VOLTAIC NARCOTISM. 
271 
when that has been done at the expense of another party, the 
sympathy goes in the other direction, especially if the 
culpability of the second party has not been clearly proved. 
We should, therefore, not be surprised to see the decision 
reversed at the new trial, or, at all events, the damages very 
considerably reduced upon a reconsideration of the facts of 
the case, especially after the additional evidence obtained in 
the course of subsequent investigations.” 
ON VOLTAIC NARCOTISM. 
In our number for March, we directed the attention of 
our readers to Dr. Richardson’s experiments for producing 
local anaesthesia by the combined action of galvanism and 
certain narcotic agents. 
Dr. A. Waller, professor of physiolog}^, Queen’s College, 
Birmingham, in an article on this subject in the Medical 
Times and Gazette , says, that he considers the electrical 
action has no influence in causing the loss of sensation, as 
this may be obtained by the use of the narcotic agents 
alone. 
His experiments are given in detail, and the conclusions 
to which he has arrived from them are : 
“ 1st. Application of a mixture of equal parts of tincture 
of aconite and chloroform will produce loss of vascularity, 
and nearly complete anaesthesia after the lapse of ten to 
fifteen minutes on the human skin. 
“ 2d. This anaesthetic is neither retarded nor accelerated 
by connexion with the poles of the voltaic battery. 
“3d. The anaesthesia produced is circumscribed to the 
spot on which the narcotizing mixture is applied. 
“4th. This insensibility is confined to the integuments, 
and does not extend to the deep-seated parts. 
“3th. The conclusions of Dr. Richardson relative to pain¬ 
less amputation of the limb of the dog are not founded on 
sufficient evidence, as I found that on this animal ampu¬ 
tation of the leg without the use of any anaesthetic means 
produced exactly the same symptoms as those observed by 
Dr. Richardson after the use of voltaic narcotism for up¬ 
wards of half-an-hour; the section of the skin and of the 
tendon of Achilles being, according to my experiments on 
the dog, naturally painless operations. 
“6th. Dr. Richardson, in his experiments on the compres- 
