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

Lister has more recently found that the inhibiting effect through these nerves is produced only -when the strongest currents arc directed to the roots of the splanchnic nerves; while, on the con- trary, if more moderate currents are employed, there are observed accelerated peristaltic motions* Effects of Electricity on Ike Intestines, Uterus, and Secreting Organs. Dr. Ahlini observed, a long time ago, from actual trials, that the alimentary canal responds very remarkably to the voltaic current. Professor Achard, of Berlin, made the trial upon him-, self, and he testifies to the prompt and effectual action of elec- tricity upon the functions ol the bowels. It is an every-day occurrence to hear some patient testify to an unaccountable promptness of the movements of the bowels while taking treat- ments that require daily applications of Faradaic or Galvanic currents along the spine. As confident am I that the relaxed, inflated, and atonic stomach contracts, both in its longitudinal and transverse diameter when the electrodes are moved carefully from position to position, so as to include the stomach between them, in different directions, and so that the current passes through it, or, at least, so that its neighboring sentient nerves may bring about a reflex action on the viscus that tones it up. When examined under the action of the current in a mutilated animal, the movements of the stomach are invariably seen to be from the cardia to the pylorus — i. e., downwards. If we directly Faradaize the salivary glands, we do not obtain a flow of saliva. Professor Claude Bernard has demonstrated f that if we Faradaize the lingual and the auricido-temporal nerves, the chorda tympani, and the posterior parotid branches of the facial nerve, then there is an abundant flow of saliva. This he explains as being the result of the enlarged blood vessels pro- duced by the electricity; that this dilatation of the vessels is * Preliminary Proceedings of the Royal Society, London, Vol. IX., No. 32. t Journal de la Physiologie de l'Homme, Paris, 1858, p. 619.