A letter to Mr. George Adams on the subject of medical electricity; from Mr. John Birch, surgeon.

  • Birch, John, 1745?-1815.
Date:
1792
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A letter to Mr. George Adams on the subject of medical electricity; from Mr. John Birch, surgeon. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    4our of the public for their determination, whe- ther I have followed an idle purfuit, or dedi- cated my hours to an important object, that has already proved in no inconftderable degree be- neficial to mankind. Cafes of the Electric Power, applied in the Form of Radii or Fluid. J. M. aged 18, received a blow from a ham- mer on his thumb, the pain of which extended up his arm, the flexor mufcles were in a fhort time thrown into fuch ftrong ation, that the fingers were immoveably contracted. The proper remedies, both internal and external, were ineffectually applied for fcveral weeks; the lad was then fent to St. Thomas’s hofpital, un- der the care of Mr. Chandler, who, finding his applications unferviceable, fent him to the elec- tric room for my opinio;]. In the prefence of feveral of the young gentlemen, I placed the lad on the infulated chair, and connecting him to the prime conductor, I drew the electric fluid from the fore arm by a needle point. In about three minutes he complained of uneafinefs in the flexor mufcles of the fingers; immediately the fingers began to extend, and in about five mi- nutes he had the complete ufe of them. The