EARLY ELECTRO-THERAPEUTICS. 
315 
and its value as a therapeutic agent ; but he was glad to find that 
they were at last awakening from a supineness which they would 
find it difficult to excuse, and he hoped that henceforth electro- 
physiology would occupy a more important position in the curri- 
culum of medical training. He could not but feel that an agent 
exerting so powerful a control over vital functions, as to alleviate 
suffering, restore vitality, and in many cases, humanly speaking, 
to prolong life, was worthy of a better fate than that to which it 
had been so long consigned by those who had thought it below the 
dignity of their profession to countenance. 
There appeared, however, a better time coming; for the labours 
of Continental electro-pathologists of high repute had been trans- 
lated into English, and had given an impulse to the study of 
the subject which bid fair to set electricity on its proper footing as 
a therapeutic agent. He was the more gratified at this, since he had 
been engaged for nearly half a century in employing electricity as 
a remedial agent, and during that period had seen many eminent 
and esteemed members of the medical profession pass away, fully 
admitting the therapeutic value of electricity ; but having failed to 
use it either for want of suitable instruments, or a knowledge how 
to use them. 
There was still a great amount of prejudice to overcome and 
supineness to awaken ; for whilst one was ready to admit the 
growing value of electricity, another would suggest that "you 
might as well galvanize the leg of a chair as the nether limb of 
your rheumatic patient." 
Unfortunately medical men were not all electricians, and not 
one in a hundred amongst electricians would be likely to know 
anything of anatomy or physiology. Their knowledge was all 
empirical ; but the accumulation of facts was on their side ; and it 
was not a very logical position to deny the post hoc propter hoc, 
because the connecting link between cause and effect could not be 
distinctly traced. 
The earlier electricians soon began to notice certain physiological 
effects resulting from the action of electricity on the human body, 
and the discovery of the Leyden jar and electrical shock gave a 
great impetus to their researches. 
Although the accounts of the effect of the shock were greatly 
exaggerated, yet all agreed that an agent which could produce such 
extraordinary effects would not fail to be of value in therapeutics, if 
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