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Title: A Newly Discovered System of Electrical Medication

Author: Daniel Clark

Release Date: December 11, 2007 [EBook #23813]

Language: English

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    A NEWLY DISCOVERED SYSTEM

                OF

      ELECTRICAL MEDICATION.



      BY DANIEL CLARK, A. M.





           CINCINNATI:
 PRINTED BY HITCHCOCK AND WALDEN,
         FOR THE AUTHOR.
              1875.




Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by

DANIEL CLARK, A. M.,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Northern District of Illinois.




Transcriber's Note:

    Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. Medical,
    scientific, archaic and variant spellings remain as printed, except
    for obvious errors noted at the end of the text.




PREFACE.


In the summer of 1866, the author of this little book, moved by the
repeated and earnest solicitation of his Medical Classes, prepared and
printed a small pamphlet entitled _Practical Principles of Medical
Electricity_, designed more particularly, as the present work also is,
as a _Hand-Book_ to assist the memory of those who have taken a regular
course of LECTURES from himself, or from some other competent instructor
in the same general system of Practice. The edition of that work was
exhausted somewhat more than a year ago. Still, the book has continued
to be frequently called for. The author has, therefore, prepared, and
now offers to the Profession, the present volume, comprising the
substance of the previous work--corrected, improved in arrangement and
form, and about doubled in size by the introduction of new matter. While
he has reason for gratitude that the former manual, referred to above,
has met with so favorable a reception, he can not but hope that the
present work will be found even more acceptable and valuable to both
practitioners and their patients.

It is but justice to say that the most essential principles of
_practice_ here presented did not originate with the present author, but
with PROF. C. H. BOLLES, of Philadelphia, their discoverer, from whom
the writer received his first introduction to them. Yet, the
_explanations_ here given of the Law of Polarization, as respects the
electric current in the circuit of the artificial machine, as well as
respecting the natural magnets and magnetic currents of the human
organism; the introduction of the _long cord_, with the explanation of
its advantages; and also nearly everything of the _philosophic theories_
here brought to view, the author alone is responsible for.

This work, like its little predecessor from the same pen, has been
adapted exclusively to the use of DR. JEROME KIDDER'S Electro-Magnetic
Machine, manufactured and sold, at present, at No. 544 Broadway, New
York; because the author, having used in his own practice a considerable
variety of the most popular machines intended for therapeutic purposes,
and having examined several others, believes this to be incomparably
_the best in use_. Dr. Kidder has, with most laudable zeal, pressed on
his researches and improvements in the manufacture of these instruments,
until there seems to be scarcely anything more in them to be desired.
They are certainly not equalled by any others in America, and probably
not surpassed, if equalled, by any in the world.

                                                            D. C.
 PLAINFIELD, ILL., June, 1869.




CONTENTS.


                                                   Page.
 INTRODUCTION                                         xi


 FIRST PRINCIPLES.

 DR. JEROME KIDDER'S ELECTRO-MAGNETIC MACHINE         21
 POLARIZATION                                         26
 THE ELECTRIC CIRCUIT                                 28
 POLARIZATION OF THE CIRCUIT                          29
 THE CENTRAL POINT OF THE CIRCUIT                     33
 THE CURRENT                                          35
 MODIFICATIONS OF ELECTRICITY                         36
 THE VITAL FORCES--ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE               37
 EXTENT OF ELECTRIC AGENCY                            42
 THEORY OF MAN                                        44
 THE LOWER ANIMALS                                    54
 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM                                56
 NATURAL POLARIZATION OF MAN'S PHYSICAL ORGANISM      56
 ELECTRICAL CLASSIFICATION OF DISEASES                58
 PHILOSOPHY OF DISEASE AND CURE                       58


 PRINCIPLES OF PRACTICE.

 POLAR ANTAGONISM                                     61
 IMPORTANCE OF NOTING THE CENTRAL POINT               62
 DISTINCTIVE USE OF EACH POLE                         63
 USE OF THE LONG CORD                                 69
 THE INWARD AND THE OUTWARD CURRENT                   74
 MECHANICAL EFFECT OF EACH POLE                       75
 RELAXED AND ATROPHIED CONDITIONS                     77
 GENERAL DIRECTION OF THE CURRENT                     78
 TREATING WITH ELECTROLYTIC CURRENTS                  79
 POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE MANIFESTATIONS                 81
 HEALING                                              84
 DIAGNOSIS                                            84


 PRESCRIPTIONS.

 PRELIMINARY REMARKS                                  94
 GENERAL TONIC TREATMENT                              95
 COMMON COLDS                                         98
 CEPHALAGIA (Headache)                               100
 DEAFNESS                                            102
 NOISES IN THE HEAD                                  103
 INFLAMED EYES                                       103
 AMAUROSIS                                           104
 STRABISMUS (Discordance of the Eyes)                104
 CATARRH (Acute)                                     105
 CATARRH (Chronic)                                   105
 DIPHTHERIA                                          106
 APHONIA (Loss of Voice)                             106
 CROUP                                               107
 ASTHMA                                              108
 HEPATIZATION OF LUNGS                               108
 PNEUMONIA                                           108
 PULMONARY PHTHISIS (Consumption)                    109
 NEURALGIA AND RHEUMATISM OF THE HEART               111
 ENLARGEMENT AND OSSIFICATION OF THE HEART           112
 PALPITATION OF THE HEART                            112
 TORPID LIVER                                        112
 HEPATITIS (Inflammation of Liver)                   113
 ENLARGEMENT OF LIVER                                113
 BILIARY CALCULI (Gravel in Liver)                   114
 INTERMITTENT FEVER (Ague and Fever)                 114
 NEPHRITIS (Inflammation of Kidneys)                 115
 RENAL CALCULI (Gravel in the Kidneys)               116
 DIABETES (A Kidney Disease)                         116
 DYSPEPSIA                                           117
 ACUTE DIARRHŒA                                      119
 CHRONIC DIARRHŒA                                    119
 CHOLIC (of whatever kind)                           120
 CHOLERA MORBUS                                      120
 CHOLERA (Malignant)                                 121
 DYSENTERY                                           122
 CONSTIPATION OF BOWELS                              122
 HÆMORRHOIDS (Piles)                                 123
 RHEUMATISM (Acute Inflammatory)                     124
 RHEUMATISM (Chronic)                                125
 DROPSY                                              126
 NEURALGIA                                           126
 SCIATICA                                            127
 PARALYSIS                                           128
 ERYSIPELAS                                          129
 ERUPTIVE CUTANEOUS DISEASES                         130
 COMMON CRAMP                                        131
 TRISMUS (Lockjaw)                                   132
 TETANUS                                             132
 CANCERS                                             133
 ASPHYXIA (Suspended Animation)                      134
 RECENT WOUNDS, CONTUSIONS AND BURNS                 135
 OLD ULCERS                                          135
 HEMORRHAGE                                          136
 CHLOROSIS (Green Sickness)                          136
 AMENORRHŒA (Suppressed Menstruation)                138
 DYSMENORRHŒA (Painful Menstruation)                 138
 MENORRHAGIA (Excessive Menstruation)                139
 PROLAPSUS UTERI (Falling of the Womb)               140
 LEUCORRHŒA (Whites)                                 140
 SPERMATORRHŒA                                       141
 IMPOTENCE                                           142




INTRODUCTION.


Considerable parts of this book have been written for the unlearned. For
the scholarly reader such parts, of course, would be wholly superfluous;
yet it is hoped that they to whom these are familiar will be patient in
passing through them for the sake of others to whom they may be
instructive. Other parts, again, it is believed, will be found new to
the most of even educated minds. But men of the largest intellectual
attainments are commonly the most docile. Such men, meeting this little
work, will not shrink from a candid examination of its contents merely
on account of their comparative novelty, nor because the views expressed
differ essentially from those usually held by the medical faculty. The
candid, yet critical, attention of such gentlemen, the author especially
solicits. He assures them that he does not write at random, but from
careful research and practical experience. His _philosophic theories_ he
offers only for what they are worth. His _principles of practice_ he
believes to be scientifically correct and of great value.

Let it not be supposed that the author, in this work, assumes a
belligerent attitude towards the members of the medical profession.
Although anxious to modify and elevate their estimate of electricity as
a remedial agent, and to improve their methods of using it, he has no
sympathy with those who profess to believe, and who assert, that
medicines of the apothecary never effect the cure of disease; that where
they are thought to cure, they simply do not kill; and who contend that
the patient would have recovered quicker and better to have taken no
medicine at all. He knows that such allegations are false, as they are
extravagant; and so does every candid and unprejudiced observer whose
experience has given him ordinary opportunities to judge. The writer
believes it can be perfectly demonstrated that the advancement of
medical science in modern times--say within the last two or three
hundred years--has served to essentially prolong the average term of
human life. The world owes to medical instructors and practitioners a
debt of gratitude which can never be paid. Their laborious and often
perilous research in the fields of their profession, and their untiring
assiduity in the application of their science and skill to the relief of
human suffering, entitle them to a degree of confidence and affectionate
esteem which few other classes of public servants can rightly claim. For
one, the author of this little book most sincerely concedes to them, as
a body, his confidence, his sympathy, and his grateful respect. And the
most that he is willing to say to their discredit, (if it be so
construed), is that he regards them as having not yet attained
_perfection_ in their high profession, and as not being generally as
willing as they should be to examine fairly into the alleged merits of
remedial agents and improved principles of practice, (claimed to be
such), when brought forward by intelligent, cultivated and respectable
men, outside of "the regular profession." This is said at the same time
that the author gives much weight to their commonly offered defense,
viz: that, in the midst of professional engagements, they have not always
the time to spare for such examination; and that, since the most of
alleged improvements in the healing art, particularly of those introduced
by persons who have not received a regular medical education, sooner or
later prove themselves to be worthless, the _presumption_--though not
the _certainty_--is, whenever a new agent, or a new method or principle
is proposed by an "outsider," that this, too, if not willful
charlatanism, is a mistake; and therefore, the sooner it comes to an end
the better it will be for the public health, and that neglect is the
surest way to kill it.

But the medical faculty have too widely employed electricity in the
treatment of disease, and that with too frequent success, to admit of
its being denied a place among important therapeutic agents by any
respectable practitioner. The only questions concerning it now are those
which relate to the _versatility_ of its power, the _scope_ of its
useful applicability, and the _principles_ which should guide in the
administration of it. The general subject embraced in these questions is
one in which suffering humanity has a right to claim that physicians
shall be at home.

And yet it will scarcely be denied that, in the exhibition of
electricity, more than of almost any other therapeutic agent, medical
practitioners feel incertitude as to what shall be its effect. Now and
then it acts as they expected it to do; sometimes it pleasantly
surprises them; oftener it offensively disappoints them. They find it
_unreliable_. Of other remedial agents, they commonly know, before
administering them, what _sort_ of effect will be produced; but in
employing this, while they have hope, they are generally more or less in
doubt. They regard it as _a stimulant_; although its action on the
living organism appears to them to be largely veiled in mystery. In many
cases of disease, particularly those of acutely inflammatory or febrile
character, they judge it to be not at all indicated. To administer it in
a case of bilious or typhoid fever, or in a case of pneumonia,
pleuritis, gastritis, inflammatory rheumatism, or acute, and especially
_epidemic_ or malignant dysentery, or in a case of pulmonary phthisis,
would probably be viewed by the most of physicians as the rashest
empiricism, if not the next thing to madness. _The idea of producing
antagonistic effects with it at will_, they would, for the most part,
esteem preposterous. Rather, perhaps, it may be said of the majority of
medical practitioners that such an idea has never entered their minds;
so foreign is it to their conceptions of truth and propriety. But, at
whatever risk of discredit or censure, the writer of the present volume
avers that this idea is both scientifically sound and of every day's
practical verification. The various and opposite forms of disease--acute
and chronic, hypersthenic and asthenic--are habitually treated and
_cured_, in his own practice and that of his students, by electricity
alone.

But "_cui bono?_" may be asked. "What if it be true that these things
can be done with electricity? They are also done with medicines, which
are more quickly and conveniently administered, and usually less
annoying to the patient. What, therefore, is the _practical utility_ of
your electric system above the ordinary practice, especially if we
include, in the latter, electrical treatment as occasionally employed by
the most of respectable physicians?"

This is the important question--that to which the author desires to call
particular attention. He, therefore, answers:

_First._--It is manifestly true that the most of diseases, (the
exceptions are comparatively few), can be cured by the use of medicines.
It is also true that these can generally be administered with more
convenience and less expenditure of time to the practitioner than
electricity; and this is a great advantage. The author is often asked if
he thinks his electric system will ever supersede the use of medicines.
His answer is uniformly, "No." It takes too much time for that. Where
the population is crowded, as in cities and large towns, it is often the
case, especially in times of prevailing epidemic, that a physician can
prescribe medicine for half a dozen or more patients in the time
required to treat one electrically. To reject medicines and rely alone
on electricity would, in periods and places of prevailing sickness,
leave many sufferers without professional service, or would require that
the proportion of doctors to the whole population should be largely
increased--a thing certainly not often to be desired. So much, candor
must concede.

_Second._--It is not quite true that medicines are usually less annoying
to the patient than electricity as _we_ use it. As administered by
others, it is often nearly intolerable. In our hands, on the contrary,
it seldom inflicts any pain or distress, and almost invariably becomes
agreeable to the patient after a very few applications. We have no
occasion to torture our patients in order to cure them. But the cases
are comparatively rare where medicines are not offensive; commonly they
are excessively so.

_Third._--In not a few diseases, and these among the most dangerous or
distressful, the electric current, employed according to the system here
taught, is able to reach, control and cure, with facility, where
medicines are but slowly, and in most instances imperfectly successful,
or fail altogether. This is said, or meant to be said, not invidiously
nor boastingly, but in the candid utterance of a great and practically
demonstrated truth. It is, perhaps, most _often_ exemplified in
neuralgic, rheumatic and paralytic affections. The author is happy to
acknowledge that these diseases are frequently mitigated, and
occasionally cured, by means of electrical treatment administered by
those who know nothing of the system here taught. But the important fact
is, in _their_ hands there is _no certainty_ as to the effect before
trial. Under _this_ system, the kind of effect is as certainly known
before as after the trial, since it can be made one thing or another _at
will_.

Cases are not unfrequently presented of _inflammatory action_, more
especially where it is internal--traumatic cases and others--which the
practitioner finds it impossible to subdue with medicine. But, with a
proper knowledge of the system herein taught, he has at his command a
power with which he can control such cases with almost infallible
certainty, provided he can get access to them within reasonable time.
The same may be said of fevers, particularly those occasioned by
miasmatic or infectious virus. These are often difficult to manage by
the use of medicine, and not seldom prove fatal, in spite of the best
talent and skill which the profession can afford. But the electric
current, rightly selected and scientifically applied, destroys or
neutralizes the virus and restores the normal polarization, and so
effects a cure.

_Neuralgic affections_ are frequently found difficult, or even
impossible, to be cured by means of medicines, and yet, in the very same
cases, these affections yield and disappear with comparative facility
when brought under the electric current, judiciously applied, according
to the principles of this new system.

_Chronic cases, and others of an asthenic character_, are often very
stubborn under the medicines of pharmacy, and are commonly the dread of
physicians; yet, under scientific treatment by electricity, they rarely
fail to lose their formidable character and to become obedient to the
remedial agent.

_Fourth._--In enumerating a few of the peculiar advantages of this
system, I should add that it corrects the usual _electric_ practice of
the profession, so far as they become acquainted with it. As before
intimated, the mass of physicians at present, who treat more or less
electrically, do so with no knowledge, or next to none, of the great
_versatility_ of action of which the electric current is capable. They
know nothing of the electrical polarization of the living organism in
health, nor how it is variously affected in disease. The particular
_electrical_ state of the diseased organs is a matter foreign to their
minds. They appear to suppose the point to be immediately aimed at as a
means of cure is to get the electricity from the machine into the
affected part or parts; whereas it should be to change, by correction,
the _polarization_ of the part or parts; and, if there be virus present,
to neutralize that. Equally unacquainted are they generally with the
diverse physiological action of the several modifications of the
electric force--galvanism, magnetism, faradism, and frictional
electricity. This, in their candor, they commonly acknowledge. And, for
the most part, they are little or nothing better acquainted with the
_distinctive_ effects on the system of the positive and negative poles
of the instrument. There is, therefore, plainly no _science_ in their
electrical practice. Every thing is done at random--all is empirical.

But the system here taught opens the light upon all of these points. For
practical purposes, at least, it is, in its essential features, the only
system of electrical therapeutics which has in it any real merit--the
only system which _can be true_. By this, the writer does not mean to
assert, or to imply, that the little book now before the reader contains
no error, either in respect to theory or practice. In this early stage
of our system's history, it would be remarkable if it did not contain
errors in both these respects. But what it is intended to affirm is,
that the book presents the _cardinal features_ of a true, and the only
possibly true, system of electrical practice. All possibly true systems
of geometry must necessarily be essentially the same; and so, too, all
possibly true systems of electrical medication must be essentially one.
That one system, it is candidly and confidently believed, is briefly
contained in the present little volume.




ELECTRICAL MEDICATION.




FIRST PRINCIPLES.


DR. JEROME KIDDER'S ELECTRO-MAGNETIC MACHINE.

On opening the machine-box, as it comes from the manufacturer, there
will be found a glass bottle, intended to hold the battery fluid when
not in use; a glass cup or jar, to serve as the battery cell; a pair of
insulated metallic conducting cords; two tin electrodes; a brass clamp;
and, under the helix-box, (which raise), the battery metals and two
connecting wires to unite the battery with the helix.

To put the machine in working condition--ready for use--proceed, step by
step, as follows, viz: Prepare the _Battery Fluid_ by mixing twelve
parts, by measure, of water with one part of sulphuric acid, (good
commercial acid is pure enough), sufficient to fill the cell two-thirds
or three-fourths full, and place in it about one-third of an ounce of
quicksilver.

Next, place the platina plate between the two zinc plates, standing on
their legs upon a table before you; and bring the top of the wooden bar
(in a groove of which the platina is set) up flush with the top of the
zinc plates. Let the brass post, standing on the top of this bar and
soldered to the platina plate below, be toward the left-hand side. Then
take the brass clamp and place it across the top of these metallic
plates, a little to the right of the brass post, or about midway between
the right and left sides, having its thumb-screw towards you, and with
it screw the three plates firmly together. The platina is shorter than
the zincs, to prevent its reaching the quicksilver in the bottom of the
cell; and the wax balls on its sides are to insulate it from the zinc
plates. This platina should never be allowed to touch the mercury or the
zinc.

Let the plates, properly screwed together, be now placed in the cell
with the Battery Fluid. Then, with the two copper connecting-wires,
connect the post which stands on the wooden bar above the platina with
the post stamped P on the helix-box, and the brass clamp N with the
post N on the helix-box.

If, now, the screws regulating the vibrating armature be in perfect
adjustment, the current will commence to run, with a buzzing sound; or
it may be made to start by touching the hammer-like head of the flat
steel spring. If not, the screws may be rightly adjusted in the
following way: The top screw, which at its lower point is tipped with a
small coil of platina wire, should be made to press delicately upon the
center of the little iron plate on the upper side of the spring, so as
to bear the latter down very slightly. Then raise or depress the
screw-magnet, which turns up or down under the hammer, like the seat of
a piano-stool, until the vibration of the spring commences. The
_rapidity of the vibrations_, by which is secured the alternate closing
and breaking of the electric circuit (or rather what, in practical
effect, is equivalent to this--the _direct_ and _reverse_ action of the
current in alternation) is increased by raising the screw-magnet and
diminished by lowering it. When it is raised above what is required for
ordinary use, the noise becomes too loud and harsh for many nervous
patients to bear. It should then be depressed a little.

With respect to curative power, I have discovered but little perceptible
difference, produced by the various degrees of rapidity in the
vibrations, effected within the range of this magnet.

_The force_ of the current is regulated by means of a tubular magnet,
which slides over the helix, and is called _the plunger_. It is
approached under a brass cap at the right-hand end of the machine. The
plunger is withdrawn, more or less, to increase the force; pushed in to
diminish it. If in any case the current can not be softened sufficiently
with the plunger, the quantity of battery fluid in use must be made
less.

After a time the current will become weak, and fail to run well. Then
renew the battery fluid. When the quicksilver is all taken up by the
zinc plates, the machine may be run for a while without adding more. But
after it has considerably disappeared from the inside surface of the zinc
plates, the latter will begin to show more rapid corrosion, while the
current will be less. Then let a small quantity of quicksilver--one-fourth
to one-third of an ounce--again be placed in the fluid.

When the machine is not in use, let the metals be removed from the
fluid; and, if not to be soon again used, let them be rinsed with
water, carefully avoiding to wet the wooden bar in which the platina is
set.

_The posts_, with which the conducting-cords are to be connected, are
arranged in a row near the front of the helix-box, and are marked A, B,
C, D. Either two of these posts may be used to obtain a current; and
since they admit of six varying combinations, six different currents are
afforded by the machine, viz: the A B current, the A C current, the A D
current, the B C current, the B D current, and the C D current.
Whichever current is used, it may always be known which of the two posts
employed is the positive and which the negative, by observing the
letters stamped upon their tops. The one whose letter comes first in the
order of the alphabet is positive; the other is negative. Also, the one
standing towards the left hand is positive, and that at the right hand
is negative. _The qualities_ of the several currents are stated in a
descriptive paper on the inside of the lid of the machine, which see. It
will there be found that three of the currents--viz, the A B, the A C
and the A D currents--are _electrolytic_: that is, dissolving by
electric action. These electrolytic currents require to be used--one or
another of them--whenever any chemical action is needed; as, in
decomposing or neutralizing _virus_ in the system, destroying cancers,
reducing glands when chronically enlarged, removing tumors or other
abnormal growths, and in treating old ulcers and chronic irritation of
mucous membranes. The other three, being Faradaic or induction currents,
and having no perceptibly chemical action, are used where only change of
electro-vital polarization is required. These Faradaic currents differ
from each other in respect to being _concentrative_ or _diffusive_ in
their effects, and in their _sensational_ force. B C is concentrative
and delicately sensational. C D is also concentrative, though less so
than B C, and is more strongly sensational. B D is diffusive, and the
most energetically sensational of the three.


POLARIZATION.

It may be proper, in this place, to spend a few words upon electrical
polarization in general.

_Electrical polarity_ may be defined as a characteristic of the electric
or magnetic fluid, by virtue of which its opposite qualities, as those
of _attraction_ and _repulsion_ towards the same object, are manifested
in opposite parts of the electric or magnetic body. These opposite parts
are called the _poles_ of the body, as the _positive_ and _negative_
poles. The difference between the positive and negative poles is
believed to be that of _plus_ and _minus_--plus being positive and minus
negative. This is the Franklinian view, and, if I mistake not, is the
one most in favor with men of science at the present day. This view
supposes that the electricity or magnetism arranges itself in _maximum_
quantity and intensity at the one extremity or pole of the magnetized
body, and in _minimum_ quantity and intensity at the opposite extremity
or pole; and that, between these points--the maximum and the
minimum--the fluid is distributed, in respect to quantity and intensity,
upon a scale of regular graduation from the one to the other. The idea
may be represented by a _line_, commencing in a _point_ at the one end,
and extending, with regularly increasing breadth, to the other end. The
larger end would represent the positive pole, and the smaller, the
negative pole. Or perhaps a better representation of the magnet would be
a line of equal breadth from end to end, but having the one end _white_,
or slightly tinted, say, with _red_, and the color gradually and
regularly increasing in strength to the other end, where it becomes a
_deep scarlet_. Let the coloring-matter represent the magnetism in the
body charged, and we have the magnet illustrated in its polarization:
the deep-red end is the positive pole, and the white or faintly-colored
end is the negative pole.

It is a law of polarization that the positive poles of different magnets
repel each other, and the negative poles repel each other; while
positive and negative poles attract each other. The same law of
polarization rules in electric or magnetic _currents_ as in magnets at
rest.


THE ELECTRIC CIRCUIT.

_The Electric Circuit_ is made up of any thing and every thing which
serves to conduct the electric current in its passage--outward and
returning--from where it leaves the inner surfaces of the zinc plates in
the battery cell to where it comes back again to the outer surfaces of
the same plates. When the conducting-cords are not attached to the
machine, or when the communication between the cords is not complete, if
the machine be running, the circuit is then composed of the battery
fluid, the platina plate, the posts, the connecting-wires, which unite
the battery with the helix, the helical wires, and their appendages for
the vibrating action. But when a patient is under treatment, the
conducting-cords, the electrodes, and so much of the patient's person as
is traversed by the current while passing from the positive electrode
through to the negative electrode, are also included in the whole
circuit. And whatever elements may serve to conduct the current in any
part of its circuit--be they metal, fluid, nerve, muscle, or bone--the
same are all, for the time, component parts of _one complete magnet_,
which, in all its parts, is subject to the law of polarization,
precisely as if it were one magnetized bar of steel. Usually, however,
it is sufficient for _practical_ purposes to contemplate the circuit as
consisting only of that which the current passes through in going from
the point where it leaves the positive post and enters into the negative
cord, around to the point where it leaves the positive cord and enters
into the negative post.


POLARIZATION OF THE CIRCUIT.

I have said, in effect, a little above, that, while the current is
running, _the entire circuit is one complete magnet_, which extends
from the inner or positive sides of the zinc plates, where the current
commences, all the way around to the outer or negative aides of the zinc
plates, to which it returns. Viewed in this light its negative pole or
end is the battery fluid, next to the positive surfaces of the zinc
plates, and its positive pole or end is the brass clamp which, holding
the metals together, is in contact with the outer and negative surfaces
of the zincs.

But, for practical purposes, it is sufficiently exact to consider the
_magnetic circuit_ as extending only from the positive _post_ around
through the conducting cords, the electrodes and the person of the
patient to the _negative_ post. The negative end or pole of this magnet
is the wire end of the cord placed in the positive post, and the
positive end or pole is the wire end of the cord placed in the negative
post.

But any magnet may be viewed either as one whole, or be conceived as
composed of a succession of shorter magnets placed end to end. If we
view it as one entire magnet, we call the end in which the magnetic
essence is in greatest quantity the _positive_ end, and the end where it
is in least quantity the _negative_ end. But if we imagine the one
whole magnet as being divided up into several sections, then we conceive
of each section as a distinct magnet, having its own positive and
negative poles. And, all the way through, these sectional magnets will
be arranged with the positive pole of the one joined to the negative
pole of the next in advance of it.

It is just so in respect to the magnetic circuit of a moving current.
The whole circuit, as before remarked, is in reality one long magnet.
But in applying the terms _positive_ and _negative_ in our practice we
often view the whole circuit--the one long magnet--as composed of a
series of shorter ones, arranged with positive and negative ends in
contact; and all the way the current in each section is supposed to be
running from the positive pole of the magnet behind to the negative pole
of the magnet before.

We consider the circuit, from the positive post around to the negative
post, as composed of three magnets, as follows: Magnet No. 1, which
extends from the positive post, along the cord and electrode, to the
body of the patient, where the positive electrode is placed. The
_negative pole_ of this magnet is the _wire end of the cord_ placed in
the positive post, and its _positive_ pole in the _positive electrode_
placed upon the person of the patient. No. 2, which is composed of the
parts of the patient traversed by the current between the two
electrodes. Its negative end or pole is the part in contact with the
positive pole of magnet No. 1, and its positive pole is the part in
contact with the negative pole of magnet No. 3. No. 3 extends from the
positive pole of No. 2, through the electrode and along the cord, to the
negative post. Its negative pole is the _negative electrode_ in contact
with the positive end or pole of magnet No. 2, and its positive pole is
the _wire end of the cord_ in the negative post.

Since in every magnet the magnetic fluid is supposed to be regularly
graduated from minimum quantity in the negative end to maximum quantity
in the positive end, this is true in respect to the one magnet,
consisting of the whole magnetic circuit, as well as in respect to each
one of the sectional series. Consequently there must be the same
quantity of magnetism in each negative pole of the sections as there is
in the positive pole of the section immediately behind it. And the
magnetism of the whole circuit between the positive and the negative
posts is in its _least_ volume next to the _positive post_, and in
_fullest_ volume next to the _negative post_. If we consider the circuit
as divided into two equal halves, the _negative half_ is plainly that
which joins the _positive post_, and the _positive half_ that which
joins the _negative post_.

From this it will be seen that what in practice are designated as the
positive and negative _posts_, and also positive and negative _poles_ or
_electrodes_ are _not_ such _in relation to each other_, but the
_reverse_ of it; that is to say, the positive _post_ is not _positive_
in relation to the _negative post_, but is _negative_ to it; and the
positive _electrode or pole_ is not positive in relation to the
_negative_ electrode, but _negative_ to it. The positive _post_, like
the positive _electrode_, is called _positive_, because it is the
positive end of the sectional magnet next _behind_ it. And the
_negative_ post, as also the negative electrode, is _called negative_
because it is the negative end of the sectional magnet next _in advance_
of it.


THE CENTRAL POINT OF THE CIRCUIT.

_The central point_ of the circuit--that point which divides between its
positive and negative halves--is reckoned, in practice, to be the
midway point in the line over which the current passes, in its whole
course from the positive post around to the negative post. When the
cords are of equal length, this point will always be in the person of
the patient, about midway between the parts where the two electrodes are
applied. This central point, or "point of centrality," is practically
neuter--neither positive nor negative; and upon the two opposite halves
of the circuit, the positive and negative _qualities_ of the current are
in greatest force nearest to the posts, and in least force nearest to
the central point. At this point they cease altogether, and the central
point is _neuter_.

It may, perhaps, be observed that, in _apparent_ contradiction of this
statement, the _sensational_ effect of the current on the negative half
of the circuit is _least_ nearest to the positive post, and becomes
regularly _greater_ as the current advances towards the central point;
and that _at_ this point it is greater than at any other point between
this and the positive post. To relieve this seeming contradiction, it is
only necessary to consider that, in fact, the _positive_ state on the
negative half of the current _does_ increase regularly from the
positive post to the central point. But that which is the _increase_ of
the positive state is the _decrease_ of the negative state. So it is
still true that on the negative half of the circuit, the _negative_
qualities _diminish_ as we advance towards the central point just as on
the positive half, the _positive_ qualities diminish regularly towards
the central point, as stated above.


THE CURRENT.

_The current_ is that moving electric essence which traverses the
circuit. The _course_ of the current is always from the positive to the
negative. It leaves the machine at the positive post, where it enters
the cord which holds the positive electrode or pole. Thence it advances
around the circuit, going out from the opposite cord where that connects
with the negative post. The forward end of the current is its positive
end; the rear, of course, is its negative end. At its forward end it is
in its greatest volume. At its rear end the volume is least. At the
_central point_ of its circuit there is the _mean_ quantity--the
_average_ volume. And because the positive and negative forces on either
side exactly balance each other upon the central point, therefore this
point is practically neuter--neither positive nor negative.


MODIFICATIONS OF ELECTRICITY.

In the present stage of electric science, the conviction has become very
general among experimenters that galvanism, magnetism, faradism,
frictional electricity and the electricity of the storm-cloud are, in
their essential nature, one and the same; being diversified in
appearance and effects by the different modes and circumstances of their
development. This conviction has been reached in various ways; but
chiefly, perhaps, by observing the many analogies between the phenomena
of these several forces, and also by the fact that each of them can be
made to produce or be produced by one or more of the others. But I must
forego any detailed discussion of this matter, since my limits will not
admit of it, and shall assume that these apparently several agents are
but modifications of the same generic force.

There are two other phases or modifications of the electric principle,
as I judge them to be, which are not so generally classed here. I refer
to the forces of animal and vegetable vitality, as viewed in the next
section.


VITAL FORCES--ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE.

Upon these points I must be permitted to offer a few words.

Of the _animal kingdom_, I regard the "nervous fluid" or "nervous
influence," popularly so called, as being the very principle of _animal
vitalization_--the life force; and that, a modification of the
_electric_ force. It is, I think, pretty generally conceded at this day
that the "nervous influence" is probably electric. There are some
alleged facts, and other certain facts, which go far to sustain this
view. It is said that if we transfix, with a steel needle, a large nerve
of a living animal, as the great ischiatic, and let it remain in that
condition a suitable time, the needle becomes permanently magnetized.
So, too, if the point of a lancet be held for some length of time
between the severed ends of a newly-divided large nerve, that point, as
I have heard it affirmed, on what appeared to be good authority, becomes
magnetized; although I have not attempted to verify either of these
cases by experiment. However, admitting them to be true, the metal is
charged with simply the "nervous fluid." But the fact on which I myself
chiefly rely for evidence of this identification, being almost daily
conversant with it in my practice, is this: _The "nervous influence"
obeys the laws of electrical polarization, attraction and repulsion._
When I treat a paralyzed part, in which, to all appearance, the action
of the nerve force is suspended, I have but to assume that this force is
electric, and apply the poles of my instrument accordingly, and I _bring
it in_ from the more healthy parts, along with the inorganic current
from my machine. Forcing conduction through the nerves, by means of my
artificial apparatus, I rouse the susceptibility of the nerves until
they will normally conduct the "nervous influence" or electro-vital
fluid, as I term it, and the paralysis is removed. Again, if I treat an
inflamed part, in which the capillaries are engorged with arterial
blood, I have but to assume that the affected part is overcharged with
the electro-vital fluid, through the nerves and the arterial blood, and
so to apply my electrodes, according to well known electrical law, as to
produce mutual repulsion, and the inflammatory action is sure to be
repressed. I manifestly change the polarization of the parts. This thing
is so perfectly regular and constant that I am entirely assured, before
touching the patient, what sort of effect will be produced by this or
that arrangement in the application of the poles of the instrument. If I
desire to increase or depress the nervous force in any given case, I
find myself able, on this principle, to produce the one effect or the
other, at will. Hence, I say, the nervous influence obeys the electric
laws, just as does the inorganic electricity. I find this subtle agent
not in the nerves only, but also in muscle and blood--more especially in
arterial blood. Indeed it seems to pervade, more or less, the entire
solids and fluids of the animal system. And wherever it exists, its
action is just that of an _electro-vital_ force. Examples of this fact
will appear further along in the present work. While, therefore, I can
not _affirm_ the identity of animal electricity and animal vitality, the
theory of their identification, to my view, best accords with the
manifestations under correct therapeutic treatment, and I am unaware of
any established fact to disprove it.

_Vegetable vitality_, also, I regard as another modification of the
electric force. The fact has been proved by repeated experiments, that
galvanic currents, passed among the roots of vegetables, causes a
quickened development of the plants to a degree that would be deemed
incredible by almost any one who had neither seen it nor learned its
_rationale_. I have seen it stated, on authority which commanded my
credence, that by this process lettuce leaves may be grown, within a few
hours only, "from the size of a mouse's ear to dimensions large enough
for convenient use on the dinner-table."

The following experiment has been related to me by several different
parties, as having been made by _Judge Caton_, of Ottawa, Illinois; and
subsequently the same has been confirmed to me by his brother, Deacon
Wm. P. Caton, of Plainfield, Illinois. It is said that the Judge had
some interesting _evergreens_ which appeared to be affected by an
unhealthy influence, causing a suspension of growth and withering of
branches here and there, until such branches died. So the process went
on, terminating after a little time in the death of the trees. In this
way he had lost some valuable specimens. At length a very fine and
favorite evergreen was similarly attacked. He felt, of course, annoyed
by the destructive process, and especially reluctant to lose this
particular tree. Probably calling to his recollection something
analogous to what I have referred to above, he resolved to try the
efficacy of galvanism to reinforce the vitality of the shrub. Having a
telegraphic wire extending from the main line in Ottawa to his own
residence, he availed himself of this facility, and caused a wire to be
passed among the roots of this tree in such a way as to bring the
galvanic current to act upon them. It was not long before he saw, to his
delight, a new set of foliage starting from the twigs, and after a
little time the tree was again flourishing in all its beauty. The
electric current had evidently imparted to it a fresh vitality.

To insure the success of such an experiment, a proper regard to
polarization must be had, such as is taught in the system presented in
this book. There may not have been any attention to this matter in the
case just related; but if not, the Judge must have _stumbled_ upon the
correct application of poles. To have brought the roots under the
influence of the wrong pole would have made sure the death of his tree.

Now, although, if taken by themselves, such experiments could not be
regarded as _conclusive_ in favor of the electric nature of vegetable
vitality, notwithstanding that this theory best explains the phenomena;
yet, when considered in connection with the fact that the nervous fluid
of the animal kingdom is evidently a modification of electricity, and
probably constitutes the vital force of the animal, the theory of its
identification, under another modification, with the vital principle in
the vegetable kingdom also, as deduced from experiments like those just
adverted to, receives strong confirmation, and is now, I believe, being
adopted by many of the best philosophers of the age.


EXTENT OF ELECTRIC AGENCY.

When we have settled upon the position that the electricity of the
heavens and of the artificial machine are identical, and that their
identity is essentially one with galvanism, magnetism, the electro-vital
fluid of animal and the life-force of the vegetable kingdoms, it
requires no extravagant imagination, nor remarkable degree of
enthusiastic credulity, to suppose that all the forms of physical
attraction and repulsion are due, under God, to the diversified
modifications of the same all-pervading agent--ELECTRICITY. Indeed, for
myself, I feel no hesitation in expressing it as my belief that
electricity, in one phase or another, and controlled only by WILL, is
the grand motive-power of the universe. I believe that, in the form of
electro-vital fluid, the great Creator employs it as His immediate agent
to carry on all the functions of animal life; and that, in respect to
voluntary functions, He subordinates it as a servant to the will of the
creature, to effect such cerebral action and such muscular contractions
as are demanded by the creature's volitions. I am disposed to think
that, by the omnipotent power of His will, He controls and uses
electricity, in its various modifications, as the immediate moving-force
by which He accomplishes all the changes in the physical universe. It is
fast becoming a generally-received opinion among modern _savans_, that
every body in nature is really magnetic, more or less; and that all
visible or sensible changes are but the result of changing poles.
Chemical affinities and revulsions are believed to be only the more
delicate forms of electrical attraction and repulsion; the ultimate
particles of matter, no less than matter in masses, being subject to the
control of electrical laws. The imponderable agents, light and caloric,
under the ingenious tests of scientific scrutiny, are beginning to give
some very decided indications of being simply electric phenomena.
Indeed, the doctrine or theory that supposes caloric to be simply
_atomic motion_ is even now being very generally accepted by the
scientific world. And that motion in the atoms of a body which causes in
us the sensation of heat is probably electric motion. And permit me to
observe that, though the operations of nature seem, at first thought, to
be wonderfully complex and mysterious, yet if the views here presented
be correct, the marvel is changed; and we are brought to a profound
admiration of the _simplicity_ of the means by which the Almighty
conducts His material operations. A _single_ agent made to perform
processes so infinitely numerous, diversified and apparently complex!
How amazing! Simplicity in complexity!--majestic, like the mind of God.


THEORY OF MAN.

Let the question now be raised--_What is man?_ The answer will have much
to do with the remedial system which I aim to teach. For this reason it
is thus early introduced.

My answer to the above question is as follows: _Man is a threefold
being, composed of a body material, a body electrical, and a spirit
rational and indestructible._

Let the elements of this definition be a little amplified:

1. _The material body._ This is composed of various metals, earths,
carbon, phosphorus, and gases. I need not go into a representation of
their multiplied and curious combinations to form the many parts of the
body complete. But these are the ultimate elements; and a most superb
and wonderful structure they here compose. Yet, notwithstanding all the
manifest skillfulness of its contrivance, and the power of its
accomplishment, and the niceness and beauty of its execution, it were a
useless display if unaccompanied with the invisible agents which compose
the two other grand constituents of man, to wit: the body electrical and
the spirit, or mind. Without these, it would quickly fall into decay, as
we see it when deprived of them, and would be resolved into its original
elements again. But to our gross material bodies the Creator has added,

2. _The body electrical._ By this, I mean that which has commonly been
termed "nervous influence," "nervous fluid," "nervo-vital fluid," and
"nervo-electric fluid." I object, however, to each and all of these
designations. They are too restricted and specific. They all seem to
imply that it is an agent or influence which appertains especially to
the _nervous_ system; whereas the entire organism is under its pervading
force. I do not doubt but its chief action is in and through the nervous
system; but it also pervades and, as I think, vitalizes the whole body.
The nervous system seems to be created as one principal means for its
replenishment,[A] and to serve as the medium of its ministrations to the
body at large. I choose to term it _electro-vital fluid_, or
_electro-vitality_. My reasons for so designating it are the following:
(1) It is demonstrably electrical in its nature. (2) It appears to be
identified, or at least connected immediately, with the vitalization of
the body. (3) I wish, by its name, to distinguish it from _mental_
vitality, or the vitality of _spirit_. Whether, as a peculiar
manifestation of the electric principle, it vitalizes by its own nature
and action solely, or whether it be _charged_ with another mysterious
element--a _life-force_--and vitalizes by ministering the latter to the
material organism, I will not positively affirm. Whichever it be, the
name I assign to it seems sufficiently appropriate. But I strongly
incline to the theory that this electro-vital principle does itself, by
virtue of its own nature, vitalize the system. In other words, I am
disposed to think that God makes it the _immediate_ agent of
vitalization; having constituted it the _vis vitæ_ of both the animal
and the vegetable kingdoms. Nor does this idea, as I conceive,
necessarily conflict at all with the doctrine of _cell-life_, as
maintained by the best physiologists of the present day. I also
sometimes style this electro-vital element the _body electrical_,
because it is certainly an entity, coëxtensive with and, in greater or
less force, wholly pervading the visible, material body.

At this point I will take the liberty to introduce, although somewhat
digressively, a few thoughts on the DISTINCTIONS OF VITALITY OR LIFE.

There are, as I suppose, the following several kinds of life: (1)
_Spirit life_; (2) _Moral life_; (3) _Electric life_.

(1.) There is _spirit_ life. And here are to be made several
subdivisions.

[1.] _Uncreated_ spirit life. This is the life of God. Of the nature of
the Divine Essence we know nothing; yet that God is a real, living
entity, we do know. My own conviction is that the divine essence and the
divine life are identical; that God, a spirit, is necessary, infinite,
conscious VITALITY--the voluntary Originator of all existencies besides
himself. But as to what is the essential nature of this vitality--this
eternal spirit-life--we can have no conception, only that this life is
God.

[2.] _Created_ spirit-life. And here we make another subdivision.

(_a_) The life of created _immortal_ spirit. This is a rational,
intelligent entity, representing the spirit of man and of unembodied,
created intelligences above him. This spirit God created as it pleased
him--"in his own likeness"--a living, indestructible essence; and, as I
suppose, its essence and its life the same.

(_b_) The life of created _mortal_ spirit, as the spirit of the beast.
Of the intrinsic essence of this spirit, we are also necessarily
ignorant. Yet, of its attributes we know that it has _consciousness_,
_sensibility_, and _will_. Of its life we know as little as of its
essence; both of which, however, as I conjecture, are also one and the
same--the spirit substance being itself essentially vital.

(2.) We pass next to _moral_ life. This life is identical with
_holiness_--the very opposite of that defilement that characterizes
moral _death_, which is a state of _sin_. But let me again subdivide.

[1.] As to the moral life of _God_, it consists in his infinite moral
purity--his _veracity_, _justice_ and _benevolence_ or _love_--qualities
which, in their combination make up his holiness.

[2.] The moral life of _man, as also of other rational creatures_. This
consists in his _sympathy of spirit with God_ in respect to those pure
qualities which constitute the Divine holiness.

(3.) Finally, there is _electric_ or _physical life_. But here again
there are varieties.

[1.] There is _animal_ life, as of man and the lower animals. This I
have already represented as consisting in the electro-vital force.

[2.] _Vegetable_ life. This is another modification of the same
essential principle--electro-vitality.

But now, to return to the _physical_ or _animal life of man_--the
electro-vital element. While this is in such _immediate_ relation to the
visible body on the one hand, it holds, also, on the other hand, an
_immediate_ relation to the mental part, both of man and of the other
animated beings of earth. It serves to transmit, through the nervous
system to the mind, all sensations and impressions from the outer world.
It, moreover, receives from the mind the action of its volitions and
imaginary conceptions, and conveys through the nerves the impressions or
impulsions thus obtained to the various parts of the body, and there
secures the fulfillment of the mind's behests. It appears to be only in
this way that communication is had between the mind and its outer body.
The natures of spirit and of gross matter are so totally unlike, that it
seems impracticable for the mind and body to come into _immediate_
mutual relation, or to act reciprocally, without the aid of a
_medium_--ethereal, semi-material and semi-spiritual, such as is the
electro-vital fluid. And the Creator has accordingly provided this
mysterious, invisible medium between the two, and thus, in a degree,
extended man's likeness to himself by making him _a trinity in unity_.

3. _The mind or spirit._ This is immeasurably the highest and most
important constituent of man. His body material may fall back to dust.
His body electrical may be reabsorbed in the great ocean of natural
electricity that fills the earth and the heavens. But his mind is
immortal. His spirit, made in the divine image, lives and acts, thinks
and feels, independently of every other existence save Him from whom its
being came. While in connection with its visible body, its good or ill,
its bliss or woe, has, indeed, much to do with its bodily state. But,
when separated from this body, its high and more independent existence
is at once asserted; and then its good or ill are determined by its
Author only in accordance with the workings and affections within
itself. A spiritual and indestructible being like its Creator, it can
never cease to be while he exists.

But our present concern is with the mind in its relation to that
electro-vital medium between it and the body, and to the body itself.
The mind's influence upon both of these lower parts of the entire man is
truly wonderful, although perceptible mostly on the material body. Few
persons are aware how much the state of the mind affects the bodily
health, although the degree is often very great. Yet this is done by
the mind's action, first on the electro-vital functions, and through
these, by way of the nerves, upon the bodily tissue. Changes in the
mental states will, in this way, frequently produce changed polarization
in the physical organs, and thus determine infallibly the matter of
health or disease. So, too, the condition of the bodily health will
often determine irresistibly the mental state. Whatever bodily changes
affect the polarization of the electro-vital medium in any part of the
organism, do thereby produce corresponding changes in the mind.

These views of the reciprocal action between mind and body, through the
medium of the electro-vital element, may serve to explain those
psychological wonders exhibited in the cure of diseases by the
imagination, as well as in diseases and even death induced by the
imagination. I would much like to unfold and illustrate this bearing of
the subject; and, also, in the light of it, to show the _philosophy_ of
one mind acting intelligibly on another mind, with, and even _without_,
the aid of the physical organs, as is sometimes seen in the facts of
mesmerism. This I have done in my written lectures, for the instruction
of classes; but my limits will not admit of it here.

There is another thought which I will offer in this connection. I
maintain that all _functional_ action of our bodily organism, _ab
initio_, is conducted by _thinking mind_, through the medium of organic
electricity or the electro-vital fluid. Every organ as a whole, and
every life-cell in detail, is charged with this active principle. I
believe that every one of then is controlled and guided incessantly in
its propagating, organizing and entire functional force by _intelligent
mind_, acting through this wonder-working agent--the electro-vital
fluid. In respect to our _voluntary_ exercises, this organic electrical
force is made subject to our own mental activities, and executes its
office upon the bodily organism mainly through the medium of the nerves.
But, as regards all the _involuntary_ functions, I believe that control
is exercised _directly_ by the omniscient and all-pervading God,
although in accordance with his own established laws.

Once more of the _mind_ let me remark, that _consciousness, sensation,
and will belong to it alone_. The _body_ never thinks nor feels; nor
does the organic electricity within it. The popular idea, especially
with the less educated masses, is that, if a man burn his finger, it is
the finger that smarts. But this can not be true. Pain can exist only
where consciousness is. And there is no consciousness in the finger, nor
in any material part. Only the _mind_ is conscious of _existence_, even;
and hence only the mind can be conscious of pleasure or pain. If a limb
be paralyzed, by interrupting in any way the flow of the electro-vital
fluid through its nerves, and thus depriving the _mind_ of its medium of
communication with it, you may burn that limb to a crisp and the subject
will feel no pain. When you burn your finger or break your arm, you
disturb the action of the electro-vitality in the injured part,
deranging its poles. This electric agent instantly communicates its
disturbance along the nerves to the brain, where it reports to the mind
and tells where the disturbance is. The conscious mind takes cognizance
of the fact and feels distress.


THE LOWER ANIMALS.

It may, by some, be objected that, if we regard sensation as existing
only in the _mind_, as affirmed above, then we must concede mind to the
lower animal tribes, since they are subjects of consciousness, sensation
and will, as truly as ourselves. I admit this necessity, and
unhesitatingly take the position, as has been already done in the
classification of minds, that the lower animals are in fact endowed with
a something higher and more spiritual than their material bodies or
their animal vitality--something which bears distinguishing
characteristics of _mind_. I would not, however, be understood to say,
or to imply, that they possess _all_ the characteristics of our minds,
even in a rudimental degree. I do not believe they do. My theory does
not accord to them either reason or immortality. Yet, in respect to the
latter, my views are less decisive, and my utterances usually more
reserved. But I think their minds may, and probably do, perish with
their bodies. Nevertheless, the existence of consciousness, sensation
and will, in any orders, does evidently presuppose some sort of mental
constitution. And such mental structure, in them as well as in us, must
be distinct from and superior to the animal vitality--compelling service
from the latter, and using it as a medium for communicating with the
body, and with the outer world in general.


THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM.

As to the vegetable kingdom, there is here, so far as we can discover,
only a duality of principle, viz: the material body and a modified phase
of electro-vitality. These component parts appear to sustain to each
other, in the vegetable, relations quite analogous to those of the
corresponding parts in the animal. But here the _mental_ part is
wanting; and consequently there is no consciousness, sensation, nor
will; and the electro-vital action is guided in its elaborate and
beautiful operations for the forming and developing of the plant, and in
all its vital functions, by the all-pervading mind of God.


NATURAL POLARIZATION OF MAN'S PHYSICAL ORGANISM.

_The electro-vital fluid_, in the animal economy, is subject to the same
principles of polarization as the magnetic current from the artificial
machine, or the magnetism of the bar-magnet. In the material organism of
man, the great nerve-centers--the brain, the spinal cord, and the
ganglions--appear to act the part of fixed magnets, charged with the
electro-vital fluid. Indeed, there is much reason to believe that this
fluid is elaborated within these nerve-centers--more especially within
the brain--from the inorganic electricity of the outer world, which is
supplied through the lungs in respiration, and conducted thence to these
laboratories by a remarkably interesting process--a process which I have
not room here to describe, but which I have drawn out in detail in a
manuscript lecture on the circulation of the blood, for my classes, and
which may some day see the light. These nerve-centers, viewed as magnets
of electro-vitality, require to be regarded as having each a positive
nucleus in the interior, on which are ranged the negative ends of the
currents which go out from this positive nucleus in every direction to
the surface of the medullary organ--so radiating, as it were, from
center to periphery. And the nerve-lines and ramifications which issue
from these great nerve-centers are polarized evidently in the same
way--the electro-vital fluid being disposed with its negative ends to
the positive surfaces of the nerve-centers, and its positive or plus
ends to the "vital organs," and especially to the surfaces of the
organism as a whole. There are many other polarizations in the human
system, subordinate to those mentioned above; but I have no room to
speak of them in detail.


ELECTRICAL CLASSIFICATION OF DISEASES.

There are two, and only two, primary classes of disease--those in which
the electro-vital force is abnormally _positive_, and those where it is
preternaturally _negative_. The former class comprises every variety and
phase of hypersthenia, and the latter, every sort and degree of
anæsthesia, or rather, of azoödynamia. _Inflammation_ may be taken as a
general representative of the positive or hypersthenic class--those
forms of disease in which there is too much electro-vitality, or in
which the vital force may be said to be too active. _Paralysis_ may
stand as a general representative of the negative or azoödynamic
class--those in which the vital action is too low or weak.


PHILOSOPHY OF DISEASE AND CURE.

In every part of the animal economy, polar derangements in the
electro-vital principle are liable to occur. These derangements are
always the real foundation of disease. They may be occasioned by a
thousand agencies, which act as the _procuring_ cause of disease; but
the _proximate_ and _sustaining_ cause is polar disturbance--derangement
of the electro-vital poles. Parts which, in health, are relatively
positive, may become negative, and that which should be negative may
become positive. Or again, a part, naturally positive to its
counterpart, may become _excessively_ so, and that which should be
relatively negative may become negative to a _morbid degree_.

To correct these polar disturbances and restore the normal polarization,
is to _cure the complaint_. This is, under the treatment of most
physicians, often accomplished by the use of medicines, and by
mechanical or surgical agency. We accomplish it by the proper
application of the _poles_ of our electrical apparatus. In cases where
there is _virus_ to be destroyed, or _abnormal growths_ to be removed,
we also secure the _chemical_ action appropriate to these ends by the
proper _selection of our current_. It often happens that _mechanical_ or
_surgical action_ is demanded. In many _such_ cases, we do not profess
to secure normal polarization and consequent cure by means of
electricity alone. Yet, in a large proportion of the cases where
mechanical or surgical agency is usually thought to be indispensable,
we are able to cure by electric action only, since by it we can exert
very considerable mechanical force at will; and can also, in many
instances, attain much more happily, by means of electricity, the very
ends or the _best_ ends which would be aimed at by skillful surgical
operations.




PRINCIPLES OF PRACTICE.


POLAR ANTAGONISM.

_When the conducting cords are of equal length_, as commonly they should
be, each of the two poles or electrodes produces a polar effect in the
patient directly the opposite of that produced by the other. Also, _at
any point_ in either half of the circuit, if it be within the person of
the patient, the polar effect produced is the very reverse of what is
experienced at the corresponding point in the other half of the circuit.
And further; each half of the current produces a polar effect, at every
point in the parts of the patient through which it runs, the same in
_kind_, though differing in _degree_, as is produced immediately under
the pole or electrode with which it is connected; yet an effect
antagonistic to that which is produced under the other pole, or at the
corresponding point in the other half of the current.


IMPORTANCE OF NOTING THE CENTRAL POINT.

From the above observations, it will be plain that, when we wish to
bring a diseased organ under the influence of the _positive_ pole, we
must carefully place our electrodes so that none of the organ, or none
of the diseased part of it, shall appear on the positive[B] side of the
_central point of the circuit_; it being understood that the current
moves as nearly in direct lines as the best conducting medium will
admit. Or again, if it be desired to bring a diseased organ, or any
extended part of it, under the influence of the _negative_ pole, we must
first calculate in placing our electrodes about where the central point
will come, and then so apply them that no part of the lesion or disease
shall appear on the negative[B] side of the central point; otherwise so
much of it as lies on that side will come under the force of the wrong
pole, and thus be affected in a way the opposite of what was intended.
The characteristic influence of each pole is felt throughout its own
half of the circuit.


DISTINCTIVE USE OF EACH POLE.

I have said that every disease is preternaturally either positive or
negative. I have further said, that the application of either pole to a
given part produces an effect the opposite of what would be produced in
the same part by a reversal of the poles. The way is now prepared for me
to announce THE CENTRAL PRINCIPLE of our system of practice. The reader
will bear in mind that all acutely inflammatory or hypersthenic
affections are electrically _positive_ in excess--having too much vital
action--being _overcharged_ with the electro-vital fluid; and that all
paralytic diseases, or those of a sluggish, azoödynamic character, are
electrically _negative_--having too little electro-vital fluid--too
little vital action. It is a universal law of electricity that positives
repel each other, and that negatives repel each other; but that
positives and negatives attract each other. This is a principle of
electric action everywhere known, where any thing is known on the
subject. _We appropriate it practically to therapeutic purposes._
Therefore, when I wish to repress or repel inflammation, which is
electrically positive in excess, I put the positive pole to it; or, at
least, I bring it under that half of the circuit with which the positive
pole is connected, and as near to the pole or electrode as possible. And
because two positives repel each other, and also because the direction
of the current is always from the positive to the negative pole,
carrying the electro-vital fluid with it, either I must withdraw my
positive electrode, or that excess of electro-vitality in the diseased
part which makes it morbidly positive, and thus produces inflammation,
must give way. I _will not_ withdraw my positive pole, and therefore the
positive inflammation _must_ retreat and be dispersed. In treating this
case, I will place my _negative_ electrode either on some healthy part,
or, if there be perceptible anywhere in the system a morbidly negative
part, as is often the case, I will place my negative pole there. For
example: if I am treating for _nephritis_--inflammation of the
kidneys--when I do not perceive any part to be abnormally negative, I
manipulate with my positive electrode over the inflamed kidney, having
the negative electrode placed at the coccyx--lowest part of the spine.
My positive pole repels the positive inflammation from the kidney; or,
rather, repels from it that excess of electro-vital fluid which makes it
morbidly positive and induces the inflammation, while the negative pole
attracts the same towards the coccyx. On its way, it becomes more or
less diverted to adjacent nerves; or, if gathered in the healthy part,
under the negative pole, it is immediately dispersed by the normal
circulation as soon as the electrode is removed. But if I find _a spinal
irritation_, say in one or more of the cervical or dorsal vertebræ, and,
at the same time, a stomach affected with _chronic dyspepsia_,
accompanied with _constipation of bowels_, I will work over the inflamed
or irritated spine with my positive pole, because I know from its
irritation that there is an excess of electro-vital fluid in the part,
making it improperly positive; and, with my negative electrode, I will,
at the same time, treat over the stomach, bowels and liver; because I
know, from the _inaction_ of these organs, that there is a lack of the
vital force--a deficiency of the electro-vital fluid--there, and that,
consequently, they are too negative. Adopting this method, I accomplish
two objects in the same treatment. _First_, my positive pole, applied to
the spinal disease, repels from it the excess of electro-vital fluid
which was there doing mischief; and, _second_, my negative pole attracts
the same, along with the artificial or inorganic electricity, to the
stomach and bowels where it is wanted, since negatives attract
positives. Or I wish to rouse to action a _torpid liver_. Now, if I find
_inflammation, or enlargement_ of the spleen, as is commonly the case in
_chills and fever_, I place the positive pole upon the spleen, at the
left side, just below the false ribs, and the negative pole on the
liver, which is best reached immediately below the ribs on the right
side, and around backward and upward as far as to the spine. The
positive pole repels the excess of electro-vitality away from the
positive spleen, and so reduces the improper excitement there, while at
the same time it rushes, by attraction, to the negative liver, under the
negative pole, and makes that more positive, and so more active. In this
way, I change the polarization of the parts, and, in so doing, remove
the sustaining cause of the disease. You here perceive that I treat a
positive part with the positive pole, so as to repel the excess of
electro-vitality from it, and thus repress its excessive action; and
that I treat a negative part with the negative pole, so as to attract
the electro-vital fluid, along with the current from the machine, to it
from under the positive pole, and thus increase the action by making it
more positive.

But suppose I do what nearly all of the doctors do, who use electricity
with any regard to polarity; that is, if treating acutely inflamed eyes,
for example, apply the negative pole to the eyes, thinking thereby to
make them more negative; or, if treating amaurosis, apply the positive
electrode to the affected parts, thinking thereby to make them more
positive! I say, suppose I do this same thing, do you not see that, by
the fixed laws of electricity, I necessarily increase the evils that I
would remedy? Do you not see that, by placing my negative pole on the
already overcharged and inflamed eyes, I attract to them yet more of the
electro-vital fluid, and so increase their positive condition and
aggravate the inflammation? and that, by presenting my positive
electrode to the eyes already more or less paralyzed, I repel what
little electro-vitality there was there, and so make the nerves all the
more negative and dead? And yet, I repeat it, this is precisely the plan
of almost all the men who use electricity in therapeutic practice with
any regard to its polarization. They treat a positive disease--rather, a
_hypersthenic_ disease, (for they seldom know anything of the
_electrical_ states of diseased parts), with the negative pole, and an
azoödynamic disease, which is negative, with the positive pole!--all
directly antagonistic to science and success.

But the great mass of physicians, who attempt to treat electrically,
have no knowledge either of the electrical condition of the various
forms of disease, nor of the distinctive and peculiar effects produced
by either pole of the artificial current; and consequently all their use
of this powerful agent is entirely empirical--merely haphazard
experiment.

I may have raised an inquiry a few moments since which ought to be
answered. I said, in effect, that in treating a positive disease, such,
for instance, as acute, inflammatory rheumatism or acute pleurisy, I
would use the positive pole on the inflamed parts, and the negative pole
on either some healthy part or on a morbidly negative part, if I could
find such. So, too, I said I would treat a negative disease, such as
amaurosis or torpidity of liver, with the negative pole, placing the
positive pole on either some healthy or morbidly positive part. The
query may have arisen, "By placing the one pole or the other on a
healthy part, do you not derange the normal electro-vital action there,
disturbing its healthy polarization?" I answer, yes, for the time being,
I do; and if this disturbing force were to be steadily continued for any
considerable time, the disturbance would produce manifest and serious
disease. But then, a pole or electrode, placed on a healthy part, we
generally move, or ought to move, more or less, every few moments, which
prevents the establishment of any perverted action in the part; and the
moment the electrode is withdrawn, the normal polarization and healthy
action are resumed.


USE OF THE LONG CORD.

It is often desirable to bring the entire parts of the patient, through
which the current is made to pass, under one and the same kind of
influence--such as shall make them all more positive or more negative.
Especially is this true in many cases where we wish to run through but a
_short_ space. For this purpose, there is frequent advantage in using
conducting cords of unequal length. As my views on this point have been
disputed in certain quarters, I will endeavor here to place them in such
a light that they shall not be rejected for want of being _rightly
understood_.

I have previously remarked[C] that, for practical purposes, it is
sufficiently exact to consider the _magnetic circuit_ as extending only
from the _positive post_, around through the conducting cords, the
electrodes, and the person of the patient, to the _negative post_. We
will so regard it at present. This circuit may be viewed as one
continuous magnet, made up of several sections or shorter magnets placed
end to end--the positive end of the first to the negative end of the
second, and the positive end of the second to the negative end of the
third. In this arrangement, the negative end of the first section is the
negative pole of the one whole magnet, and the positive end of the third
section is the positive pole of the whole magnet. The minimum quantity
of the magnetism is supposed to be at the negative pole, and the maximum
quantity at the positive pole; and the quantity is supposed to increase,
by _regular graduation_, from the negative to the positive pole. This
being so, the quantity is _the same_ in the positive end of either
section and the negative end of the adjoining section, at their point of
contact.

Now, in practice, the body of the patient, or so much of it as is
embraced between the two electrodes, may be regarded as the _second_
section in this magnet; and the cord connected with the positive post,
together with its electrode attached, may be counted the _first_ and
_most negative_ section; and the cord connected with the negative post,
along with its electrode, may be the _third_ and _most positive_
section. And if this whole magnet be more and more positive, by regular
degrees through all the sections, from its negative to its positive end
or pole, then the nearer any given part of it, say the _second
section_--the patient's person, may be to its positive pole in the
negative post, so much the more _positive_ that section or part will be.
And the nearer such part or section may be to the negative pole in the
positive post, so much the more _negative_ it will be. If the cords be
of equal length, the central point in the circuit or magnet will be in
the second section--the person of the patient, midway between the
electrodes; and that section will be charged with the _mean_ quantity
of the magnetic fluid. The _central point_ will hold _exactly_ the mean
quantity. But if the cord in the _first_ section be _two_ yards long,
and that in the _third_ section be _four_ yards, then section
second--the patient's parts under treatment--will be nearest to the
_negative_ pole in the positive post, and consequently will be charged
with much _less_ than the mean quantity of the fluid, and will therefore
be made so much the more _negative_. If, on the other hand, the cord in
section _first_ be _four_ yards in length, and that in section _third_
be only _two_ yards, then the patient's body--section second--will be
brought nearest to the _positive_ pole in the negative post, and of
course be charged with much _more_ than the mean quantity of the
magnetic fluid, and hence will be made so much the more _positive_.

It is true that the positive and negative poles of section second--the
parts of the patient between the electrodes--will not be _reversed_ by
any such changes in the length or relative positions of the conducting
cords; nor is such reversal required in those cases where the use of the
_long cord_ is indicated. The only change of polarization called for in
such cases, is that _all_ the parts through which the current is to
pass should, in greater or less degree, be affected alike, as being made
more positive or more negative. Of course these parts will be so
affected in different degrees--those nearest to the _short_ cord the
_most_; those nearest to the _long_ cord the _least_.

The class of cases where the use of the _long cord_ is more especially
advantageous, comprises those in which it is desirable to run the
current _out_ of the patient at the shortest admissible distance from
the positive electrode. For example, in treating _cynanche tonsillaris_,
(quinsy), if treating with the positive pole in the mouth, we would not
wish to run the current further than to the back of the neck; or, if
treating externally, we would not wish to carry the negative electrode
further from the positive than from side to side. Here the _long cord_,
with the negative electrode, would be a special advantage in subduing
the inflammation. We would not care to _increase_ the inflammatory
action, as we should necessarily do on the positive side of the central
point, by using cords of _equal_ length.

Again, if treating a case of acute _enteritis_--inflammation of the
intestines--we would not wish, while treating the abdomen with the
positive pole, to increase the inflammation in the lower parts, by using
equal cords and placing the negative pole at the sacrum or the coccyx.
Neither would we wish to reduce the strength of the lower limbs by
carrying the negative pole to the feet. Nor, yet again, would we care to
endanger the thoracic viscera by running the current from the abdomen up
to the dorsal or cervical vertebræ. The true way, in such a case, would
be to connect the negative electrode with a _long cord_, and then to run
the current through the inflamed parts, and _out_ somewhere from the
lumbar vertebræ to the coccyx, by treating over the abdomen with the
positive pole, and placing the negative pole on the lower parts of the
spine.

As the cords that accompany the machine from the manufacturer are
usually cut about two yards in length, every practitioner should supply
himself with an extra cord, of at least three yards, to be used as the
_long cord_.


THE INWARD AND THE OUTWARD CURRENT.

I have already said that when the conducting-cords are of equal length,
as for the most part they should be, the central point of the circuit
will be in the person of the patient, about midway between the two
electrodes. Now, since the current always runs from the positive to the
negative pole, and makes its whole circuit in that direction, it will be
readily seen that, from the place on the patient where the positive pole
is applied, inward as far as to the central point, the direction of the
current may properly be said to be _inward_; and that, from the central
point to the place of the negative electrode, where the current comes
out, its direction may be said to be _outward_. When, therefore, a part
is treated with the positive pole, or when the part under treatment
appears anywhere between the positive pole and the central point, it is
not unusual to say, It is treated with the _inward current_. And when a
part is treated with the negative pole, or when it appears between the
central point and the negative pole, it is often spoken of as being
treated with the _outward current_.


MECHANICAL EFFECT OF EACH POLE.

The _mechanical_ effect of the forward end of the current, or that part
of it which is under the negative electrode, is to relax, expand and
weaken; while that of the rear end, under the positive electrode, is to
contract and strengthen. A moving ship disperses the waters at its bow,
but draws them in at its stern. The bullet shot from a gun, in passing
through a plank, leaves the perforation closed where it enters in, but
wide open where it comes out. Thus, in physics, the advance end of a
moving body tends to disperse the element through which it is passing,
while the rear end tends to its contraction. Analogous to this are the
_mechanical_ effects of the different ends of an electrical current in
the living tissue. When, therefore, we wish to relax a muscle that is
unnaturally contracted, as by rheumatism or otherwise, we must bring it
under the forward end--the outward current--the negative pole. If we
desire to contract ligaments or muscles that are abnormally relaxed,
(not _atrophied_), as in prolapsus uteri, we must subject them to the
rear end of the current--the positive pole. Parts that are unnaturally
contracted are electrically negative in excess, and need to be made more
positive. And parts that are unhealthily relaxed are too positive, and
should be made more negative. We make a part more positive by applying
to it the negative pole, and more negative by applying to it the
positive pole. Parts _spasmodically_ contracted are acute and positive;
those _permanently_ contracted are chronic and negative.


RELAXED AND ATROPHIED CONDITIONS.

I alluded, above, to a distinction between a _relaxed_ and an
_atrophied_ condition of an organ. There is such a distinction, which
should be carefully observed while treating parts so affected. An
atrophied muscle or organ becomes soft and flabby from lack of
nourishment. But this condition is not properly one of _relaxation_. It
is rather a diminution--a _thinning out_ of atoms, by wasting without
replenishment. Such a condition is always negative, and requires
treatment under the negative pole. On the contrary, relaxed parts, such
as appear in prolapsus uteri, and in the sagging down of the diaphragm,
with the thoracic and abdominal viscera, exhibit no lack of nutrition or
of vital action. Relaxation is a _loosening_ of atoms from each other,
more or less, without loss of aggregate weight; and implies a condition
electrically positive in excess, and calls for treatment with the
positive pole.


GENERAL DIRECTIONS OF THE CURRENT.

_Negative_ affections, as a general rule, are best treated with the
_upward-running_ current--the positive pole being placed at a lower
point than the negative. _Inflammatory_ affections, and other _plus_
conditions, for the most part, should be treated with the down-running
current, keeping the negative pole at a lower point than the positive.
But these rules admit of frequent exceptions, which every practitioner's
experience will soon reveal.

The _downward_ current, running _with_ the downward and outward course
of the nerves, tends to _depletion_ and _weakness_, for the reason that
it _runs off_ from the system the electro-vital fluid. The _upward_
current, on the other hand, running _against_ the nerves, inward towards
their source, feeds the system with fresh electricity, and gives a
_tonic_ effect. Yet for this purpose, it must not be too long continued,
nor of too severe strength, lest it overtask and irritate the
nerve-sheaths.

In treating a _paralyzed_ organ, the current should commonly be run from
a _healthy_ part, whether that require it to be directed downwards or
upwards. For example: In treating a paralyzed foot or leg, the positive
pole should be upon the lower part of the spine--at the coccyx--or even
under the sole of the opposite foot. It is best to alternate between
these positions. So in treating a paralyzed hand or arm, let the current
be run from the upper part of the spine, and frequently also from the
opposite hand. With the _negative_ electrode, treat all over the
paralyzed parts. Yet it is well, in these cases, often to _reverse_ the
direction of the current for a brief period at the close of the
sittings, say one to two minutes, for the purpose of rousing the nervous
susceptibility, and to prevent exhaustion from too continuously running
off the electro-vital fluid.


TREATING WITH ELECTROLYTIC CURRENTS.

For decomposing and carrying off unnatural growths, as fistula, ficus,
glandular enlargements and other tumors, it is often best to dilute the
_electrolytic_ quality of the galvanic current A B with one or both of
the Faradaic currents, as by taking A C or A D instead of A B. But
_malignant_ and _poisonous_ affections, as scirrhus and other varieties
of cancer, and also cases of infectious virus, demand continually, or
with but occasional exceptions, the primary galvanic current A B. ☞In
treating these malignant affections, the current should be run through
as short a distance of _healthy_ tissue as possible, yet so as fairly to
reach the diseased part. And whether this part be brought, for a given
time, under the one pole or the other, the opposite pole should be
attached to the _long cord_, so as to throw the central point of the
circuit, not in the person of the patient, but out on the long cord,
thus bringing the entire organic parts though which the current is
passed on one and the same side of the center, and so, under the ruling
influence of the same pole.

Those diseases which require the chemical or electrolytic currents
should, for the most part, be treated under the negative pole,
particularly those which need the galvanic current A B, and also old
ulcers and _chronic irritation of mucus surfaces_. Glandular
enlargements not of scirrhous character, and excrescent growths not
poisonous, may often be reduced, and perhaps sometimes cured, under the
positive pole. But my own experience, even with these affections, is
that it is better to treat them under the negative pole until they come
to assume, as sometimes they will, an _acute_ state, when the positive
pole may be used with success. If, however, it appears desirable to
produce a _cauterizing_ effect, this must be done by persistent
treatment under the negative pole of a strong A B or A C current, and,
if the disease be external, with a small pointed electrode.


POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE MANIFESTATIONS.

_Acute_ diseases are to be regarded as electrically positive, and
_chronic_ affections as negative. The exceptions are rare, if any at
all. _Malignant cholera_, which is eminently acute, might by some be
considered as an exception. In negative diseases, there is a low degree
of electro-vitality. And it has been remarked by careful observers,
particularly in the Orient, that cholera rages with greatest
destructiveness when no special electric phenomena have for long time
appeared in the atmosphere, and when the artificial electrical apparatus
could be made to yield its sparks only with difficulty, or not at all.
And again, after a thunderstorm, when the electric machine works again
freely, the cholera is also found to abate quickly, and sometimes very
greatly. The inference drawn from these facts has been that the
prevalence of cholera is largely owing to a lack of electricity in the
atmosphere, and consequently to a want of the animal electricity or
electro-vitality in the system of the patient; and thence it might be
concluded that cholera implies a negative condition of the system. I
think there is a fallacy in this reasoning. There appears to me to be an
unwarrantable assumption in confidently attributing the long absence
from the heavens of marked electrical phenomena, and the failure of the
electric machine to give its spark, to an unquestioned deficiency of
atmospheric electricity. Electrical manifestations take place only when
the _plus_ and _minus_ conditions are existing, in relation to each
other, somewhat near, or not very remote; and the visible phenomena
appear when the positive and negative rush together, so as to produce a
polar equilibrium. But suppose a _plus_ condition to exist over a wide
region, then, everything being _overcharged_, the visible phenomena
would be as rare and as difficult of attainment as if all around were
negative. How, then, can it be inferred, with any certainty, from such
data, that there is a _deficiency_ of electricity, rather than an
_excess_ of it?

I have not treated a case of cholera; but my own impression of it is,
that in the first stage, or during the "rice-water" discharges, the
condition of the system is, as in other acute affections, excessively
positive; but that, as the collapse comes on, it rapidly subsides into
an intensely negative state, thus assuming the chief characteristic of a
chronic condition.

In the above remarks, I would not be understood to indicate any doubt
that the prevalence of cholera is often aggravated or mitigated by
peculiar electrical states of the atmosphere. It appears altogether
probable that such may be the fact; and I should presume that electrical
treatment, properly administered, would be found eminently successful in
this fearful malady.

Again, in _chronic rheumatism_ there might, at first view, seem to be
frequent exceptions to the rule last above stated; but the cases alluded
to are not such. It is often the fact, during chronic rheumatism, that
soreness and severe pain are felt, especially under the presentation of
the negative pole, thus showing that these points require to be treated
with the positive pole. But, in such cases, although the general disease
of the system be chronic and negative, these sore and severely painful
points have, for the time, risen in their electro-vital condition, and
so become acute and positive. But when chronic rheumatism is attended
with only a _dull_ pain, and that chiefly under exercise of the parts,
and with little or no increase of pain under an application of the
negative pole of the A D current, medium strength, and with no swelling,
then the pain, the stiffness and the lameness are all marks of the
negative state, and the parts must be treated with the negative pole of
the A D current, _strongly_ at first, but diminishing in force, from
time to time, as the patient becomes relieved.

_Alkaline_ affections--those causing excessive alkaline secretions--are
electrically positive. _Acid_ or _acidulous_ states are negative.


HEALING.

For healing wounds, burns, ulcers, irritation of mucous membranes, and
cutaneous eruptions, the A D current is by far the best. _Recent_
wounds, contusions and burns are electrically positive. _Old_ ulcers and
irritations are generally negative.


DIAGNOSIS.

To make a correct diagnosis, it is needful to bear in mind the following
general principles:

1. Where the organism is in health, the momentary application to the
patient of the negative pole of the double Faradaic current B D--the
best for diagnostic use--in good medium strength,[D] will be directly
felt, yet will cause no pain. Whatever _muscular contractions_ may be
produced for the time, they are harmless, and need not be noticed.
Wherever the electro-vital fluid is in _excess_, producing
hypersthenia--too much vital action--the part is morbidly _positive_;
and, excepting sometimes in the stomach and bowels, the B D current, of
medium force, directed to that part under the negative pole, will
produce _sharp pain_. But where a current of full medium strength can
not be felt under the negative pole, there is a morbidly negative
state--a deficiency of vital action--a condition of at least partial
paralysis--anæsthesia.

2. In a state of health, different persons will have different degrees
of sensibility to the electric current, depending on their varied
nervous susceptibility. Again, the same person will be much less
sensitive to the current when directed to the spine, particularly the
lower part of it, and to the stomach, than when directed to most other
parts. Also, where bones lie near the surface, the periosteum--the
membrane immediately investing the bone--is apt to feel more sensibly
under the electrodes than the muscular parts. But these variations soon
become so familiar to the practitioner that he finds no difficulty in
making the proper allowances for them.

In making an electrical examination, the two following questions present
themselves to be answered: First, whether anywhere, and, if so, where is
there a morbid electrical state in the body of this patient? Second,
what is the electrical condition of that unhealthy part? Is it
_positive_ or _negative_?

These questions being answered, according to the tests just given, the
well-instructed practitioner is prepared to go on and treat the patient
judiciously, and with success, if success be attainable by any form of
medication.

Let me next say, It is best, as a general rule, to make examinations
with the _negative pole_. The reason of this is that, since the current
is always more energetic under the negative than under the positive
pole, it makes itself more sensibly _felt_ there than under the
positive pole. Indeed, it will commonly be felt even to _painfulness_
there, if the part were overcharged and inflamed before. Thus, under the
negative electrode, the current readily detects any active disease. But,
if we be making the examination with the _positive pole_, as we come
upon any point more or less inflamed, the current, quick as lightning,
rushes away from such inflamed part to the part under the stationary
negative pole, carrying with it, for the time being, more or less of
that excess of electro-vital fluid which was in force at the inflamed
point; so that _no pain_, perhaps, is experienced there; and thus the
disease escapes detection.

I am aware that it has been said by some of our practitioners, with, if
I rightly remember, the able discoverer of the grand practical
principles of our system, Prof. C. H. Bolles, at their head, that it is
not quite prudent to use the negative pole in hand for diagnosis, lest
we possibly contract the disease from the patient; since, in that case,
the current runs from the patient to the practitioner. They think it
safer to use the positive pole in hand; so letting the current run from
the practitioner to the patient. There is force in this consideration,
without doubt, where the patient is affected with a poisonous or
malignant disease. And where any thing of this nature is apprehended, I
would never examine with the negative pole in hand. But these cases are
commonly so manifest, or so easily determined by colloquial inquiry,
that examination with the electric current is rarely if ever necessary.
And when the disease is plainly not of a poisonous or infectious nature,
I do not think there is any danger to be apprehended from the cause
stated. I therefore prefer, as a general rule, to examine with the
negative pole; and for the reason given above.

The temperature of the room and the adjustment of apparel should be the
same as for treatment. To prevent improper chilliness, the room ought to
be of such temperature that clothing is not required for bodily
comfort--say, from 70 to 80 degrees, _Fahrenheit_. Seat the patient on a
stool or chair, (a stool is most convenient), and yourself at his side,
with your machine, ready for use, on a table or bench before him, and a
vessel of warm water within easy reach. If the patient be a man we let
his trunk be disrobed, giving free access to the back, chest and
abdomen. If the patient be a woman, let her be covered with a
treating-robe, of which garments the practitioner should keep a supply.
They are made much like a lady's plain nightgown; but large and loose,
so as to serve ladies of any size, and give ample room to work the
electrodes under them. Her skirts should be dropped _below the seat_, so
far that their bands shall lie across her lap.

Let us now suppose the machine to be working. We will take the B D
current. Let it be of good medium strength. We regulate the strength by
the quantity of fluid in the battery, so far as _volume_ is concerned,
and by means of the plunger as respects _intensity_. The electrodes
should be dampened with warm water. Let the _sponge-roll_, [a very thin
expansion of sponge, quilted upon a muslin lining, and enveloping one of
the tin electrodes], be made the positive pole, and be placed under the
coccyx--lowest part of the spine. Then attach the _positive_ cord; that
is, the cord connected with the _negative_ post, to another sponge-roll,
to be held in the operator's right hand; or, what is better, attach it
to a thin, flexible, metallic wristband, (brass is good, but metallic
lace--such as is used in trimming _regalia_, is best), underlaid with
wet muslin, and fastened around the right wrist. This brings the
operator's hand into the circuit as the negative electrode or pole.
Next, pass a moist, warm sponge all over the patient's back. Now, before
the back becomes dry, press the points of two fingers firmly, yet not
uncomfortably, upon the back of the neck at the base of the skull;
thence move gradually downward, by frequent touches of the same firm but
gentle character, keeping one finger on each side of the spinous
processes, until the whole length of the spine has been, in this manner,
passed over. If sharp pain or soreness be felt at any point, _note_ that
point; there is inflamed irritation there. Then return up to the right
or left shoulder, and pass, in like manner, by frequent touches with one
or two fingers, over all parts of the back on that side of the spine,
down to the hips. Then, in the same way, examine the shoulder and back
on the other side of the spine, noting, as before, every point, if there
be any, where soreness and pain appear. After this, pass over the entire
neck, then over the front parts of the thorax and abdomen, down to the
pelvic bones, everywhere watching for soreness and pain. Next, go to the
head. Wet the hair through to the scalp, (because dry hair is a bad
conductor,) and change to a _very soft_ B C current. Then go over all
the head in the same manner as over the neck and trunk. Better _reverse_
the poles on the head, by transposing the cords in the posts, so as to
make the manipulating hand the _positive_ pole. The head is, or ought to
be, extremely sensitive. You need not do this, however, if the negative
pole can be received on the head without discomfort, as it sometimes can
be. Commence on the cerebrum, and then pass to the cerebellum.

If, in the examination of the spine, the practitioner finds it
uncomfortable to bear in his fingers a current of sufficient strength to
be distinctly felt in that part of the patient, he may use the
side-sponge cup on the spine. But let him _never use a current on
another person_ which he does not first apply to his own nerves, so as
to know its intensity. Indeed, if one prefer to use the side-sponge cup
through the whole process, he can do so; although there is advantage in
using the fingers, since, by their concentrated impressions, he is more
sure to detect disease than by the broader face of the sponge cup.

☞Now, wherever there is found _soreness_ or _lancinating pain_ under the
touch, it is sure that the part is preternaturally _positive_--more or
less so, according to the degree of painful irritability. On the other
hand, if there be found a part evincing much _less_ than the usual
sensibility found in the _healthy_ corresponding part of other patients,
it may safely be pronounced torpid or paralytic, more or less. It lacks
sufficient electro-vitality--is improperly _negative_, and needs to be
treated with the negative pole.

It will often happen that diseased action is found in parts where the
patient was entirely unaware of its existence until the practitioner's
fingers or other electrode revealed it. Again, it will sometimes be
found that there is no disease whatever in parts where the patient
supposed disease to be active. But when we find patients to be
especially nervous, it is not always best to tell them immediately just
what our examinations have revealed to us--how severely or how little we
think them diseased. It is sometimes better to humor, more or less, the
patient's own views for a time; lest, by exciting him or her, we make a
difficult case out of one that might have been mastered with comparative
ease. In this matter discretion should guide us.

But let me say farther, what I deeply feel, that neither do I think it
right to _persistently_ conceal from patients, especially those who are
dangerously affected, a knowledge of their true condition. In my
opinion, physicians often unwittingly incur an awful responsibility in
this way, wronging their patients in the most vital and momentous of all
interests--the interests involved in a due preparation for death. I
believe the true way, in every such case, is for the physician himself,
in a kind and soothing manner, to reveal to the patient, little by
little, if need be, what he really thinks, or to ask the patient's
pastor, or some other calm and judicious person to do it for him. I
believe the visits of a discreet and affectionate pastor, or, in the
absence of a pastor, of some other mild and Christian friend, to the
bedside of the sick is, nine times in ten, not only no embarrassment to
the patient's recovery, but positively favorable to it, and ought to be
habitually encouraged, rather than restrained, by medical
practitioners.




PRESCRIPTIONS.


PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

The author wishes to caution the reader not to rely merely on the forms
of treatment here prescribed, but to study thoroughly the principles
taught in the preceding pages, until he shall have mastered them, and
can judge for himself of the correctness of these prescriptions. It
should be remembered, however, that the diseases here considered are
viewed in their _simple_ or _uncomplicated_ states. Where complications
exist, the treatment must be modified according to the judgment of the
practitioner.

In these instructions, it is always to be understood that the treatment
prescribed is with _cords of equal length_, except when the _long cord_
is especially mentioned.

In most of the local diseases here named, particularly those which are
electrically _negative_, it is desirable to supplement the local
treatment prescribed with occasional _general tonic_ treatment, where,
in the judgment of the practitioner, it can be given without detriment
to the local affection.

In all treatments, the electrodes should be moistened with warm water.


GENERAL TONIC TREATMENT.

Take the B D current, (A D is very good), of fair medium strength. Place
the sponge-roll, N. P. [Negative Pole], at the coccyx--lowest point of
spine--and manipulate with side-sponge cup, P. P. [Positive Pole], from
the feet all over the lower limbs to and about the hips; occupying three
or four minutes, or less. Then remove the N. P., substituting for the
sponge-roll the end-sponge cup, and place this upon the spine at the
lower part of the neck. Now manipulate with side-sponge cup, P. P., over
the trunk generally, from the lower to the upper parts; giving special
attention to the spinal column by treating it somewhat more than other
parts. Treat the trunk some five to eight minutes. Next, keeping the N.
P. still upon the back of the neck, treat with P. P. over the hands and
arms, up to and about the shoulders. Treat here two or three minutes.

It has been customary, for the most part, in giving general tonic
treatment, to make the P. P. stationary--placing it successively at the
feet, the coccyx and the hands--and to manipulate above it with the N.
P. But the better way is as directed above. The object is to reinforce
the main nerve-lines and centers with electricity from without. The
nerves branch off from their centers--the brain, the spinal cord, the
ganglions, and the great plexuses--and run, in general, downward and
outward from the trunk lines, in a manner somewhat analogous to the
branches and twigs of an inverted little tree. If we place before us
such a shrub, with the root upward and the branches pointing downwards,
and then draw lines from the lowest point of the lowest twig to the
outer ends of all the branches surrounding the main trunk, we shall see
that our lines, instead of running in the general directions of the
limbs, will, for the most part, run _across_ the twigs. But, if we draw
our lines from the outer extremities of the branches and twigs up to the
root, or near to the source of the trunk, we will find the lines, in the
main, running nearly parallel with the branches. Now, let us substitute
for this inverted tree the nervous system of a man, and remember that
the electric current moves from the positive to the negative pole as
nearly in straight lines as it can where there are good conductors, such
as the nerves and muscles, and it will at once appear that, in treating
the lower limbs, if we place our N. P. at the coccyx, and then
manipulate with P. P. over the feet and legs, our electric lines are
running from all the surface extremities of the nerve ramifications,
wherever the P. P. is moving, directly into and along these fine
ramifications, and, through the larger nerve-branches, up to the
stationary N. P. Or, if we treat the _trunk_ of the body by placing the
N. P. on the spine, near its upper end, and then manipulate with P. P.
from the lower part upward over the back, sides, abdomen and chest, our
current strikes into the surface extremities of the nerves at every
point where the electrode touches, and makes its way upwards, along the
nerve-lines, to the great spinal cord under the N. P.--thus replenishing
with fresh electricity all the ganglions, plexuses and nerve-trunks
along the way. But if P. P. be made stationary at the lower end of the
section under treatment, and we manipulate over the parts with the N.
P., the current strikes from P. P., across the nerve branches and comes
out at their surface extremities wherever the negative electrode
moves--so reaching but indirectly and imperfectly the trunk-lines and
their centers.


COMMON COLDS.

Take the B D Faradaic current--moderate strength. If the affection be
mainly in the head, give,

_1st._ _A face bath._ Let an earthen wash-basin, nearly filled with
tepid water, be placed on a table or chair before the patient, he
holding the sponge-roll [see page 89] N. P. in his hands. Now let him
bury his face in the water as long as he can hold his breath. At the
instant after his face is in the water, drop into the water the tin
electrode P. P. Repeat this process as often as he recovers his breath,
some eight, ten or a dozen times.

_2d._ Place the sponge-roll N. P. in the hands as before, and, making an
electrode P. P. of your own hand, in the manner directed for
_diagnosis_, clasp the nose of the patient between your thumb and
finger, moving them up and down along the sides of the nose, and on the
nose between the eyes, about five minutes.

Repeat the above forms twice or thrice a day.

If there be hoarseness, or cough, or stricture of lungs, or soreness of
chest, place N. P., with _long cord_, upon back of neck, and treat with
P. P. over the front part of neck and breast, and wherever upon the
thorax stricture or soreness appears.

If there be a feverish condition of the system, attended, perhaps, with
pain in the head, place P. P. on the spine, a little below the cranium,
and treat with N. P., _long cord_, all the way down the spine, and over
the entire back, sides, thorax and abdomen. In this case let the current
be rather mild, and be continued for a considerable length of time, with
the view of bringing out perspiration. It is _best_ that the patient
should receive treatment in bed, perfectly protected from any cool air
that might restrain or check perspiration. In these cases, I not
unfrequently treat with a light B D current a full hour, unless
perspiration start freely in shorter time, working over the trunk and
limbs generally. But, while treating over the lower limbs, the P. P.
should be upon the hypogastric flexus, at the "small of the back." Treat
once or twice a day until relief appears.

After the stricture and soreness of the lungs are removed, and the
general febrile action is suppressed, it is desirable to give a _general
tonic treatment_.


CEPHALAGIA. (_Headache._)

1. "_Nervous headache._" Take the B D current--moderate force. Place P.
P. on back of neck, just below the brain, and manipulate with
side-sponge cup, N. P., all the way down the spine and over the back.

It may often be necessary to apply the P. P. directly to the suffering
part of the head. In that case, take the soft Faradaic current B C. If
the fluid in the battery cell be fresh, use very little--just enough to
reach well the platina plate and make the machine run. Wet the hair
thoroughly through to the scalp, where the electrode is to be applied.
Seat the patient on N. P., or let him hold it in both his hands, (the
former is the better way), and treat lightly over the affected parts of
the head with P. P. Treat five to ten minutes, as may be required, and
if the pain returns, repeat the treatment. Only a very light current can
be safely applied directly to the brain, and that an _induced_ Faradaic
current.

2. _Sick Headache._ The _procuring_ cause of this distressing disease is
involved in considerable mystery. It seems, however, to be largely
dependent on the secretion and discharge into the duodenum of an
improper quantity of bile, and an irregularity in the peristaltic action
of the upper part of the bowels, particularly of the duodenum, in which
that action more or less is _reversed_, and thereby throws the biliary
fluid up, through the pylorus, into the stomach. After a time, the
stomach becomes nauseated by its accumulation; and the head, through
nervous sympathy, is rendered electrically positive in excess, and thus
is made to ache. Yet there are certain characteristics of the disease
which this view does not satisfactorily explain, and which must remain
unexplained until advancing science shall reveal to us more perfect
light.

When this disease has become habitual and periodic, it is very
obstinate, and requires persistent treatment--often for several months.

Take the B D current, with moderate force. Place the N. P. on the spine,
immediately above the kidneys, and treat with P. P. over the stomach and
the duodenum, (lying transversely just below the stomach), three to
five minutes. Treat in this manner about twice a week.

It may sometimes be necessary to treat the head directly. If so, after
the treatment above prescribed, add that prescribed for the head
directly, in _nervous_ headache, with this difference, viz: instead of
seating the patient on the N. P., or placing the same in his hands, pass
it over the stomach and duodenum, unless the former may be already too
positive. In that case, let the N. P. be at the seat.


DEAFNESS.

_The prognosis_ is very uncertain. This infirmity is often cured by our
system, even when of long standing; and often, again, the treatment
fails. The uncertainty arises from the difficulty in determining the
exact pathological derangement.

Take the A D current, mild force. Introduce the ear electrode as the N.
P. when the disease is of long standing, or as the P. P. when it is of
recent origin. Apply the opposite pole to the back of the neck. Treat
five to eight minutes, once a day for three or four days, and afterwards
three times a week. If no success appears within three weeks, it will
probably be vain to expect it afterwards.


NOISES IN THE HEAD.

Treat the same as for deafness.


INFLAMED EYES.

If the disease be recent and acute, (but not infectious), as from sewing
or reading by lamp light or other irritation, take the C D current, of
moderate force. Treat with the eye-bath, filled with tepid water, having
the eye open in the water. Make the bath the P. P., and place the N. P.
on the spine at the upper dorsal vertebra. Treat each eye three minutes
daily.

If the disease be acute and _infectious_, use the A C current some four
to six times, and then change to A D. Apply the current as directed
above.

If the disease be chronic, or the lids granulated, treat with A D, _very
mild_ current, applying the eye-bath, N. P., to the eyes, and place the
P. P. upon the spine, at the top of the back. Treat each eye three to
five minutes three times a week.

In cases of simple inflammation, (not infectious), and that chiefly or
entirely in the lids, it is often quite as well or better to treat over
the closed lids with the finger, holding the sponge-roll P. P. in the
same hand.


AMAUROSIS. (_Paralysis of the optic nerve._)

Use B D current, moderate force, three or four times, and then change to
C D. Apply the eye-bath, N. P., to the eye, and sponge-cup P. P. upon
one of the upper dorsal vertebræ. Treat three to five minutes on each
eye, three times a week.


STRABISMUS. (_Discordance of the eyes._)

If neither of the _rectus_ muscles have been cut and cicatrized, and if
the deformity be not congenital, it may ordinarily be cured.

Take B D current, with small pointed electrodes. If the eye be turned
_inward_, insert P. P. in the outer angle of the eye, so as to bear upon
the _rectus externus_, and N. P. in the inner angle, so as to bear on
the _rectus internus_. Let the current be of what force the patient can
bear. Withdraw the electrodes frequently, to rest the eye, and then
reapply them. Apply the current in this manner six to ten or twelve
times at a sitting. The eye will soon become inflamed, but the
inflammation will quickly go down. Treat daily, or on alternate days,
as the eye can bear. After treating some ten or twelve times, if the
organ does not come into place let it rest a week, and then resume the
treatment as before.

If the eye be turned _outward_, treat in the same manner as directed
above, except that in this case, the P. P. must be inserted in the
_inner_ and the N. P. in the _outer_ angle.


CATARRH. (_Acute._)

If in the head, treat as prescribed for common colds in the head. If in
the throat, place N. P. somewhere on the dorsal vertebræ, and treat with
P. P.--tongue instrument--in the mouth about five minutes, and then with
end-sponge cup externally upon the affected parts as much longer. Use
the B D current, in good medium strength, twice a day.


CATARRH. (_Chronic._)

If in the head, first give _face-bath_, as in common colds, except with
_reversed poles_ and changing to the A D current, _very mild_ force. If
in the throat or bronchial tubes, place the P. P. of the A D current,
with _long cord_, on the back of the neck or in the mouth, and treat
with N. P., _soft_ current, upon the affected parts, eight or ten
minutes.

Repeat treatment about three times a week.


DIPHTHERIA.

Use the A D current, strong force. Place the N. P., _long cord_, upon
the lower cervical vertebræ, and then treat, _first_, with the _tongue_
instrument, P. P., in the mouth, as far back on the tongue as can be
borne, three to five minutes. _Next_, manipulate with sponge-cup, P. P.,
or the tin electrode filled with sponge, over all the front parts of the
neck and throat, down to the chest, five to eight minutes.

Treat as often as once in two or three hours.


APHONIA. (_Loss of voice._)

This affection requires treatment variously, as it depends on one or
another procuring cause.

If it be the result of recent "cold," inducing acute catarrhal
irritation in the larynx, treat _first_ as for _common cold_, and
_close_ the sitting as follows: Place N. P., _long cord_, of A D
current, in good medium force, upon back of neck or in the mouth, and
treat three to five minutes, twice a day, with P. P., over the front
parts of the air pipe in the neck; mostly over the _larynx_--Adam's
apple.

If it be from paralysis of the larynx, treat with B D current, rather
strong force; placing P. P., _long cord_, on back of neck or in the
mouth, and work with N. P. over the _larynx_, and somewhat over the air
tube of the neck generally. Treat three to five minutes, daily.

If, as is sometimes the case, the difficulty proceeds from a relaxation
of the diaphragm, with general sagging down of the thoracic and
abdominal viscera, so as to draw upon the trachea, then treat the whole
trunk tonically, using the B D current. Place the N. P. low on back of
neck, and treat with P. P. over the abdomen and thorax, and especially
all around the edge of the diaphragm--along the lower line of the false
ribs. Treat with medium strength of current, ten minutes, three times a
week. The aim is to contract all the relaxed parts, so to relieve the
larynx from the strain upon it.


CROUP.

Treat croup, whether membranous or spasmodic, much the same as is
prescribed for diphtheria, only, in the latter part of the form, treat
less.


ASTHMA.

Use the A D current, medium force. Treat with P. P. over the shoulders
and between the scapulæ, and with N. P. in front upon the lungs, heart
and diaphragm. Treat five to ten minutes, daily, for three or four days;
after that, three times a week.


HEPATIZATION OF LUNGS.

Take A D current, pretty strong force. Treat in front, over the lungs,
with P. P., moving N. P., _long cord_, on spine from neck to near the
kidneys; that is, over all the dorsal vertebræ. If the current be
severely painful, moderate it to endurance. Treat six to ten minutes
twice a day.


PNEUMONIA.

Take B D current, forceful as the patient can bear, and treat
briefly--say five to seven minutes, several times a day, until relief is
experienced.

Place N. P., _long cord_, low on back of neck, and move P. P. over all
the upper part of the lungs. Then remove N. P. to the lower dorsal
vertebræ, just above the kidneys, and treat with P. P. over the lower
part of the lungs. If typhoid symptoms attend, follow the above with
placing P. P., medium force, on back of neck, close below the cranium,
and N. P. at coccyx, two or three minutes.


PULMONARY PHTHISIS. (_Consumption._)

After tubercles have been formed _extensively_ in the lungs, and have
_softened down_ over considerable area, carrying down the pulmonary
tissue with them into a state of pus, there is commonly but little hope
of successful treatment. But where they are restricted to comparatively
small extent, and no ulceration exists, they may be decomposed and
absorbed away, or be thrown off in expectoration, and the affected parts
be healed.

If the case be a _recent_ one, and acute fever, combined, perhaps, with
more or less inflammation, appear in the lungs, use the A C current, in
moderate force, yet all the patient can bear without special distress.
Place N. P., _long cord_, upon the upper dorsal vertebræ for treating
the upper part of the lungs, or upon the lower dorsal vertebræ for
treating their lower part. Then pass P. P. over all the affected parts.
Treat in this manner five to eight minutes, daily, until the
_inflammation_ is suppressed, which will be indicated by an abatement of
the extreme sensitiveness and lancinating pain under the electrode.
Then, if _feverish_ action continue high, remove the N. P. to the
coccyx, or to the lower part of the sacrum, taking the B D current,
_mild_ force, with cords of _equal length_, and treat, as before, with
P. P. over the affected parts, and also over the thorax generally, and
along down the spine to the lower dorsal vertebræ. Continue this
treatment ten to fifteen minutes, daily, until the fever is removed, or
nearly so. For this part of the treatment, it is best to use the hand as
the P. electrode, and to diffuse the current over the whole palm of the
hand wherever special soreness appears. It is better, also, that the
patient receive the treatment in bed, secure from any chilliness or
current of air, so as to facilitate perspiration.

If the case be one of long standing, and more or less of _pus_, or _pus_
and _tubercles_, be raised in coughing, take the A D current, with equal
cords and _very_ mild force. Reduce the quantity of battery fluid if
necessary. Now place P. P. at the coccyx and treat with N. P., (the
hand is here much the best), over all the diseased parts. Change
occasionally by removing P. P. to back of neck with _long cord_. The
object is to bring the diseased parts under a very light force of the A
D current, such as is especially healing in old ulcers and chronic
irritation. But if this action should at any time _increase_ fever or
inflammation in the lungs, the poles must be reversed for one or two
treatments. In this stage of the disease, treat ten to twelve or fifteen
minutes, daily, for three or four days, and after that, three times a
week.


NEURALGIA AND RHEUMATISM OF THE HEART.

If _neuralgia_, use B D current; if _rheumatism_, use A D. In either
case, treat the heart with P. P., moderate force, placing N. P. at lower
dorsal or upper lumbar vertebræ. Treat five to eight minutes, daily,
until relief is gained.

_Rheumatism_ of the heart may be distinguished from _neuralgia_ by its
occasioning irregularity in the cardiac contractions, commonly a sense
of soreness and pain under pressure by the hand, and often perceptible
enlargement of the organ, which neuralgia does not, and also by its
pains being more constant--less fitful--than those of neuralgia.


ENLARGEMENT, OR OSSIFICATION OF THE HEART.

Treat these two affections in the same way. Take the A D current,
moderate force. Place N. P. at the coccyx, or alternately there and,
with _long cord_, on the spine opposite to the heart. Manipulate with P.
P. over the heart. Treat five to eight minutes, three times a week.


PALPITATION OF THE HEART.

This is commonly a symptomatic or sympathetic affection--_rarely_
idiopathic--and disappears on cure of the disease from which it
proceeds. It usually denotes nervous weakness, and often general
debility. _General tonic treatment_ is indicated, as far as can be given
without interfering with the proper treatment of any local affections on
which the palpitation depends.


TORPID LIVER.

Take A D or B D current, full medium force. Treat with N. P. over the
liver, at the right side, immediately below the short ribs, and thence
backward and a little upward, as far as to the spine, holding P. P. on
the left side, close under the ribs, for about four to six minutes. Then
remove P. P. to the spine, on back of neck, two or three minutes. Next,
go with the P. P. to coccyx two or three minutes; continuing, as at
first, to manipulate with N. P. over the liver. Let the whole treatment
occupy some eight to twelve minutes. Repeat the sittings about three
times a week.


HEPATITIS. (_Inflammation of Liver._)

Use the B D current, with what force the patient can bear. Place N. P.
at the coccyx, and also somewhat on the trunk, opposite to the
inflammation. Then manipulate with P. P. over the inflamed and sore
part. Treat five to eight minutes, once or twice a day.


ENLARGEMENT OF LIVER.

Take A D current, with medium force. Place N. P., some three to five
minutes, on left side, over the spleen; and then as much longer at the
coccyx. Manipulate with P. P. over the liver. Treat about three times a
week. If the enlargement be recent, it will subside; if of long
standing, its restoration will be slow, and somewhat uncertain.


BILIARY CALCULI. (_Gravel in Liver._)

Take A C current, strong as can be borne; and treat the inflamed and
painful part with P. P., while N. P. is upon the right end of the
duodenum. Treat eight to ten minutes, daily.


INTERMITTENT FEVER. (_Ague and Fever._)

Use the A D current. First, give _general tonic treatment_. (See page
95.) Then close the sitting with a _strong_ current, running from spleen
to liver--P. P. upon spleen, in the left side, just below the ribs, and
N. P. upon liver--best reached in the right side, close under the ribs,
and around backward and a little upward as far as to the spine. The
spleen is morbidly positive, and probably enlarged, while the liver is
too negative. Treat spleen and liver in this transverse manner about
five minutes.

If the chills occur on alternate days, treat on the intervening days; if
every day, treat about two hours before the chill is expected.


NEPHRITIS. (_Inflammation of Kidneys._)

1. _Acute._ If the urinary secretion be _reddish_ and _scant_, with or
without sedimentary deposit, let the inflammation be regarded as
_acute_; and use upon it the B D current of good medium strength, or a
little more, if the patient can bear it. The pain from the current will
probably subside somewhat, and perhaps altogether, under treatment.
Place N. P. at the coccyx, and manipulate over the inflamed and sore
parts with P. P. Treat five to eight minutes, twice a day, if the case
be recent, or once a day, if it be of some weeks standing.

2. _Chronic._ If it be an old case, and attended with a brownish or a
brickdust-like sediment in the urine, it may be considered _chronic_,
and should be treated with a moderate A D current, once in two days.
Place P. P. at the coccyx, and treat with N. P. over the affected
kidneys. There may be no sense of soreness or swelling, but _dull_ pain.
Treat six to ten minutes. But if the inflammation should rise to an
active or acute state, _reverse the poles_.


RENAL CALCULI. (_Gravel in the Kidneys._)

Take the A C current, of considerable force. Place N. P. low upon the
bladder, and treat with P. P. upon the inflamed and painful point five
to eight minutes, once or twice a day. If treating twice a day, continue
not more than five minutes at a time.


DIABETES. (_A Kidney Disease._)

This disease occurs in two forms--_diabetes insipidus_ and _diabetes
mellitus_. In the first named form, the disease is readily cured. In the
latter, it is very formidable, and is rarely, if ever, cured by
medicines; especially when of long standing. In this latter variety of
the disease, the urea is absent from the urine, and in its place is
found more or less of sugar--often large quantities: Dunglison says
2-1/2 oz. in a pint.

The electrical state of the disease, in both of these forms, is negative
in excess.

1. _D. insipidus._ Use the B D current, of moderate force. Place P. P.
at the coccyx or on the upper dorsal vertebra, or on both in
alternation, which is better, and treat over the kidneys with N. P.
five to eight minutes, once a day for three or four days. If this should
fail to cure, (as it seldom will), go on with the same treatment three
times a week.

2. _D. mellitus._ Take the A D current, of _mild_ force. Place P. P. as
in _d. insipidus_, and treat the kidneys with N. P. about five to eight
minutes, three times a week; supplementing this with _general tonic
treatment_, once or twice a week.

_Be patient and persevering._ In bad cases, months will be required to
effect a cure; but persistent effort, as above prescribed, will rarely
if ever fail, unless the vital force is nearly expended.


DYSPEPSIA.

This is one of the most difficult of diseases to control by any of the
ordinary modes of medical practice; and yet, under judicious electrical
treatment, it is one of the surest to yield. The disease assumes various
phases in different persons, and at different times in the same person,
requiring varied treatment.

The pain, after eating, is severe; exhalations of air, apparently from
the inner surfaces of the stomach and bowels, or of gas from their
decomposing contents, are large--often enormous. The stomach is much of
the time acid, and, in some cases, sensibly cold, ejecting often a cold
mucus. The bowels are habitually constipated. The patient is nervous,
irritable, and subject to great depression of spirits. In this stage or
phase of the disease, there is a negative condition of the digestive
apparatus generally. Treat with the A D current, in mild force, and
expect the case to require considerable time. But, since there is no
approach to uniformity among patients, no approximation to definite time
can be stated. Give _general tonic treatment_, (page 95), three times a
week, and close each sitting with local treatment, having P. P. at the
coccyx, and manipulating some five minutes with N. P. over the entire
front parts of the abdomen and thorax, and over the liver.

It is sometimes found, in old cases, that there is no sensible acidity
of stomach; but a _pyrosis_--a burning sensation in the stomach, or a
little above, in what is usually termed "the pit of the stomach." Treat
this about three minutes with the P. P., strong force; moving N. P.,
_long cord_, over the lower dorsal vertebræ.


ACUTE DIARRHŒA.

Take B D current. Place N. P., _long cord_, upon the lumbar vertebræ and
sacrum, moving it often along the spine, from a position opposite to the
umbilicus down to the coccyx; and treat with P. P. over the abdomen, and
more especially wherever pain or sensations of uneasiness appear. In
severe cases, treat several times in a day--once in two to three hours,
if need require, three to five minutes at a time. Use current of full
medium strength, if the patient can bear it.


CHRONIC DIARRHŒA.

Take A D current, of _very mild_ force. Place P. P. at the feet, and
treat with N. P. over the lower limbs _briefly_; then over the bowels
and stomach, both front and rear, some three to five minutes; then pass
up with N. P. over the anterior parts of the chest, two or three
minutes; and, next, place N. P. low on the back of neck, with P. P.
still at feet, two or three minutes. Treat in this manner once daily.

If at any time the bowels should become unusually flatulent, and
evacuations should increase in frequency, change the treatment. Place
N. P. at back of neck, as before, and treat about five minutes with P.
P. (force increased to _moderate_ current) over the abdomen, daily, from
one to three days, as may be necessary. After this, resume treatment as
first above prescribed.


COLIC--_of whatever kind_.

Use A D current, pretty strong force. In severe cases, introduce the
rectum instrument N. P., _long cord_, or in mild cases, place
sponge-roll N. P., _long cord_, at coccyx, and treat with P. P. over all
the abdomen, three to five minutes. It may be repeated, if necessary, in
thirty minutes.


CHOLERA MORBUS.

Keep the patient still as possible on his back. Use A D current, strong
force. Place N. P., _long cord_, at coccyx, and treat with P. P. over
abdomen, five to ten minutes, and repeat, if necessary, in thirty to
sixty minutes. If there be cramps, touch the contracted muscles with the
P. P., for a few moments, without disturbing N. P.


CHOLERA.--(_Malignant._)

As in cholera morbus, keep the patient on his back, still as can be. Use
A D current, _full medium strength_.

In the early stage, or during the "_rice-water_" discharges, and down to
the time of collapse, treat the abdomen and thorax with P. P., having N.
P., _long cord_, on back of neck--not too near the head. After treating
so a few moments--say four to six minutes--remove P. P. to the back, and
pass it along close upon each side of the spinous processes from the
lower lumbar up to about the middle of the dorsal vertebræ. Continue
this about three or four minutes.

If _cramping_ accompany the vomiting and purging, carry the P. P. a part
of the time to the muscles in spasm, leaving N. P. still at the back of
neck, with _long cord_.

Repeat the above processes as often as once an hour until symptoms
improve. Then reduce their frequency as the case will admit of.

_In the state of collapse_, place P. P., _long cord_, at the coccyx, and
manipulate with N. P. over the entire trunk and arms; bestowing a larger
share of treatment along up the spine than elsewhere. Then remove P.
P., _long cord_, to feet, and work with N. P. all over the lower limbs
and hips. Treat in this stage of the disease some six or eight minutes
at a time, and repeat it as the case seems to demand--once in thirty
minutes to once in two, four or six hours, until improvement or death
shall ensue. (See page 81.)


DYSENTERY.

Treat exactly as in _acute diarrhœa_, except that P. P. should be
moved more over the _colon_ and _rectum_ than in diarrhœa.


CONSTIPATION OF BOWELS.

This disease may proceed from either a _negative_ condition--a state of
_atony_ from lack of nutrition, or a _partial paralysis_ of the
bowels--or from a _positive_ condition--a state of _relaxation_ and
consequent weakness of the muscular tissues of the bowels. In either of
these cases, the peristaltic action of the intestines becomes enfeebled,
and constipation ensues.

In either case, use the A D current, of medium force. In the
first-mentioned case, place P. P. at back of neck, or in the mouth with
tongue instrument, and treat with N. P. over liver, stomach and bowels;
or place N. P. at the anus. Treat so five to eight minutes.

In the second-specified case, place N. P. at back of neck or on the
dorsal vertebræ, and treat with P. P. over the bowels five to eight
minutes.

In both cases, repeat the treatment daily until relief is afforded. Or,
if the case be _chronic_, treat daily for three or four days, and, after
that, three times a week. It is well also to give _general tonic
treatment_ as often as once a week. The patient should be urged to
retire and _invite_ an evacuation regularly, about the same hour daily,
whether success attend it or not.


HÆMORRHOIDS. (_Piles._)

If the case be recent, take the B D current; if old, take A D. Place the
patient in a recumbent position, and let the rectum instrument, P. P.,
be introduced, _wet_. Manipulate with N. P. along the spine upon the
dorsal vertebræ. Where there is _prolapsus ani_, the sponge-roll, placed
at the anus, may be used instead of the rectum instrument, particularly
for the first few treatments.


RHEUMATISM. (_Acute Inflammatory._)

First ascertain if the kidneys be morbidly positive--urine scant and too
highly colored. If so, as is commonly the case, begin with the B D
current, good medium force. Place N. P. at the pelvis, and treat over
the kidneys with P. P. some three or four minutes. Let this be the
commencement of every treatment until _this_ difficulty is corrected.

Next, change to A D current. If the disease be located in the hips or
lower limbs, put the feet in warm water with the tin electrode N. P., or
place the sponge-roll N. P. at the soles of the feet, and treat with P.
P. upon and a little above the affected parts; using such force of
current as the patient can bear. The pain will commonly subside under
treatment. If the disease be as low as the ankles or feet, use the _long
cord_ with N. P.

If the shoulders, arms or hands be affected, treat them on the same
principles as are prescribed for the _lower_ limbs; using the _long
cord_ with N. P. when the disease is below the elbows.

When the disease is in the hands or feet, or near to them, if the
shoulders or hips be not involved, it is often necessary, after three
or four treatments as above described, to _reverse the poles_ for a few
moments, giving an ascending current; but still using the _long cord_
with N. P.

If the disease be located anywhere in the trunk, neck or head, treat the
affected part with P. P., placing N. P. on some adjacent part of the
spine, and usually at a point somewhat _lower down_ than the disease.

For acute inflammatory rheumatism, treat once a day. The length of time
for each treatment must depend on the location and extent of the
affected part or parts. In this matter, the practitioner must decide for
himself, or infer from the time prescribed in the treatment of other
inflammatory affections.


RHEUMATISM. (_Chronic._)

Use the A D current _always_ in rheumatic affections. If there be no
visible inflammation or swelling in the diseased parts, approach such
parts in the same manner as in acute inflammatory rheumatism, except
with _reversed poles_. The parts affected require to come under the N.
P. rather than the P. P., and to be treated with considerable force.
There are _apparently_ exceptional cases, referred to on page 83, which
see.

Where joints are being dislocated, treat the parts with N. P., quite
mild force, so long as it can be done without exciting acute
inflammation. If this should arise, it must be repressed with P. P.

Treat chronic rheumatism about three times a week.


DROPSY.

Use the A D current, moderate force. Give _general tonic treatment_;
then place P. P. with the feet, in a vessel of warm water, or place the
sponge-roll P. P. at the soles of the feet, and treat the affected parts
a few minutes with N. P., to quicken the absorbents. If the disease be
in the feet or lower limbs, use _long cord_ with P. P. while treating
them. Next place N. P. upon the lower part of the bladder, or, what is
better, immediately below the pubic articulation, and treat over the
kidneys three to five minutes with P. P. Repeat the treatments about
three times a week.


NEURALGIA.

If the disease be general in the system, moving from place to place, or
causing transient acute pains here and there, give general tonic
treatment, three times a week, for several weeks--perhaps a month or
two, provided the case be an old one. This will invigorate the nervous
system and equalize the electric action. _Relief_ will be afforded soon;
but for the sake of _cure_, the treatment of an old case should be
continued as here directed. If the disease be _local_, use the B D
current, with as much force as the patient can bear without irritating
painfulness. Treat the affected part, or parts, with P. P., placing N.
P., _long cord_, upon some approximate healthy part, at a point a little
lower down than the part in pain. The spine, when convenient, is
commonly the best point for it. In treating the painful part, pass the
electrode more or less also over the nerves adjacent to the one
principally affected. Treat five to eight minutes daily.


SCIATICA.

This is neuralgia in an ischiatic nerve, commonly the _great_ ischiatic.

Use the B D current, strong as the patient can well bear. Place the foot
in warm water with N. P., or place the sponge-roll N. P. at the sole of
the foot, (the former is the best,) and treat with P. P. over the
painful part, and also, more or less, over adjacent parts. It is also
well, in order to prevent too much exhaustion of the limb, to _reverse
the poles_ every third or fourth time; but in so doing, use the _long
cord_ with N. P.


PARALYSIS.

Take the B D current, medium force. If the paralysis be in a lower limb,
place P. P., _long cord_, upon the lower lumbar vertebræ, so as to reach
the hypogastric plexus, and treat with the metallic brush, N. P., five
to eight minutes, over all the affected parts. Then close the sitting
with _reversed poles_, about one to two minutes, having P. P., _long
cord_, at the foot, and manipulating over the parts affected, and
especially over the lumbar vertebræ, with N. P. This is to prevent
depletion by _running off_ the electro-vital fluid too much, and to
force the electric current through the nerves in an upward and inward
tonic-giving direction. If the disease be in an arm or hand, treat it in
a manner analogous to the above; extending the treatment from back of
neck to the affected parts.

In case of _hemiplegia_ or _paraplegia_, run the current from the
healthy _side_ of the spine, (in hemiplegia,) or from a healthy _part_
of the spine, (in paraplegia,) to and through the paralyzed parts, by
placing P. P., _long cord_, on spine, and manipulating with N. P.,
metallic brush commonly, upon the parts paralyzed. Close the treatment
with reversed poles for a moment or two, as in the preceding cases.
_Old_ paralysis requires considerable _time_ to cure it. Treat about
three times a week, occasionally omitting a week.


ERYSIPELAS.

Take the A. D. current, medium force, in all forms of the diseases.

1. When acute, and characterized by high inflammation, with bright,
smooth swelling, and spreading gradually and sometimes rapidly to
surrounding parts; or when small vesicles appear on the inflamed parts,
which dry up in little branlike scales and fall off.

If it be located anywhere upon the face, place N. P., _long cord_, upon
back of neck, and treat the parts affected with P. P. Treat about three
to five minutes at a time, three or four times daily.

If it be located in the arm or hand, place the extremity in tepid water
with N. P., _long cord_, and treat upon or just above the diseased part
with P. P.

If it be in any part of the trunk, (which, in this form, is not so
common,) place N. P., _long cord_, upon some point of the spine as near
the diseased part as may be, but a little lower down, and treat the part
affected with P. P.

In each of these cases, treat briefly, but frequently, as directed
above.

2. When small, blister-like, serous vesicles--_phlyctæna_--appear, and
the inflammation terminates in gangrene; or when there is such an
infiltration of serum as to produce an œdematous condition, place P. P.,
_long cord_, upon some convenient healthy part, (the spinal cord, or
other nerve centre which gives nervous service to the part affected, is
best,) and treat the lesion with N. P., _light force_, five to eight
minutes daily.


ERUPTIVE CUTANEOUS DISEASES.

Take A D current, pretty _vigorous_ force in _acute_ cases; _mild_ in
_chronic_ affections. If the eruption be inflamed and acute, use _long
cord_ with N. P.; if sluggish and chronic, use _long cord_ with P. P.
Move the two electrodes parallel to each other, upon the patient, about
two or three inches apart; and pass them over all the affected surface.
Repeat the treatment daily in acute affections, and three times a week
in chronic cases.


COMMON CRAMP.

Although either the positive or the negative pole, applied to the
healthy muscle, may produce spasmodic contraction, yet the negative pole
contracts much more powerfully than the positive--a fact which shows an
electrically _plus_ condition in the nerves and muscles involved. Yet we
know that cramps are more apt to attend a _low_ condition of general
vitality in the system than the opposite. From several considerations,
which can not be detailed here, I am led to think that cramps are
produced, generally, at least, by a temporary or spasmodic _reaction_ of
the electro-vital force from an improperly negative to an excessively
positive state in the parts affected.

My practice is, when the spasm is on, to treat the parts in cramp by
momentary touches rapidly repeated, with the P. P. of the B D or A D
current, good medium force, placing N. P. at the back of neck, if the
disturbance be in an arm; or at the coccyx, if it be in a leg or in the
abdomen or chest.

In treating parts subject to cramp while the spasm is _not_ on, give
them, along with other parts of the system, _general tonic treatment_,
as directed on page 95. This elevates and equalizes the electro-vital
action, and relieves the difficulty.


TRISMUS. (_Lockjaw._)

For traumatic trismus, use the B D current, of vigorous force. Let the
wound be kept open and clear, except that soothing emollients may be
applied. Place N. P. at the coccyx, or near it on the spine; and then
treat, by firm but momentary touches of the P. P., over the lower
maxillary--_pterygoid_--muscles and nerves; indeed, over the _entire_
lower jaw and its articulations. Treat five to ten minutes, if
necessary, or until the jaws relax.


TETANUS.

This is substantially the same thing as _trismus_, except that it
extends to other parts, and often to nearly all the muscles of the
organism. Under ordinary treatment, it is almost invariably fatal. I am
not aware that it has been sufficiently submitted to _our_ electrical
system to determine satisfactorily the question of its amenability to
it. Yet I see no reason to doubt that, in the most of cases, when taken
within reasonable time, it may be cured.

Use the B D current, in pretty strong force. Place the N. P., _long
cord_, at the feet, and treat with P. P. from the medulla oblongata, or
from the upper cervical vertebra, all along down the spine, for several
minutes--say, three to five minutes. Then pass with P. P. over the whole
trunk and limbs. Continue to treat until relaxation takes place, or all
hope of relief departs.


CANCERS.

Cancers take on a variety of forms, distinguished by different names;
but since they all require substantially the same electrical treatment,
it is unnecessary here to describe them.

Begin with the A B current in pretty full volume. [The _volume_ of the
current is increased by increasing the quantity of battery fluid.] Use
this for several weeks, and then change to the A D current. Treat
daily. The time for each treatment must be determined by the judgment of
the practitioner; varying it according to the peculiar character and
location of the disease.

If the cancer be on the face, or on any part of the head or breast,
place P. P. on back of neck; but if it be in the stomach, uterus, or any
of the abdominal viscera, place P. P. on spine, a little higher than the
affected part. Then treat the disease with N. P., _long cord_, so as to
run the current immediately _out_ from the lesion, and yet bring the
latter on the _negative_ side[E] of the central point in the circuit;
that is, within the negative half of the whole circuit.


ASPHYXIA. (_Suspended Animation._)

Use B D current, pretty strong force. Place P. P. at back of
neck--second or third cervical vertebra, and treat with N. P., over all
the chest and along the lower margin of the ribs, so as to excite the
pectoral muscles, lungs and diaphragm.


RECENT WOUNDS, CONTUSIONS AND BURNS.

Use the B D current, strong force as can be borne. Bring the lesion
under P. P., and place N. P. at discretion, in view of the location of
the injury. Treat five to eight minutes, twice or thrice on the same
day. Unless the injury is very severe, no further treatment will be
required. Healing will take place with little or no soreness or
swelling. In severe cases, repeat the treatment whenever inflammation
gets too high. If _fungus_--"proud flesh"--should appear, treat that
with a small-pointed electrode, N. P., placing P. P. on a healthy part,
not remote, using A C current, in pretty strong force.


OLD ULCERS.

Take the A D current. If _torpid_, treat with mild force. Treat the sore
with N. P., while P. P. is held upon some healthy part, and usually at a
higher point. Treat five to ten minutes, three or four times a week. If
_high inflammation_ be present, this must first be reduced by applying
P. P., in pretty strong force, with N. P., on a healthy part not far
away. For this purpose, treat some five to eight minutes daily. Then,
when the inflammation is sufficiently subdued, treat as when _torpid_,
with mild force and less frequently. It is best, when it can be done, to
place the affected part in warm water along with N. P.; bringing the
ulcer immediately above the surface of the water.


HEMORRHAGE.

Take B D current, strong force. Apply P. P. to the open blood-vessel, or
as near to it as possible; placing N. P., _long cord_, to some adjacent
part, and, as nearly as practicable, in the direction from which the
blood chiefly comes.


CHLOROSIS. (_Green Sickness._)

This is a disease mostly or entirely peculiar to young women who have
not menstruated, and disappears on the establishment of the monthly
periods.

Take the A D current. If any symptoms exist of an effort of nature to
bring on the menses, note the _time_ of them, and regard it, in the
treatment, as the proper monthly period. If no symptoms of such a period
are perceptible, the practitioner must _fix_ upon a time for it, and
regard it accordingly. About four to six days before the periodic time,
commence to treat as follows, using a _moderate force_: Insert the
uterine electrode, N. P., wet in warm water, per vagina, until it meets
the uterus; and manipulate with P. P. over the dorsal and first two
lumbar vertebræ, and more or less over the back on both sides of the
spinal column, some six or eight minutes daily, down to the period fixed
upon for the catamenia to appear. If they do not start, let the patient
rest for some four or five days, and then begin with _general tonic
treatment_. (See page 95.) Continue this, three times a week, until
within a little less than a week of the _periodic_ time, when the same
treatment with the uterine electrode as was at first employed should be
resumed, and again be continued to the time assigned for the menses. If
no success should appear, return, after a few days, to _general tonic
treatment_ as before. Let these forms of treatment be prosecuted until
success crowns the effort. Ordinarily, not many months--perhaps not more
than one or two months--will be required; especially, if the treatment
be aided, on the part of the patient, by a good degree of moderate
exercise in the open air, and a free, nourishing diet.


AMENORRHŒA. (_Suppressed Menstruation._)

Treat as for _chlorosis_. But if the case be recent--the effect of
taking cold--begin, in the first few sittings, to treat eight or ten
minutes as for common cold; then conclude the sitting by treating, about
as many minutes, in the same manner as prescribed for chlorosis.


DYSMENORRHŒA. (_Painful Menstruation._)

If the disease be occasioned by uterine displacement, obstructing the
_os uteri_, the organ must be restored to its normal position. This can
best be done by mechanical action. But it is most commonly occasioned by
irritation of the mucus membrane lining the interior cavity of the
uterus. Mucus surfaces, under _chronic_ irritation, are electrically
negative. Therefore, in this case, if it be an _old_ one, taking the A D
current, _very mild force_, apply the uterine electrode, N. P., to the
_os uteri_, and treat over the lower dorsal and upper lumbar vertebræ
with P. P., _long cord_. Treat five to eight minutes, three times a
week.

But I should add, that recovery from this infirmity, when occasioned by
uterine irritation, will be much aided by commencing each sitting with
a _general tonic treatment_ (see page 95), and closing with the
treatment just above prescribed.

The last described form of dysmenorrhœa is sometimes attended with
spasmodic contraction of the _os uteri_, thus preventing the catamenial
flow. This may be readily relieved by applying P. P. to uterus, and N.
P. to lower dorsal and upper lumbar vertebræ.


MENORRHAGIA. (_Excessive Menstruation._)

If the menstrual flow is apt to terminate in hemorrhage, it is best to
give _general tonic treatments_, about three times a week, between the
periods; and during the last four or five days before color is expected
to appear, to take the B D current, medium force, and treat the uterus
directly, once a day, with the uterine electrode P. P., while moving N.
P. over the dorsal vertebræ, about five to eight minutes, at the close
of _general tonic treatment_.

If there be no _hemorrhage_, properly, but only too profuse or too
long-continued flow of catamenia, the discharge may commonly be stopped
by one or two treatments, of eight to ten minutes each, with the uterine
electrode, as prescribed above.


PROLAPSUS UTERI. (_Falling of the Womb._)

Take the B D current, of good medium force, and give _general tonic
treatment_ (see page 95), on alternate days, ten minutes, passing
briefly over the several parts. After this, treat five to eight minutes
with uterine electrode, in the manner prescribed for _menorrhagia_. Then
close the sitting by removing the uterine instrument, substituting the
sponge-cup as P. P., and treating with it externally, about five
minutes, over the pelvic region, while N. P. is stationed on the spine,
at the first or second dorsal vertebra.

On the _intervening_ days, treat only with the uterine electrode, as
above prescribed.


LEUCORRHŒA. (_Whites._)

Take A D current, _very mild_ force. Introduce the vaginal electrode, N.
P., until it meets the uterus, and manipulate with P. P. over the dorsal
vertebræ five to eight minutes, three times a week. Once or twice a
week, on the intervening days, give _general tonic treatment_. Omit
treatment altogether, for one or two weeks, once in two to three
months. Considerable time is often required for the cure of old cases.


SPERMATORRHŒA.

The points to be gained are, to reduce the action of the amatorial
organs of the brain and the secretion of the _testes_, and to contract
and strengthen the tissue of the seminal vesicles and the prostrate
gland.

Take the B D current. First, treat the lowest part of the cerebellum, on
both sides of the spinal cord, with a _mild_ force; using P. P. upon
these organs of amativeness, and N. P. on the dorsal vertebræ. Treat so
some three minutes. Next, increase the current to medium force; and,
taking a handled cup or mug, holding a pint to a quart, mostly filled
with tepid water, drop the _penis_ and _testicles_ into it, along with
the tin electrode P. P., and move N. P., _long cord_, over the lumbar
vertebræ. Treat in this manner about five minutes. Then place the P. P.
on the pelvis, close above the penis, and again treat with N. P., _long
cord_, over the small of the back, two or three minutes. Treat about
three times a week.


IMPOTENCE.

Take B D current, moderate force. Treat exactly as in spermatorrhœa,
except with _reversed poles_, using the _long cord_ with P. P. Treat
thrice a week.




FOOTNOTES:

[A] The _process_ of this will probably be explained if another edition
should be called for. It is given in one of the author's Class Lectures.

[B] Study carefully _Polarization of the Circuit_, page 29.

[C] _Polarization of the Circuit_, page 29.

[D] By a current of _good medium strength_, I mean one which, in the
hands, is ordinarily felt rather strongly, yet not sufficiently so to
produce distress.

[E] See _Polarization of the Circuit_. Page 29.




Transcriber's Endnotes:

    The following corrections have been made to the original text:

      Contents & P. 123. "Hœmorrhoids" amended to _Hæmorrhoids_.

      P. xix & P. 36. "faradaism" amended to _faradism_. This, however,
      could be an obscure variant as with Faradaic, Faradic.

      P. 101. "pilorus" amended to _pylorus_.

      P. 130. "œdemetous" amended to _œdematous_.





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