Electropathy : a new method of treating disease by electricity.

Date:
1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Electropathy : a new method of treating disease by electricity. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    19/56 (page 15)
    ruption. Just as cramp is a disease of weakness, and the stiffness of death is due to general muscular contraction, so it may be inferred that when par- ticular muscles contract in obedience to an order sent from the brain along the nerves of the part, the contraction is due rather to the cessation of the galvanic or electric current than to its accession, and that the rigor mortis, or stiffness, of the corpse is due to muscular contractions, produced by the ces. sation of the galvanic or electric current. Hence it is of the utmost consequence to understand the difference in application of the continuous, as com- • pared with that of the induced, current. This important difference may be understood from the fact that a current of electricity or galvanism which as an interrupted current would be unbearable, is not felt as a continuous one. A current which rapidly decomposes water may be passed through a human muscle without the knowledge of the person receiving the current, except that at the moment of making and breaking contact a sensation is produced. Consequently any appliances that pro- duce the primary or constant current can be worn wi hout unpleasant sensations being experienced. BURROUGHS, WELLCOME & CS? JLaXJu LZiJct X No.