The value of electrical treatment / by Julius Althaus.

  • Althaus, Julius, 1833-1900.
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The value of electrical treatment / by Julius Althaus. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    preparatory for stronger treatment in timid patients. Finally, a static current has been employed by Morton and others, by passing an uninsulated metal ball rapidly over the clothing of the patient. All these different modes of using franklinic electricity produce a mixture of stimulant and sedative effects on the system, which may be utilised in the treatment of certain neuroses, such as hysteria, hystero-epilepsy, neurasthenia, insomnia, and obstinate forms of neuralgia and spasm. Morton has recently used his static current in cases of locomotor ataxy and other degenerations of the spinal cord with apparent benefit, but more experience is necessary before a final judgment on this point can be formed. A drawback to this treatment is that it appears necessary to use powerful and painful discharges, which will preclude its employment in a number of cases, and which runs counter to the generally accepted principle that a mild application of electricity is, aliens paribus, better than a severe one. As ozone or electrified oxygen is developed during the action of the franklinic machine, the patient may be made to inhale it by holding an insulated disc with a number of points at some distance from his mouth. This proceeding has been found useful in certain forms of ansemia and spasmodic asthma. ELECTRICITY IN MOTION. The Constant or Continuous Galvanic Current. This is by far the most important form of electricity for medical purposes. Its effects have been better and more thoroughly studied than those of franklinism or faradism, and it has been shown to possess far greater therapeutical value than all other modifications of the force. It may tl-ierefore be said to be absolutely indispensable to those who wish to apply electricity in medical practice.