the patient to the air about him and to the ground. The dir of the current is opposite when the bath is electronegative. escape of electricity is facilitated by the numerous points pres by the surface of the patient's body.

According to R. Vigoroux, the resistance of the patient wil factor here as in galvanic electrization-i. e., the less the resi the greater is the intensity of the current, other things being In Basedow's disease this resistance is greatly diminished; pa with this affection cannot stand the electrostatic bath, while hy cal subjects, whose resistance is great, can remain in connection the machine for hours. Hence, R. Vigoroux advises that the trical resistance of the patient should be determined befor treatment is employed. These remarks are of practical interest they presuppose that static electricity passes through the body same way as does the galvanic current, and this does not seem to have been proved.

The positive bath is the one most generally employed. The tion of the sitting varies from a few minutes to an hour, deper upon the nature of the disease that we wish to combat and the impressionability of the subject.

When the sitting is finished we stop the machine, or, better our foot upon the stool so as to bring its potential back to zero, avoiding the discharges or sparks that might be produced a instant when the patient gets down from the stool.

The electric wind or breeze is obtained in the following way: the patient is on the stool, which is connected with the machin bring toward him, on a level with the part upon which we wi act, the discharger, which is furnished with one or more points is kept at a distance of 3 to 5 centimetres. The electrified air pelled by the point and attracted by the patient, who is charged electricity of an opposite sign. There is thus produced a move of air or a breeze, giving a sensation of a draught of air. Accor to R. Vigoroux, the positive pole produces this sensation more re than does the negative pole. It would be better, then, in cas which one makes use of this method to give the patient an ele negative bath. When the application of the breeze is going to prolonged one, the discharger is put in position and attached to support previously described.

The electric breeze possesses incontestable sedative properties. is employed principally in painful diseases.

When, with the patient arranged as in the preceding case, we carry toward his body a wooden or metallic point that is blunt instead of sharp, we get what is called the aura. The point is kept at a distance of 2 to 3 centimetres, and the aura, which is visible particularly in the dark, varies according as it is positive (when it has a violaceous gleam) or negative. The violaceous gleam is accompanied by a peculiar crackling; it has a rubefacient action, adapted for producing revulsion.

When the discharger ends in a ball and is close enough to the body, we see a spark leap across between the ball and the patient. The quantity of electricity which is present in the discharge is in proportion to the size of the ball. We can vary the amount of energy employed, and, consequently, the effects produced, by varying either the distance of the discharger or the size of the ball. If we desire to weaken the effect produced, we can withdraw a part of the charge from the patient by carrying the point or the chain of the discharger nearer the stool.

The spark discharge is principally used to produce excitation of the nerves and muscles. The knob-discharger of Boudet de Paris is to be recommended when we wish to get a well-localized action.

If we proceed to pass the ball of the discharger over the surface of body (resting it upon the clothes), we get electric friction. Sparks which are very short, but are quite often very painful, leap between the discharger and the skin. A burning sensation results, which is the more acute the slower the friction is performed.

The form of application known as concussion, which was used by the first promotors of static electrization, is now abandoned.

The electric douche, which has been made use of mainly by Benedikt and Stein, is in reality only a variety of the electric breeze. The bell should be placed above the head and high enough so that no sparks shall be thrown out. German physicians attribute to this procedure sedative effects particularly adapted for combating persistent insomnia.

The physician possesses in the various methods a sort of sliding scale of measures, enabling him to get effects that are more or less intense. He should make all of them cautiously and in a gradually progressive manner. At the outset the sittings should be short, lasting not more than from three to five minutes. Some practitioners go on, and finally bring their patients up to the point where they can stand the electrostatic bath for hours. It is rarely proper to prolong the duration of the sitting beyond half an hour.

At the outset of the treatment the sittings should be had daily. Later, when the effect produced is lessened, or when the amelioration becomes marked, the sittings are placed further and further apart, only one or two being had a week. It is usually advised to suspend the treatment during the menstrual period, except when the treatment consists simply in the administration of the electrostatic bath. GALVANIZATION forms at present the means of applying electricity that is most often made use of in medicine.

We have already studied the subject sufficiently to be able to describe in a few words the different procedures which it comprises. These methods are: continuous galvanization and interrupted galvanization, the latter including the labile method of the Germans, and interruptions, properly so-called, produced by making and breaking the current. With these various procedures must also be grouped the employment of abrupt reversals of the current—i. e., what are called Volta's alternating currents.

The reader is acquainted with the instruments required for applying galvanization under good physical conditions. The only thing left to speak of particularly is the electrodes, which we have had no occasion as yet to describe in detail.

The electrodes which are most extensively in use are the cushion and the plate electrodes.

The cushion electrodes are screwed on an insulating-handle of wood, hard rubber, or celluloid, which is held in the hand (Fig. 85), and

FIG. 85.

which is furnished with a metal cap in which is hollowed the cavity for the reception of the end of the rheophore. This cap ends in a screw whose nut forms a part of the electrode proper; there is sometimes added to it an interrupting-button, which when pressed upon breaks the current. The ordinary cushion has a knob made of carbon, which is a good conductor, attached to the nut that is screwed into the electrode-handle. This carbon is covered with very supple

chamois-skin. Its dimensions vary greatly. We may give it a mushroom-shape and cover it with sponge, which is preferable to using a sponge inserted in a metal tube.

To get electrodes of very small surface we screw into the handle a metal shank curved upon itself, covered or not with some insulating material, and ending in an olive-shaped knob of carbon covered by chamois-skin. Bare metal electrodes are rarely used.

The plate-shaped electrodes are almost always placed upon a fixed handle (Fig. 86). They are formed of a sheet of tin, usually pierced with holes, which render it easier to moisten the electrodes, and they are covered with chamois-skin or sponge. The tin plate bears a small metal cap which is perforated and furnished with a screw to which

is fitted the end of the rheophore wire (Fig. 87), or, better still, it is attached to a bifurcated end.

The forms and dimensions of these plates vary greatly according to circumstances; but it is indispensable that we should know their surface in square centimetres, so as to be able to estimate the density of the current at the point where they are applied.

The electrodes should always be well moistened before being applied to the skin. With this end in view, they should be dipped some minutes before they are used in warm water.

In cases in which we wish to perform labile galvanization we make use of a roller-shaped electrode (Fig. 88), so mounted that it can be moved about over the surface of the body.

FIG. 88.

MEYROWITZ,

The indifferent electrode may be replaced by a basin or tub of water, in which the patient plunges his hand or foot, the water being connected with one of the poles of the battery by means of the rheophore

wire.

A great number of other electrodes have been devised having special uses, which we shall presently describe.

Continuous galvanization comprises the bipolar and the polar methods.

In the bipolar method the electrodes have the same area, and are so placed as to make the current pass through a segment of the body or of one of its members. We have already pointed out the principles which should serve as our guide in this kind of electrization. Sometimes we make the current take the same direction during the entire period of the sitting; sometimes we reverse the current at a certain moment and thus make an alternating electrization.

When it is impossible, even with large electrodes to make the current reach the entire extent of the organ that we wish to modify, we advance by sections, changing the place of our electrodes at the end of some minutes.

To employ the polar method we place a large plate, called the indifferent electrode, upon a point, such as the sternum, tibia, or epi