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

Dropsy. In very many instances, that is, where the oedema, or the ac- cumulation of fluid in the cavities, is not the result of fatal organic disease, both Galvanic and Paradaic currents have proved highly serviceable — in some instances independently, in others as auxiliary. This is rational. We know that the bright arterial blood flows out through the moss-like fringe of minutest arteries into the capillaries, and so on again into the anastomosing fringe of veins in its return back to the heart and lungs. Now, in that intricate pass from the ultimate twigs of arteries into the ulti- mate twigs of veins, the blood appears to yield a portion of its moisture by the process of exudation and imbibition, by which the various tissues are lubricated and nourished. But in some mysterious and intricate instances, cither from the blood being more watery, or poor in iron and salts, or from some change in the state of the tissues, this exuded or imbibed fluid, vnth its debris, docs not get back into the veins, but rather accumulates in the cellular tissue, and this is termed oedema. On the prin- ciples of endosmosis and exosmosis, it is well understood, and, moreover, we can comprehend its relation to the naturally vitalized electro-nervous battery of the organism. In cases of anasarca, particularly of the lower extremities, the smart primary or secondary currents, applied through small, approximating, and as ceaselessly moving electrodes, will usually produce muscle fibre and capillary contractions, which will be followed by warmth and strength, and consequently there will be a disappearance of the dropsical effusion. This is facilitated by a daily wash in warm water, and then the sudden shock produced by a splash of cold water for one moment. Hydrocele. — My experience here has been limited ; but the few cases I have had occasion to treat by electro-therapeutics, have resulted favorably. One case was managed by applying the sponge electrodes, with some pressure, on the surface of the scrotum, using full bearable currents of electro-magnetism, and repeating it every day for one week, when the absorption was