168 NATURE AND LIFE. 
toward sleep, a sort of calm and stupor. Some physicians 
have gone so far as to propose electrization of the brain as 
a means of developing and perfecting the mental powers. — 
Nothing hitherto justifies the belief that such a course 
could have the slightest influence for good over the func- 
tions of thought. On the contrary, it is very certain that 
the electric agent must be applied only with extreme cau- 
tion to the regions of the head, and that it very easily oc- 
casions mischief in them. <A strong current might readily 
cause rupture of the vessels, and dangerous hemorrhage in 
consequence. . 
Again, electricity stimulates all the organs of sense. 
Directed upon the retina, it excites it, producing sensations 
of glare and dazzling. When sent through the organ of 
hearing, it produces there a peculiar buzzing noise, and, if 
brought in contact with the tongue, it calls forth a very 
characteristic metallic and styptic sensation. And in the 
olfactory mucous membrane it creates a sneezing irritation, 
and also, it seems, an odor of ammonia. 
The currents not only act on the cerebro-spinal nerves, 
and the muscles concerned in life, as related outwardly, but 
affect also the parts of the nervous and muscular systems 
devoted to the functions of nutritive life. Electricity by 
induction, applied to these muscles, causes contraction in 
them at the point of contact with the poles, while the part 
situated between the poles remains without motion. Con- 
tinuous currents produce, at the instant of closing the cir- 
cuit, a local contraction at the junction with the poles, and 
then the organ becomes quiet; if it is previously in action, 
motion ceases. In the case of the intestine, for instance, 
peristaltic movement is checked; and by means of elec- 
tricity contractions of the uterus may be suspended in an 
animal, during parturition. In general, the fluid suppresses 
spasms of all the involuntary muscles. 
All these facts relating to electric action upon the 

