Manual of static electricity in X-ray and therapeutic uses / by S.H. Monell ; illustrated.
- Monell, S. H. (Samuel Howard), -1918
- Date:
- 1900 [©1897]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Manual of static electricity in X-ray and therapeutic uses / by S.H. Monell ; illustrated. 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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![would answer every purpose of the physician were the galvanic and faradic. Dr. E. D. Fisher said: Undoubtedly galvanism was more important as a remedial agent in nervous functional diseases than was static or faradic electricity; yet in regard to static he would say that in his opinion it should not be so positively discarded as it had been by Dr. Starr. Espe- cially in neurasthenic cases did it have a stimulating and pleasing effect. It was in functional diseases, with error in nutrition, and not organic troubles that static electricity found its field of useful- ness. Dr. A. H. Smith . . . had obtained marked and immediate benefit from static electricity, as he could do from no other form in soreness and stiff- ness of the wrists and other joints, due to exposure to cold. A convincing reply to Dr. Starr's paper appeared in the Medical Record, May 31st, 1890. In it the author says: He was struck by its merits and efficiency as exhibited at Profes- sor Charcot's clinic in Paris in 1880; . . . the therapeutic use of static electricity has extended enormously in medical practice. . . . Dr. Starr's entire structure based upon the static charge falls to the ground. ... I believe that no form of electricity penetrates more deeply than the static; and premising a powerful machine, a power- ful spark, a conservative expectation as to results, a fair compari- son with galvanism and faradism, an intelligent selection of cases, and a fair amount of skill in administration, I believe that no other form of electricity equals it in curative effects. The following extracts are taken from the Guy's Hospital reports of the years given below: As a last resource I determined upon giving [static] electricity a fair trial. The effect produced by it at once gratified and surprised me and led to further trial, the results and particulars of which will not, I trust, be deemed altogether unworthy of the profession. Certain it is that although I had often ordered it myself and more frequently witnessed its employment by others, I never for a mo- ment entertained the belief that it possessed the power over the disorders alluded to that I am now inclined to concede to it.—Dr. Addison, 1837. So many discrepant statements exist in the records of medicine regarding the action of [static] electricity, as an agent in the treat- ment of disease, that scarcely any general opinion can be drawn 3](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21067879_0045.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
