Electro-physiology and electro-therapeutics : showing the best methods for the medical uses of electricity / By Alfred C. Garratt.
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regulate the frequency and activity of the seance. All these sensible by-workings and after-workings of the current appear only at and after the first applications, if the physician rightly graduates the strength of the current to the endurance of the case. It is but a prejudice, and without any foundation whatever, to suppose that old people, little children, and extremely feeble per- sons, should not receive this kind of medication. Indeed, in my own judgment, these are the very persons to share in these bless- ings, only it must be adjusted to their endurance, kind of health, or derangement. Dr. Remak says it is his experience that the galvanic current is of the greatest value to aged and infirm per- sons, particularly for prematurely old men and women. He also found it of very peculiar advantage to " atrophic" children. Probably this reference is simply to puny children, or to the marasmus, rickets, and scrofulous diseases of children. The smart, prickling, or painful sensation of the current can, as a general thing, be a standard to guide us, or at least aid us to judge, as to how much the patient can or should bear. Yet we must bear in mind that there are cases, also, (as paralysis pro- ceeding from the spinal marrow,) where the sensitive nerves are so utterly unexcitable that, although the entrance and leaving of the current causes the strongest contractions, the currents are not felt in the least. In such a case we must not proceed trust- ing to this standard, but refer to the number of elements, and to the galvanometer; or, if using induction currents, we must regulate the soft iron within the helix. Methods for ushig Static Electricity. Friction electricity has long been, and still is, valued for arous- ing and increasing- the vital powers where simply sluggish. The author has found it of very marked advantage for some invalids who, after great sickness or calamity, remain in a loiv state of health, and yet present no discoverable reason why they should not get better, only that there is a low tone of the nerves and functions, that cannot be reached by medicines or regimen. For