The cyclopaedia of practical medicine : comprising treatises on the nature and treatment of diseases, materia medica and therapeutics, medical jurisprudence, etc., etc. / Edited by John Forbes, Alexander Tweedie, John Conolly.

Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The cyclopaedia of practical medicine : comprising treatises on the nature and treatment of diseases, materia medica and therapeutics, medical jurisprudence, etc., etc. / Edited by John Forbes, Alexander Tweedie, John Conolly. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Lamar Soutter Library, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Lamar Soutter Library at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

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    depends upon the magnitude of the coated surface and upon the intensity of its electricity. Thus, with a certain charge, it is fcU at the wrists, with a stronger at the elbows, and with a still stronger, even at the chest. A surface of thirty square inches, when loaded by a couiinon machine, is capable of destroying mice and small birds, and there are few individuals of the human species who can receive with impunity the maximum charge of a square foot, or one hundred and forty- four square inches. It is worthy of remark that the bodies of animals destroyed by the electric shock are very prone to putrefaction, that the irri- tabilit}- of the muscular system seems ahnost en- tirely destroyed, and tliat their blood does not coagulate. Similar observations have been made upon animals struck by lightning. The influence of the shock seems parrticulariy directed to the nervous system. A small charge passed through the head of a bird deprives it of sight, and a considerable one received in the head by Mr. Singer had the effect of a violent blow, and was followed by a temporary loss of memory. When a jar is discharged along the spine of a person in the erect position, the action of the muscles is for a moment suspended, and he falls to the ground. Electricity, therefore, produces a paralysing elfect when brought to bear upon the centre of the nervous system. But when trans- mitted to the muscles of a limb, the invariable consequence is their spasmodic contraction, and this is true even though the member be in a para- lytic state. Some recent researches, which will be noticed under the head of Galvanism, render It highly probable that the muscles arc not directly sensible to the stimulus of electricity, but that they are thrown into convulsive action by the electric fluid, merely because of its traversing the nerves by which they are supplied. Electricity was very early employed as a thera- Jieutic agent, and is even still resorted to by phy- sicians, though it has lost much of the celebrity which it once enjoyed. The diseases in which it is applied are the different forms of paralysis, in- cluding amaurosis and deafness when functional affections, epilepsy, hysteria, chorea, chronic rheu- matism, particularly those forms of it which pro- duce stiffness of the joints, cases of retention or suppression of the menstrual Hux, nervous head- achs, and local pains unconnected with inflamma- tion, asphyxia produced by drowning or the irre- spirablu gases, enlargements and obstructions of the glandular system. These are the affections for which it is still prescribed, and occasionally with success. But there is scarcely a disease in nosology for which it has not at one time or an- other been recommended. As a remedial agent, electricity may be applied in five ditfererit ways. The first method, which is, we believe, at present employed, is to excite the patient by placing him upon an insulating stuol, and putting him in connection with the prime conductor of a machine in action. This is what is called the electric butli. It was stroncjly recommended by Priestley, ai)parently under the impression adopted from the Ab])i; iS'ollet, that the animal functions are, under such circum- Btanccs, discharged with increased vigour, particu- larly the circulation of the blood and the cutaneous secretion. Such effects are sometimes observed, but by no means invariably. The bath was em- ployed by Lit and Dc Ilaen, two early writers upon medical electricity, for the treatment of hysteria. The next and simplest method of applying electricity to the cure of disease is to present the member, or part affected, to the ])rime conductor of the machine, and thus cause it to receive a succession of sparks ; or, what is more convenient, to place the patient on a chair, and convey to him the sparks by means of a director connected with the conductor by a chain. The patient may manage the director wliile the operator works the machine. The third mode consists in placing the patient upon an insulating stool, putting him in con- nexion, through means of a chain or metallic rod, with the prime conductor, and drawing sparks from the seat of disease or pain by simply pre- senting to such part the knuckle, or, should the operator dislike receiving the spark himself, an uninsulated director. This method of operating has the advantage over the preceding that it con- joins the electrical bath with the influence of the spark. It is, therefore, that usually adopted by those exjierienced in the medicinal administration of electricity. The force of the spark is propor- tionate to its length, so that, by properly dimi- nishing this, its strength may be reduced to any required standard. A favourite mode with some practitioners of ap- plying sparks is to give or draw them across flan- nel. For this purpose, a director, terminated by a large ball, which is to be covered with a fold of flannel, is approached in the usual way to the or- gan to be electrified. Instead of a single strong spark, a series of weak ones will thus be produced, which, emanating at the same instant from several of the woollen fibres, extend over a considerable surface and produce in it a peculiar pricking sen- sation. The ball of the director may be naked, the flannel being laid on the part of the body which is to be submitted to the influence of the sparks. 'J'his method is supposed to be particu- larly suited to the treatment of rheumatism and paralysis, especially in patients who cannot en- dure the stronger forms of electricity. The next form of medical electricity to be no- ticed is the aura, or jet of air, which proceeds from an electrified point. This is the modifica- tion of the electric influence to which ulcers, ex- coriated surfaces, and delicate organs, such as the eye and testicle, are usually subjected. The com- mon method of employing the aura is to present a pointed director, connected by a chairi wiih the conductor of the machine, and held by a glass handle, to the part aflected. 'ihe jjartides of air in contact with the point are highly electrified, and, of course, immediately repelled. 'I'he same occurs to those which take their place, and so on in succession, producing a current of highly ex- cited air, which, as has been just described, is di- rected upon the organ which is the subject of electrical treatment. The aura may also be ap- plied by placing the patient upon an insulating stool, and directing an uninsulated pointed di- rector to the seat of disease. It is, however, sel- dom resorted to, as its efficacy is more than ques- tionable.