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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![regarding its real influence. In the hands of some it has appeared to possess an almost magical action in the most intractable diseases, while others equally worthy of confidence have declared it to be utterly worthless. [After describing the manner in which case records were kept in the electrical room under his own supervision, and reporting the results in about one hundred cases, Dr. Bird goes on to say:] In the remarks contained in this paper and from the cases detailed, I venture to hope that I have adduced a sufficient amount of evidence to demonstrate that [static] electricity, though possessing no specific or magic influence over any particular dis- ease or class of diseases, is yet really capable, when judiciously applied, of producing marked effects; and although it fails to pro- duce the wonderful results ascribed to it by empirics, is neverthe- less capable of becoming an important aid in the treatment of dis- ease.— Golding Bird, A.M., M.D., F.L.S., etc., 1841. The effects of [static] electricity in chorea are sometimes very remarkable. On some occasions I have known it to effect a cure after a great variety of other remedies had for weeks and months been tried in vain. When the body has been wasting, the mind apparently giving way, and the disease proceeding unchecked if not increasing, notwithstanding a variety of remedies employed assidu- ously and for a long time, electricity has under my own observation and direction effected a really marvellous change. The disease has in fact been cured and the effects of the disease upon the health and appearance have ceased. When electricity acts beneficially in chorea it produces its effects more rapidly than any other remedy with which I am acquainted, but it is a remedy which is not of uni- versal application in chorea.— H. M. Hughes, M.D., 1846. The remarkable and in some instances astonishing results ob- tained by [static] electricity in chorea would seem to warrant the assumption of some direct controlling power in the electrical force over the nervous system, but these are probably in part explicable by the known action of this stimulus upon the tissues. . . . It is in hemiplegia and paraplegia, depending upon the direct influence of cold or arising from atony and hysteria, that [static] electricity is of the greatest value. In these cases it is inestimable.— William Gull, M.D., 1853. The above but faintly represents the sound observations and extensive clinical records made by these members of Guy's Hospital staff, but lack of space prevents any longer extracts from this interesting source. To my mind too little importance and too small space is given to the consideration of static electricity and too little is said of its](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21067879_0046.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
