The medical application of electro-magnetism / by Samuel B. Smith.

  • Smith, Samuel B., approximately 1794-
Date:
1853 [©1850]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The medical application of electro-magnetism / by Samuel B. Smith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    one of tTicm> was also cut, to which he applied tiie electro-galvinic power from a small galvanic battery, in such a inannei- that the gal- vanic fluid passed into the stoni.ich in the same way that the norvous fluid passed befoie the ncj've was cut. At tiie end of tlie twenty-six hours, as in tlie pi-evious case, they were both killed, and it was found that the food in the stomach of the one whose nei-ves had been cut, and put in connection with the galvanic bjitter}^ was nearly as well digested as in the other Avhich had not been operated on. Similar ex- peiiments wei-e tried on the heart and other oi-gans, in all of which tlie same results took place, ?. e. the organs ceased to peifoi-m their functions Avhen the nerves -were cut, and commenced again as soon as the galvanic fluid was applied, 'J'aking a view of all the phenomena exhibited by the expeiiments of the above able physiologists, the following conclusions are manifest. First. 'J'hat the liuman body, and all animate bodies, are an elec- tro valvanic apparatus: and, SLVondly: That the bi-ain is the grand reservoir of the electric force gonei'ated by the muscles ; and that it is also the great Nejalit'e Pole of the Avhole nervous system. It is, (says Smce, in his elaborate woik on Electro-Biology,) by tlie specific oig;inizations of the eye, llic ear, the nose, the mouth, and the skin, that man is made accpiainted wiih the external world. All these agree in constituting the positive pole of the great peripheral battery of tlie Electro-biological circuit.—Electro-Biol. p. 20. El'ectiicity, (says Pallas,) is the 'physical agent, by the aid of which, tlie nervou?. system performs its functions.—Emm. Pallas Dt VEkclrUlte mr VOryoniain, p. 303. THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF ELECTRICITY. Frictional electricitv, or that produced by friction of any non- conducting substance—sucli as the common elccti'ical inachine, with great intensity, but very feeble (juantity. Ijigluning electricity, nliich is eliminated during the formation of a thunder-cloud. It is distin- guished b!)lh for its vast (pianlity, and for its enoimous tensity. Animal electricity, such as that found in the electiic eel, and torpe- do, great both in (piantily and intensity ; sufhcient instantly to kiy their ])rey by directing a cunent through them. llydro-fli'clricity, which is a \iiv\ ])owerful electric current produ- ced by high-pressure steam, by means of a peculiar apparatus, called a hvdro-eli'cLric machine. Thermo-electricity, which is a verv feeble current of electricity set in motion when allernaie bais of various metals, but particulaily of bismuth and antimony, are soldered together. Tiie electricity thus evolvctl, possesses but little of the property of (piantity, and less ol julcn^ity. No use for it has been found in electi'o-thei-apcutics. ' Voluiic electricity is that form of electiicity which is set in motion in a voltaic battery, and is remarkable for the enormous (pianlity of electriciLy evolved, with but Utile power to overcome obstacles.