A treatise on medical electricity, theoretical and practical and its use in the treatment of paralysis, neuralgia, and other diseases / by J. Althaus.

  • Althaus, Julius, 1833-1900.
Date:
1870
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on medical electricity, theoretical and practical and its use in the treatment of paralysis, neuralgia, and other diseases / by J. Althaus. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    69/742 (page 41)
    been described almost simultaneously by Dr. Warren De la Rue,^ of London, and M. Pincus^f of Konigs- berg. This consists of rods of zinc and silver wire surrounded by chloride of silver and salt v^ater or dilute sulphuric acid. No diaphragm is used. The hydrogen which is set free in this battery is absorbed by the chloride of silver, whereby the polarisation of the silver is prevented. As no acid is used in this batterj^, and it moreover occupies only a small space, it is probable that this battery, if properly arranged, will come to form the best portable constant battery for medical use. The electrolyte being solid and little soluble, the battery can be used for months without perceptible changes occurring in the positive metal. Dr. Warren De la E,ue and M. Pincus have entered into an animated controversy w^ith regard to the priority of this discovery, each claiming it as his own—which appears not a little singular, as the battery they have described was invented ten years previously by M. Marie-Davy, J to whom, therefore, all the honour of the discovery belongs. The Water Battery, — Extensive water batteries have been constructed by Messrs. Crosse, Noad, and Gassiot. Crosse's battery consists of 2,500 pairs of copper and zinc cylinders, immersed in water, en- closed in glass jars, insulated on glass stands, and well protected from dust and light. Thirty pairs of * Comptes rendus, 1868, vol. Ixvii. p. 794. t Poggendorff's Annalen, vol. cxxxv., 1868, p. 167. J Comptes rendus, vol. xlix. 1859.