ELECTRICITY. 



part happens with all new remedies. The difappointment to 

 which this neceffarily led foon brought it into difrepute, 

 and latterly it has been treated with unmerited negleft. 

 There can be no doubt, however, that when judiciouHy 

 applied, it is a remedy pofTeffing very conljderable powers. 

 It is not our intention to detail here aU the dileaies to 

 which eledricity and galvanifm are applicable, as the 

 remedy, when proper, will be found, for the moil part, to 

 be recommended in the different articles treating profelfedly 

 of fuch difeafes. Our objeft is merely to defcnbe the bell 

 and moil approved methods of applying eleancity, and to 

 ftate a few remarkable fafts which have been lately obferved 

 refpeiling its ufe. 



Eleftricity may be apphed in the form ol J/joch, fparks, 

 -ox of a continued Jheam or current. The firll of thefe forms 

 was generally had recourfe to by the older eleftricians, but 

 it has been long iince laid afide, except in particular cafes of 

 great general, or local debility. In fuch cafes, \\\e Jhock 

 mull be proportioned to the degree of the difeafe, but the 

 fize of the jar employed feldom or never ought to exceed a 

 quart. The fecond form, or that of /parks from the chief 

 conduftor, is an excellent mode of applying eleftricity in 

 many inilances. It is, however, much lefs ufed than for- 

 merly. Sparks may be applied by the medium of balls of brafs 

 or other metal, and their llrength is determined by the mag- 

 nitude of the prime conduftor, of the balls, and of the ma- 

 chine in general, and by the diilance at which the balls are 

 removed from the patient's body. The nearer the balls, 

 the lefs powerful and more frequent are the fparks, and 

 vice verfci. The third method of applying eledlricity is in 

 the form of a continued Jlream or current, and this perhaps is 

 the moll generally ufeful and important form of the whole. 

 This method requires a very powerful apparatus. The 

 current is dire£ted through the different parts of the 

 body by means of a iimple apparatus placed in contadl, 

 or nearly fo, with the body, and connedled with the 

 prime conductor. Befides thefe three forms of adminif- 

 tering eledlricity, there is a fourth, which may be con- 

 fidered as intermediate in its nature between the two 

 laft ; this is the application of what is termed the eleBr'i- 

 cal aura. It is effedled nearly like the lall, only the 

 eleftric fluid is permitted to pafs off from points of metal or 

 wood placed at fome diilance from the body, or fometimes 

 inftead of points, the edges of hoUow metallic or wooden 

 cylinders, more or lefs Iharp, are employed in a limilar manner. 

 Of thefe different methods of applying eledlricity, the 

 two laft are undoubtedly in all ordinary cafes preferable to 

 the others. They are equally, if not more, beneficial in 

 moft inflances, if properly applied ; and befides have the 

 great advantage of exciting no dread or alarm in the patient, 

 a circumllance which often operates powerfully in deterring 

 timid individuals from having recourfe to this remedy, be- 

 fides being produftive of aftual injury. Thefe methods, 

 however, as we before obferved, require a powerful appara- 

 tus, fo that the eleftrician may be enabled to fend a very 

 copious ftream of the fluid through the whole or any part 

 of the body, if required, as it is chiefly upon this circum- 

 ftance that the good effefts of thefe modes of applying 

 elearicity depend. We would not, however, be underftood 

 to recommend thefe modes of applying eleftricity exclu- 

 fively of all others. The application of fhocks, and parti- 

 cularly fparks, is often of great ufe when judicioully em- 

 ployed. Even the alarm they excite may not be without 

 Its ufe in particular cafes ; but fuch cafes are rare, and the 

 application of the remedy with advantage in thefe forms 

 requires great judgment and pradical knowledge on the 

 part of the medical eleftrician. 



For the phenomena of that modification of eledlricity 

 termed galvanifm, and its general effefts upon the animal 

 economy, we refer our readers to Voltaism, where they 

 will find thefe fubjefts difeuffed ; we fhall therefore chiefly 

 confine our attention here to the exhibition of galvanifm as 

 a reraedy. The general principles of the application of 

 galvanifm differ in no refpeft from thofe of the application 

 of eleftricity, nor do the effefts of this form of eleftricity 

 upon the animal economy differ perhaps in any refpeft 

 whatever from thofe produced by common eleftricity ; from 

 the mode, however, in which this variety of the eleftric 

 energy is excited a>;d brought into aftion, a little difference 

 in the mode of applying it is neceffary. The application 

 of galvanifm in tlie form of fhocks and fparks is out of the 

 queflion. It is always applied in the form of a continued or 

 interrupted Jlream, or fometimes in the form of aura ; hence 

 the conduftors generally require to be in contaft with the 

 flfin of the patient, which fhould be kept moifl. The 

 greater the furface of the conduftor in contaft with the 

 flvin within certain limits, ceteris paribus, the greater the 

 effeft produced, and vice verfd. The interrupted Jlream, or 

 that produced by the frequent removal and re-application of 

 the conduftor in contaft with the lliin, or by otherwife 

 breaking the chain of communication, approaches in its nature 

 more to that of the eleHricJliock than the continued ftream, a 

 circumftance which fhould be kept in mind by the operator. 

 Indeed with an apparatus compofed of fmall plates, the ftream 

 requires to be occafionally interrupted, otherwife the effefts 

 will be very much diminifhed. See Voltaism, laft feftion. 

 With refpeft to the magnitude of the battery proper for 

 medical purpofes, no very general rule can be given. The 

 greater the number of plates, efpecially when of fmall fize, 

 the more do the effefts produced upon the animal economy 

 refemble thofe produced by common eleftricity. Large 

 plates are beft adapted for keeping up the continued Jlream, 

 which is doubtlefs one of the beft modes of exhibiting gal- 

 vanifm, and of enfuring its fpecific operation, if it exerts any. 

 A medical galvaniil can feldom require a battery compofed of 

 more than fifty or fixty pairs of plates, from four to fix 

 inches fquare, and a greater or lefs proportion of thefe 

 muft be employed according to the energy of aftion in the 

 battery, and the circumftances of his patient. Dr. WiLfon 

 Philip ftates, that few patients can bear, for any length of 

 time, more than from eight to fixteen pairs of plates four- 

 teen inches fquare, when adminiftered as defcribed below. 

 The fame autlior, however, remarks, that patients can often 

 bear double this number, for a fhort time, before any dif- 

 agreeable fenfation is produced. 



Dr. Wilfon Philip has lately attempted to fhew that the 

 galvanic battery may be fubflituted for the nervous energy in 

 animals. His experiments on this fubjeft are extremely 

 interefting, and their refults led liim to employ galvanifm 

 as a remedy in feveral difeafes to which it was never previoufly 

 applied. Thefe therefore remain to be briefly noticed. 



AJlhma and Dyfpncea. — Dr. Philip ftates, that he has em- 

 ployed galvanifm in many cafes of habitual afthma, and 

 almoft uniformly with relief. The good effefts began to 

 appear ufually from five to fifteen minutes after the appli- 

 cation of the remedy. His battery confifted of thirty 

 plates fourteen inches fquare, more or lefs of which were 

 employed according to the degree of fenfation produced ; 

 and his rule was to begin with a low power, and gradually 

 increafe it by moving one of the wires from one divifion of 

 the trough to another. His method of exhibiting it in this 

 difeafe was to apply two thin plates of metal, about two 

 or three inches in diameter, moiftened with water, one to 

 the nape of the neck, and the other to the pit of the fto- 



mach. 



