which Duchenne, Du Bois-Reymond, and Stöhrer considerably improved. Physicians, naturalists, and physiologists now devoted themselves with equal ardor to electricity. Marshall Hall, Golding Bird, Stokes, Phillips, Graves, Donovan, among the English-Poisseuille, Pétrequin, Masson, Duchenne, A. Becquerel, etc., among the French-and Weber, Froriep, Schuh, Heidenreich, Richter, Moritz Meyer, Schulz, Erdman, Baierlacher, Eckhard, Remak, Heidenhayn, A. Fick, Ziemssen, Althaus, Rosenthal, Benedict, Frommhold, etc., among the Germans,

Pravaz was the first to conceive the idea of curing aneurism by galvano-puncture, Liston the first to test the method on the human subject, and Cinisilli the first who succeeded. Bertani and Milani made use of electricity in varices, while Radford, Simpson, Frank, and others used it in obstetrics.

Encouraged by Davy's and Ritter's observations relative to the influence of large plate voltaic cells in producing heat, Crussel, Marshall, Middeldorpf, Alph. Amussat, Zsigmondy, Schuh, etc., made use of the platinum wire loop as a cauterizing apparatus for surgical purposes.

After Nicholson and Carlisle, through the voltaic pile, had decomposed water and Davy the alkalies, here and there was to be found a physician who made use of the chemical action of electricity for physiological and therapeutical purposes. Heidenreich, with the pile, decomposed the blood, Prévost, Dumas, and Bence Jones calcareous deposits in the bladder-Crussel, Colley, Willebrand, and Wells used it in cases of malignant tumors and ulcers-Fabré-Palaprat, Orioli, etc., endeavored to introduce medicines into a part of the human body; and, finally, Verqués, Poey, and Meding to remove metals from the organism.

Besides the advances in therapeutics thus made through electricity in the broad fields of medicine, surgery, and obstetrics, owing chiefly to the researches of Hall, Duchenne, Myer, and Benedict, the new agent was made serviceable in other ways. Thus Duchenne, by perfecting the necessary ap

paratus, as well as by an improved (localized) application of the inductive current, succeeded in introducing electricity into medicine as an important diagnostic aid. During the last decade, Remak endeavored to become more thoroughly acquainted with the physiological difference in the action of the constant and interrupted electric currents, to assign the diseases of the muscles and nerves almost exclusively to the former, and to extend its efficacy to the treatment of cerebral and spinal affections.

His observations in this field are recorded in his treatise on Galvano-therapeutics, and in a little brochure, as valuable as it is small,' which he published a short time before his death, and left as a sacred inheritance to electro-therapeutists. Extravagant as Remak often was in his opinions, unjust as he often was relative to the claims of the interrupted current (which no electro-therapeutist can do without, and to which many owe their greatest successes), and, finally, prone as he was to draw the least favorable conclusions as to the extent of its efficacy from one or a few cures, still those who had an opportunity to closely notice his brilliant services must indorse the words of Graefe," that "Remak, by introducing the constant current into the practice of medicine, enriched it with an invaluable treasure, whose aid, in numerous otherwise incurable cases, is incalculable." It becomes Remak's successors to test his observations without prejudice, to separate the many kernels from the chaff, and to circumscribe within proper limits the immoderately large field over which the application of electricity has extended. At the same time, they should condemn none of his assertions without proper investigation, as he was one of those brilliant geniuses who often instinctively discover the right, and in whose extravagant expressions there is always a healthy germ and more or less truth. Besides, the application of the

1

1 Application du Courant constant au Traitement des Nevroses, etc. Paris: Baillière. 1865.

2 Ber. Klin. Wochenschrift, 1865, p. 479.

constant current, which Remak introduced into practical medicine, at a time when the incompleteness of the galvanic elements rendered a daily cleansing of the battery necessary, is to-day-thanks to the improvements of Meidinger, Smee, Stöhrer, and, above all, of Siemens and Halske in the quality of the elements, for the purposes of telegraphy-attended with far less difficulty, although a convenient, transportable battery still remains a great necessity.

In conclusion, we must also refer to those who have endeavored to establish the laws that govern the electrical currents of the various animal tissues and organs-a Ritter, Pfaff, Nobili, Matteucci, etc.-with the aid of whose researches Du Bois-Reymond was enabled to give to so-called animal electricity a scientific basis, to discover the laws that govern the muscular and nervous currents, and establish the influence, on the latter, of external electrical currents. Adopting as a basis these researches, which Du Bois-Reymond published in his work,' his pupils Pflüger, Heidenhayn, J. Rosenthal, V. Betzold and others continue to work on with restless enthusiasm.

'Untersuchungen über thierische Electricität.

SECOND SECTION.

OF THE ACTION OF THE ELECTRIC CURRENT IN GENERAL.

ELECTRICITY has thus far been employed in medicine, as obtained from the sources of friction, contact, and induction.

I. FRICTION ELECTRICITY.

If we rub a glass tube lengthwise with a woollen cloth or with a piece of leather, over which an amalgam of quicksilver and zinc or tin has been spread, it will become electric, and, provided the negative electricity generated at the same time is properly conducted away, it will share its electricity with another non-electric body brought in contact with it. In order to produce friction-electricity, we use either an electrophorus, which in a long time produces but little electricity, or an electric machine. With the latter a large quantity of electricity may be communicated to an isolated body by simple contact. The sparks, when they touch the skin, cause an unpleasant twitching and a pricking sensation, and produce small spots not unlike the bites of the gnat, and sometimes little blisters, according to the size and strength of the sparks. The skin, at the same time, is reddened, and the sensibility increased.' The action does not extend to the subcutaneous tissues, and is hardly capable of producing any contraction of the superficial muscles. The electricity of the electric machine has been applied in various forms: as electric air-baths, in an uninterrupted electric current, as electrie baths, electric inhalation, etc., but all these methods.

1 Sundelin, Anleitung zur medicin. Anwendung der Electricität und des Galvanismus. Berlin, 1822, p. 49.

belong rather to the history of electricity than to its therapeutical application, with which we are here especially occupied.'

The Leyden jar produces far more important physiological effects, by transmitting a larger quantity of electricity to a small area of any given portion of the body. If we place one hand on the button and the other in connection. with the external rim of the jar, an unpleasant convulsive shock is produced. If the jar be lightly charged, the shock is felt in the fore-arm; if more strongly, it is felt in the upper arm; if still more strongly, the shock causes a penetrating pain in the breast. The action extends to the deeper tissues, and the muscles contract powerfully. If the button of the Leyden jar be brought in contact with a nerve, the sensation of a contusion is produced, and a numbness follows. If the quantity of electricity be still further increased, the limb falls, or perhaps even the body, as though it were struck by lightning. Even a weak battery, that is, a connection of a few small jars, is sufficient to kill small animals, such as birds, rabbits, etc.; more powerful batteries kill even dogs, or as lightning, men. The skin of the part in contact is marked with burnt spots, bruises, and torn wounds. After death no anatomical injuries, sufficient to account for the result, are visible. The blood in the heart and blood-vessels is not coagulated.

In accordance with the above-mentioned phenomena, we may consider the use of the Leyden jar indicated in cases where an irritant is wanted for the superficial tissues. Where deeper action is necessary, on account of the unpleasant and dangerous complication which attends its use, it should not be employed. As, however, the action

1 The English, only make frequent use of the electric machine in cases where a general irritation is intended, as in chorea, rheumatism, and hysterical and lead paralysis, when they generally let the sparks pass over the spinal column. (See, "On the Value of Electricity as a Remedial Agent," by William Gull; Guy's Hospital Reports, Second Series, vol. viii., part i., p. 80, 1852.)