Electro-physiology and electro-therapeutics : showing the best methods for the medical uses of electricity / By Alfred C. Garratt.

with vinegar, or vinegar and water, by carefully and gradually drawing them through the liquor (in a cup or saucer) from left to right and from right to left, as seen at page 154, until quite sure that every coil is saturated. If but one coil should fail to be wet, the current will not pass, because the metals are there insulated by the dry wood. The battery is now in action, ready for work, and will continue to work as long as the loood in the coils remains ivet, which is about one hour. If required to be used longer, it must be re-dipped in the vinegar. When the work is done, the coils should be washed in clean warm water, (no soap ;) and if still more cleaning is needed, the occa- sional use of an old nail-brush or tooth-brush in the warm, fair water, is all that is required. When the silver and zinc plates are used without the power-coils, and are covered with oiled silk, or so bound on as to retain the perspiration about them, they act perpetually, day and night, if required. This action is in- creased if the skin is wet with salt and water. These plates must be kept clean by using whiting for the silver, and sand- paper or soap and sand for the zinc plate. The contacts or hooks must all be clean and free from grease. Thus in the circle of the combinations of a Garratt's battery there are two sources of electric power: the one is the flesh itself that is between the silver and zinc pair ; the second is the series of power-coils on the opposite side of the circle. These power-coils, moreover, which are made, in some respects, like the links of a Pulvermacher's belt and chain, can be employed without the zinc and silver pair, as for neuralgias, rheumatisms, and wherever sponge electrodes are indicated. But where shocks cr broken currents are indicated, as for atonic debility, local palsy, &c, then, by disconnecting one of the hooks or clasps of the insulated conductor, and still holding it near by, we can make a series of repeated contacts, or retain them at pleasure. This little battery can be worn by the patient during the day or night, at work or during rest. It can be carried in the vest pocket of the physician, and is always ready for action. With it we can effect mild shocks by simply disconnecting the clasp,