The value of diminished electrical resistance of the human body as a symptom in Graves' disease / by H.W.D. Cardew.

  • Cardew, H.W.D.
Date:
1891
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The value of diminished electrical resistance of the human body as a symptom in Graves' disease / by H.W.D. Cardew. 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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    the powdered flesh in each meal was increased by | oz , until 4 oz. were reached. Some brandy was also given with each meal. This treatment was continued with the best results for fifteen days, when suddenly great irritability of the stomach with persistent vomiting set in. Rectal ; feeding was then had recourse to for a few days. The bowel was washed out as high as possible, and twice daily the following mixture was injected:—Finely divided beef, 5oz.; finely divided fresh pancreas, 2 oz. ; and lukewarm water, 4oz. ; a little carbonate of soda being added. The patient had in addition a quart of milk daily, both with the gastric as well as with the rectal feeding. Well-marked increase in weightoccurredunderbothmethodsof nutrition. Accordingly, the latter method was had resort to occasionally, but some- times ,3^oz. of flesh peptones were injected instead of thebeef, varied occasionally with 4 oz. of pea-meal that had been artificially digested in water, to which glycerine extract of pancreas had been added, together with a little salicylic acid. Under this purely dietetic treatment, which extended over fourmonths, and was combined with the use of hypophos- phites, cod-liver oil, and maltine, this young lady increased greatly in weight, the bacUli disappeared entirely from her sputum, all hmmoptysis ceased, and when I saw her a year and a half subsequently, shortly after she had returned from a long sea voyage, she appeared to be in perfect health, aU dulness at the right apex having disappeared, and the respiration become normal. This case is, I think, interesting, as the treatment was almost purely dietetic. Hypophosphites undoubtedly tend to raise the nerve power and to improve the character of the secretions, and ac- cordingly are most valuable tonics in phthisis. I have noticed under their administration an increased expansion of the chest, an improvement in the appetite, and a diminu- tion in the night sweats. Combined with the malt extracts, cod-liver oil, Valentin’s extract of beef, and Kemraerich’s peptones of beef, they are often of great value. In early cases, also, arsenic may likewise be given with advantage. 7. In some cases in which diarrhoea was very troublesome, good results followed the use of small raw meat balls, alternately with meat peptones and Valentin’s extract of meat, opium and bismuth being given at the same time. 8. In three cases I have tried Potain’s treatment—that is : sodic chloride, 10 ; sodic bromide, 5 ; potassic iodide, 1; water, 100, 2oz. every morning in a cup of milk. In two cases of caseous phthisis it was of no service, but a case of fibroid phthisis appeared to benefit greatly under its administration. 9. In affections of the tProat in connexion with phthisis, 1 have repeatedly seen great improvement follow the injection into the larynx of 10 to 20 per cent, solutions of menthol in olive oQ. In one case, however, it failed completely; but in another, a man aged twenty-four, in whom there were tubercular ulcers in the larynx pos- teriorly, with tubercle bacilli in the sputum, and some slight alteration in the normal physical signs at the left apex, the ulcers completely healed under the influence of the menthol injections, menthol also being given internally. Having lost sight of this patient, I, however, can say nothing as to how he has progressed. THE VALUE OF DIMHSHSHED ELECTRICAL RESISTANCE OF THE HUiMAN BODY AS A SYMPTOM IN GRAVES’ DISEASE. By H. W. D. CARDEW, M.R.C.S. Eng. It is, perhaps, advisable to recall a few well-known physical and physiological facts bearing on this subject before proceeding to discuss it. Regarded from an electrical point of view all bodies are classified as conductors or non- conductors. Bodies which allow the free passage of elec- tricity through their substance are called conductors, the term bodies being used in a general sense. Those which do not allow the free passage of electricity through their sub- stance are called non-conductors, it being an accepted fact that every substance permits of some movement of elec- tricity in itself. Electrical resistance is the reciprocal of electrical conductivity — thus: if X has a resistance of 1 ohm and Y a resistance of 10 ohms, we may say that the r^istance of Y is ten times that of X; or, that the conduc- tivity of Y is one-tenth that of X. It is customary, however, and more convenient, to speak of the resistance of substances when wishing to compare that property in definite terms of measurement. The unit of resistance is called an ohm, and is arbitrarily taken to be that offered by a column of mercury at 0° C., 106 centimetres in length, with a section of 1 square millimetre. In order to create a readily comparable standard of resistances for various substances, a definite quantity {one cubic centimetre) is taken of each substance at a definite temperature, and its resistance measured from face to face. Such resistance is known as the specific resistance of each substance, and a glance at a table of such specific resistances enables us to see the relative conductivity of the various substances. The specific resistance of solid conductors is easily found, but in attempting to calculate that of a liquid we are confronted with certain difficulties. We take the same amount at the same temperature of the various liquids, but it is not easy to be so sure of its definite composition and strength if a solution, as in the case of a solid, such as a metal. Further, a fluid conducts by convection, being electrolysed by the passage of a current through it, and this electrolysis sets up a counter electro-motive force, which opposes the current, and is yet not true resistance. Many methods have been introduced for minimising these difficulties. The following table of specific resistances will be of use, as bearing on the subject Copper annealed, 1 -598 microhms (one millionth of an ohm). Silver annealed, 1'504 ,, Graphite, 41800 ,, Sulphate of zinc solution with density, 1'2891 = 28'.3 ohms. Sulphate of copper solution ,, 1‘2051 = 29‘3 ,, Water (pure) 9320 ,, Taken from Jenkin on Electricity and Magnetism. The temperature of the first two was 0° C.; of graphite, 22° C.; of solution, 10° C.; of water not stated. This table demonstrates the fact that though a saline solution has not the high conductivity of copper and silver, it may yet be regarded as a fairly good conductor. It is a recognised fact, and one easily proved, that the human body conducts solely by virtue of the fluid contained in its tissues, the conductivity of each tissue being in direct proportion to the quantity and conducting quality of the contained fluid. This resembles the manner in which a silken thread, itself a non-conductor, after being moistened with a conducting fluid, conducts by virtue of the conducting fluid contained in its interstices. Any one tissue of the human body is, when freed from fluid, a non-conductor ; but it can be converted into a conductor by soaking it in a hot saline solution, provided that it allows the fluid to occupy its minute instertices. Through the kindly courtesy and with the assistance of Professor Stewart, I examined two mummies in the Musenno of the College of Surgeons, with a view to see if they acted as conductors. These mummies were prepared in 1779, and may reasonably be looked upon as human bodies free from their fluid constituents. I used an electro-motive force of GO volts; the galvanometer used would show O'OOOOl ampere. Bare ductile metal electrodes, connected with the battery and galvanometer, were placed in various portions of the mummy examined, but there was no deflection of the galvanometer. A simple calculation shows, therefore, that the resistance of each mummy must have been over- 6,000,000 ohms. Other dried tissues have acted in a similar manner. We are, therefore, justified in accepting as a recognised fact that the human body conducts solely by virtue of the fluids contained in it. These different fluids are, to all intents and purposes, saline solutions containing a variable amount of different salts. They may be regarded from our point of viewas fairly good conductors, remembering the conductmty of those solutions enumerated in the table of specific resistances. Regarding the human body as con- ducting solely by virtue of these different solutions con- tained in the various tissues, we should expect to find it a good and not a bad conductor. How comes it then that there is such an enormous difference between their con- ductivity, when contained in the various tissues of the body, and what we are led to believe by analogy would be their conductivity if examined external to and separate from the body. The difference is not due to them, but to the different conditions of the two experiments. When examined separate from the body, they would be in direct contact with the electrodes; when examined as part of the body there is placed between the electrodes and the fluid a layer of non-conducting material which