On localized galvanism applied to the treatment of paralysis and muscular contractions / by Richard Moore Lawrance.

  • Lawrance, Richard Moore, 1822-
Date:
1858
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On localized galvanism applied to the treatment of paralysis and muscular contractions / by Richard Moore Lawrance. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    GALVANI, OERSTED, AND DUCHENNE. even witli the unknown nerve-force, which in some of its phenomena so closely resembles electricity. To prove its presence in animal bodies so as to admit no longer of any cavil was reserved for Du Bois Eeymond,* one of the most distincfuished observers of modern times. The first step D ♦ • towards the elucidation of that animal electricity which Galvani had suspected but did not prove, was made by the illustrious Oersted, who discovered the deflection of the magnetic needle by the galvanic current in 1819 ; and this led to the construction of the galvanometer, an instru- ment intended to detect the presence of electric currents in situations where heretofore they were either not sus- pected to exist, or could not be demonstrated. In the hands of Du Bois Eeymond the discovery of Oersted assumed a new form and led to the most important results; it conducted, in fact, to the demonstration of an animal electricity constantly present in the nerves and muscles of living animals and of the laws regulating the electrical currents in nerves and muscles. Lastly appeared on the field of these singularly interesting inquiries, Duchenne, to whom we owe the discovery of localized galvanism and of’ its application to physiology, pathology, and therapeutics, in other words, to the science of life, and to the applied sciences or arts of medicine, surgery and midwifery. As an original observer, and one who had the prejudices resulting from the prestige of half a century of failure by others to overcome, it was not to be expected that he could at once place the discovery in all its bearings before the medical world. He was, as he admits, ignorant of anatomy; and of human physiology and pathology he had ♦ Untersuclivuigen ueber thierische Electricitat.—Bd. i. & ii., ] £48 and 1849.