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

more interesting to medical men, is the equally apparent fact, that when such patients are restored after the greatest vigilance and most persevering treatment, they, of all cases, are the most liable to relapse, and that from the least exposure. The knowledge of this may be of value to many, because we may sometimes say to such persons or their friends, " Beware; do not over-tax or fret, but rather try to physically develop, for here is a delicate nervous system." If the individual is already affected with some nervous derangement or disease, then our prognosis must be all the more guarded and prudent; but at the same time advising, if possible, such measures as will secure the attainment of ordinary powers of endurance. 3. Smelling. — The normal action of electricity on the organs of smelling is more that of a simple stimulus, or irritant, than a direct helper in the physiological function. The Schneiderian membrane receives the impression from electricity as if painfully scratched, but without any increased power for smelling. The sentient nerves prevail here, as they do upon the face, only more so. Dr. Ritter appears to have been the only one to experience in his own person, in thts respect, the effects of a very strong electric current. He used a voltaic pile of twenty-five pairs, and the effect on him was terrible. He found the effects different according to the direction of the current. When the current was inverse, then, both at the commencement and while the circuit was closed, there was a sense of acidity, with a loss of the sneez- ing faculty ; but at the cessation of this current, and for a short time after, he perceived an ammoniacal smell, with an increased capability for, and disposition to, sneezing. If the current was reversed, then the reversed results ensued, namely, ammoniacal smell and sneezing on making the current, and as long as it con- tinued ; then the acid taste, and loss of power to sneeze, oc- curred on breaking the circuit, and for a little time after. It is probably familiar to all who use the friction machine that when the disruption discharge is allowed to take place without a spark, as from points, and hence without heat, the oxygen of the air is thus modified, and ozone is evolved. This is sensible to the smell like that of a phosphoric and sulphurous odor, or as