ELECTRICITY AND LIFE. wel 
tems of electric medical treatment, after the extraordinary 
illusions of their earlier days had vanished, would at length 
have sunk into disuse, had they not escaped from the ruts 
of empiricism. With its usual boldness, it had at first 
gained them a high rank, which it had no power to main- 
tain. It was experimental physiology, with its exact analy- 
sis of the mechanical effects of this fluid upon the springs 
of the organism, which made its application in the healing 
art sure, true, and solid,as it now is. In this, as in all 
things, blind art has been the impulse to scientific research, 
which in turn steadily enlightens and perfects art. 
It is singular that induction currents have met with much 
better fortune than galvanic ones. The latter, the use of 
which introduced electric treatment, have gained real im- 
portance in physiology and medicine only within a few 
years, and after the reputation of induction currents was 
well established, thanks chiefly to the efforts of Duchenne. 
A German physiologist and anatomist, Remak, who died 
six years ago, was the first to urge the singular remedial 
virtues of the voltaic current. Remak, after devoting 
twenty years to the study of the most difficult ques- 
tions in embryology and histology, undertook, in 1854, the 
systematic examination and ascertainment of the action of 
continuous currents on the vitaleconomy. He soon gained 
remarkable dexterity in dealing with the electric agent, 
and detecting with the readiest insight the proper points 
for applying the battery-poles ineach malady. Those who, 
with us, witnessed in 1864 his practice at the hospital, will 
remember it clearly. The methods of Duchenne were ai- 
most the only ones accepted in practice in France, till 
Remak came to prove to Paris physicians the powers of 
electrization by constant currents, in cases where Faraday’s 
currents had been without effect. The teaching of the 
Berlin practitioner bore its fruits. A rising young physi- 
cian, Hiffelsheim, was beginning to spread throughout Paris 
