6 
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF QUEENSLAND. 
Schizophrenia, the best results were obtained in other conditions. In 
spite of inherent risks of fracture or dislocation, cardiazol achieved the 
wider usage on account of ease of administration and safety to life. 
In cardiazol therapy the convulsion occurs within 20 seconds. The 
patients wake up in a few minutes and can get up. They need not be 
confined to bed. In insulin therapy very large doses are required and 
highly skilled medical and nursing attention is needed for five or six 
hours. As coma is induced little imagination is required to realise the 
risks involved and the necessity for a standardised technique. 
Although the psychiatrist was gratified with the new therapeutic 
methods, he began to pray for a modification. Cardiazol creates fear of 
the treatment in the minds of the patients. We also wanted a greater 
immunity from fractures and dislocations. Again the physicist rose to 
the occasion. Cerletti and Bini, in 1937, experimented with the use of 
alternating current through the brain for the production of convulsions. 
They found that this was an effective agent and had certain advantages 
over the pharmacological method. In brief, the alternating current is 
passed trans-temporally at a voltage ranging from 90 to 200 for a 
period of time from -1 to *5 seconds. Immediately the current is passed 
the patient becomes unconscious and herein lies the great advantage 
over the injection method. The effect being instantaneous, the patient 
experiences no discomfort. If the preselected voltage and time are 
adequate, a convulsion commences within a few seconds and lasts for 
f of a minute. 
THE ELECTRO-ENCEPHALOGRAPH. 
Twenty years ago the psychiatrists envied the cardiologist for the 
possession of the electro-cardiograph which, by registering differences in 
electrical potential, gave an accurate measurement of heart-action. We 
prayed for some such instrument in order to wrest the hidden secrets 
of brain-function. Our only recourse was through brain-sections under 
the microscope, the X-ray which merely revealed shadows and the 
newly developed technique of encephalography wherein the injection of 
air into brain and spinal cavities increased the scope of such shadow- 
pictures. These measures, whilst helping in the elucidation of brain- 
substance, could not give a hint of the underlying dynamics. 
A commencement to new knowledge was made in the early thirties 
of this century by recording electric variations in skin reactions whilst 
the patient was influenced by stimulating ideas. It was found that there 
is a relation between emotion, anxiety, and skin resistance. The much 
publicised “Lie detector” is a variant of this type. 
In 1934, Hans Berger revolutionised the field by his use of an 
oscillograph which minimised the effects of skin resistance. He was 
able to show the presence of two types of electrical oscillations. The 
most obvious of these is the “delta” which consists of rhythmic changes 
in electric potential from 0 to 100 microvolts at a frequency of 10 per 
second. In most people the waves are only present when the eyes are 
closed and the mind at ease. The “beta” waves are smaller and of .a 
frequency of 18 to 25 per second. They are associated with the Frontal 
lobes. 
The use of the Electro-Encephalograph has already borne fruit. It 
is being widely used in the localisation of cerebral tumours and as early 
