333 



tremity of a conductor being placed in the exterior auditory duct of the 

 right side (moistened with a solution of muriate of ammonia, as well as 

 the pieces of cloth which made part of the pile) the left hand, dipped in 

 the same liquid, touched a conductor placed at the copper pole: imme- 

 diately an irritation, followed by painful prickings, was felt in the ear, 

 the outer part of which became very red. The brain partook in the ex- 

 citement, the eyes flashed, and the effect was such, that after remaining 

 a few minutes in the closed galvanic circle, the patient was taken with a 

 sort of inebriation. I propose to direct, as has been done at Berlin, a 

 more immediate irritation of the right ear, which is the deafest, by intro- 

 ducing behind the velum palati, on the guttural orifice of the eustachian 

 tube, the button which is at the end of the conductor of the zinc pole; or 

 else to make this extremity correspond with a denuded surface, by a blis- 

 ter behind the diseased ear. 



To use galvanism in paralysis of the bladder, it would be necessary to 

 place the conductor of the zinc pole in the rectum, that of the other pole 

 answering to a blister applied above the pubis, or else to the upper part 

 of the thigh. In women, the vagina would be preferable to the rectum ; 

 the soft parts which perform the part of moist conductors fulfilling that 

 office the better, the thinner they are. Galvanism is therefore an ener- 

 getic stimulant of the vital powers; it may be employed, with great ad- 

 vantage, in all palsy, both of sensation and of motion. It acts as a sti- 

 mulant, reddening the skin where it is applied, by determining thither 

 the flow of blood, with heat. Monro could make his nose bleed at plea- 

 sure, by applying it to the pituitary membrane. I have made various 

 experiments, having in view to establish the efficacy of galvanism, in 

 white swelling of the joints, and in ulcers which require excitement; such 

 as those which are attended with a scorbutic affection, Sec. in all these 

 cases, it acts as a resolvent, and as a ionic. I shall communicate, in my 

 Surgical Nosography, the results of these attempts. Cases of Asphyxia 

 are those in which the greatest good may be hoped from galvanism, 

 provided the application be made before all the vital heat be extinct*. 



Those who wish fuller details on galvanism, and on its possible appli- 

 cation to the treatment of disease, will do well to consult the Complete 

 History of Galvanism, by Professor Sue, the eulogium of Galvani, by Dr. 

 Alibert, in the beginning of the fourth volume of the Memoirs of the 

 Medical Society of Emulation, and the work of Dr. Aldini, nephew to 

 the celebrated author of the discoveryf. 



CLXXV. General view of the osseous system. Man, as well as the other 

 red-blooded animals, (the mammiferae, birds, reptiles, and fishes,) has an 

 internal skeleton, formed of a great number of bones articulated together, 

 and set in motion by the muscles with which they are covered. The 

 white-blooded animals have no internal skeleton, and are enveloped, in 

 hard, scaly, or stony parts, forming what is called their outer skeleton. 



* Dr. PHILIP is of opinion that, in those diseases in which the original cause of de- 

 rangement is in the nervous ramifications, or spinal cord, only, where the sensorial 

 functions are entire, and the vessels healthy, and the po\vcr of secretion is alone in 

 fault, galvanism will oiten prove a valuable means of relief. He has frequently em- 

 ployed it in hab'tual asthma, and almost uniformly with relief." He aho recommends 

 this active agent in a torpid state of the biliary functions, and In indigestion. See a 

 Treatise on Indigestion, by Dr. Philip, 3d edition, Copland. 



t Se APPENDIX, Note G G. 



