employing the waste labour of workhouses and prisons 

 to pump water from such wells as already exist. 



