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9. J. Reid has found, that if the four nerves uniting the spinal 

 cord to the posterior limbs are cut across on both sides, in 

 frogs, and if a galvanic current is applied every day to the pal- 

 sied limbs on one side, these galvanized limbs retain their natural 

 dimensions, while the palsied limbs not galvanised become 

 atrophied. 



I have found : 1. That if, instead of cutting only the four 

 cerebro-spinal nerves of the posterior limbs, I divide also the 

 branches of the sympathetic nerve which unite with them, the 

 same results are obtained as in Reid's experiment. 2. That if a 

 like experiment is performed on dogs, guinea-pigs, rabbits and 

 pigeons, the same results are found. 3. That if after atrophy 

 has taken place in the limb of a mammal or a pigeon, a galvanic 

 current is applied, every day, during several weeks, the atrophy 

 diminishes little by little and the limb at length becomes as large 

 as a sound limb. This happens although there is no return of 

 vital property in the divided nerves. 4. That if the application 

 of galvanism is made on the palsied limbs of very young animals, 

 and continued every day until they have arrived at adult age, 

 these limbs are then found to have grown as much, in every re- 

 spect, as the sound limbs. 



In addition to these facts I have to state that in cases of lead 

 palsy, in which the extensor muscles, as far as I have been able 

 to judge, were completely destroyed and replaced by fibrous 

 tissue, I have seen muscles created by galvanism and becoming 

 as strong as they are in healthy men. 



In a case, which I published two years ago, (Gaz. Med. 

 de Paris, 1850, t. v. p. 169,) I have found that an increase 

 of five centimetres in circumference took place in the superior 

 part of the leg of a young gentleman, under the influence of gal- 

 vanism, applied three quarters of an hour each day for six days. 

 In all the facts before related, galvanism acts by two ways : 

 the one is that it exercises the muscles, and increase in conse- 

 quence their nutrition ; the other is that it produces directly 

 some of the chemical changes which constitute nutrition. 



The atrophy, which happens in paralyzed muscles, takes place 

 mostly because they remain without exercise, and partly because 

 when nervous action is deficient the respiration of the muscles is 

 not carried on as well as when the nervous system acts upon 



