ELECTRICITY AS A REMEDY. ELECTROTHERAPY 



Synonyms: Galvanotherapy, Faradotherapy, Franklinotherapy. 



General. — Although electricity has been employed for healing 

 purposes for a long time, it is only within the last seventy years 

 that its action upon the body has been closely examined scientific- 

 ally (Remak, Ziemssen, Erb). Furthermore, its physiological 

 action remains unexplained to-day in many respects. Electro- 

 therapy is therefore still in part a purely empirical healing method. 

 In veterinary medicine, electricity is seldom employed for curative 

 purposes and, indeed, is used mostly only on dogs and horses. 

 According to the form of electricity employed and the object of the 

 treatment, the following forms of electrotherapy are differentiated: 



1. Galvanotherapy consists in the employment of the con- 

 tinuous (galvanic) current generated in galvanic batteries. 



2. Faradotherapy uses the interrupted (faradic, induced) 

 current, which is generated by means of an induction apparatus. 



3. Franklinotherapy is seldom employed; static or friction 

 electricity is used. 



4. Electrolysis (galvanolysis) is the chemical decomposition 

 of fluids by the galvanic current, the electrodes being placed upon 

 the skin. 



5. Electropuncture (galvanopuncture) serves the same 

 purposes as the needle-shaped electrodes which are used to 

 penetrate the tissues. 



6. Galvanocaustic is the use of the galvanic current to heat 

 firing apparatus. 



Action. — The effects of electricity upon the living animal 

 body are very complicated and have not been completely investi- 

 gated. The nervous system and the musculature are influenced 

 first of all by the electric current. But the fluids of the body, 

 especially the blood, and the glands and other tissues appear also 

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