682 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1763. 



the rest with that unpleasing sensation. Many experiments relating to this 

 matter were printed in the 44th vol. of the Phil. Trans. 



But to return to the patient: he ordered her to be electrized about the middle 

 of Nov. This was done every day, or every other day, for about 20 minutes, by 

 simply electrizing the muscles subservient to the motion of the lower jaw, her 

 neck, and her arms. This at first was very difficult to be atchieved ; as she was 

 not capable of being placed in a chair to be electrized by herself, and as an as- 

 sistant could scarcely hold her on account of her being greatly distorted. It with 

 difficulty however was done. After about a fortnight the convulsions left her, 

 and her sleeps were longer and more quiet ; but the rigidity continued the same. 

 After this, such parts of her body, as were thought expedient, were made part of 

 the electric circuit, and were shaken by the explosion of the charged vial. These 

 applications were at first more particularly made to the temporal and masseter 

 muscles (the parts first affected) and to the muscles of the neck and arms ; after- 

 wards to those of her back, hips, thighs, and legs. Care was taken to moderate 

 the shocks in a manner, not to be too severe; and she was electrized every 2d, 

 and sometimes every 3d day. 



These fits, which were of the epileptic kind, left her in about a fortnight from 

 her being electrized, and had not afterwards returned, even in the slightest 

 degree. In about a fortnight more her jaw was looser, and the muscles of her 

 neck and arms had a large share of motion; and it was very observable, that as 

 her muscles increased in their power of motion, they increased in their size, and 

 the patient in her strength. By the end of January, by continuing the electri- 

 city, every muscle in her body was loose, and subservient to her will; and she 

 could not only stand upright, but walk, and even run like other children of her 

 age. With her strength, she had so far recovered her fiesh and colour, that 

 her appearance was that of a reasonably healthy child; and her breath had quite 

 lost its late offensive smell. The only parts of her body not quite so loose as the 

 rest were the temporal and masseter muscles, which were the parts first affected 

 > by the disease. This prevented her opening her mouth quite so wide as she 

 formerly could ; but this hindrance was so little, as not then to be noticed, 

 unless hinted at beforehand. She went to school, lived at large, and went out 

 every day when the weather was seasonable; but the electrizing was still con- 

 tinued, though not so constantly and regularly as before. This he proposed 

 should be continued until the return of warm weather. In the last week this 

 child was presented to the committee of the Foundling Hospital, where several 

 of the governors, who were apprised of her case, expressed their amazement 

 at so unexpected a recovery. 



It is here to be observed that, except the muscles subservient to the motion 

 of her jaw, none so long continued their rigidity as those of the back, denomi- 



