534 
W. J. TORRANCE. 
the form of electric belts and by the local withdrawal of sparks in 
organic diseases. (Electric belts ought not to be ignored by veter¬ 
inarians). It is painless even when producing the strongest 
muscular contractions and receives^the highest therapeutical rec¬ 
ommendation from such authorities as Dr. Golding Bird, who 
records the curing with it of thirty-five out of thirty-six cases of 
chorea, which had already baffled all medical treatment and been 
pronounced incurable. Static electricity is generally utilized in 
the same class of cases as faradism, and with equal success. Its 
painless character should render it advantageous in equine prac¬ 
tice : but statical machines possess one disadvantage, that of being 
inert, or irregular in action during the heat of summer. 
The law that unlike electricities attract and like repel requires 
no explanation or allusion save to say that it accounts for the in¬ 
stitution of a current when the poles of an ordinary magnet are 
applied to the animal body. 
Metallic and other materials vary greatly in’the conductivity of 
electricity, but bear practically the same relations to one another 
as in the transmission of heat. Silver, water, acids, charcoal and 
most of the metals are good conductors. Platinum is a remarka¬ 
bly poor one, as is also dry air. The fluid tissues, the water salts 
and metals of the animal body are good conductors and ought to 
convey the peculiar fluid rapidly: but other circumstances may 
modify this result. Having convinced myself that the subcutaneous 
connective tissue is the most efficient conductor, 1 generally utilize 
subcutaneous needle electrodes with long conjunctive wires in 
equine practice. Electricity, however, will always choose the 
parts of least resistance. The hair of the horse or dog is a poor 
conductor and an obstacle to electro-therapeutical practice. The 
horn of the hoof, strange to say, offers but little resistence to the 
current. 
Induction is the influence which an electrified body exerts over 
another body placed near but not in contact with it, in decompos¬ 
ing its neutral electricity, attracting the unlike to the proximal 
end and repelling the like to the distal extremity. An u induced 
current,” therefore is always of an opposite character to the 
“ primary,” and herein lies the difference between faradism and 
galvanism. 
