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

This case was put under electro-therapeutic treatment (simply aided by a very weak wash of iodide of zinc) in February of 1859. He remained with me, receiving at first the daily seance, then on alternate days, then three, then two a week,—in all, for four months. At the end of that time his hearing was completely restored, together with a far more healthy tone in and about the ears ; the discharges entirely done ; the perforated tympanum healed! That both drums were perforated was proved by pouring a tea-spoonful of water, tea, or camomile tea in the ear, and it ran into his throat and mouth so readily, that he woixld always tell correctly what had been poured into his ear. This I saw repeatedly done, in the presence of other physicians. It is now more than one year since the recovery, and his correct- ness of hearing is scarcely ecpialled by the best. ,He is now per- fectly well, and is a salesman in a store in Milk Street. Indolent Ulcers. " Indolent ulcers " are very successfully treated by electricity. The first attempt was made in Russia, by Dr. Crussel, of St. Petersburg. He first employed, for this purpose, the direct chemical action of the constant voltaic pair, applied immediately to the patient; and he termed this method of his the "" electro- lytic treatment." More recently it has been extensively employed in the hospital at Cronstadt, since the war, and that with very remarkable success in curing indolent ulcers. The results there obtained show that there is thus produced a rapid growth of healthy granulations and sound cicatrization of otherwise incor- rigible old ulcers. Indeed, this method of treating ulcers has been occasionally put in practice in many nations, from our own country to the East Indies, and as far as can be ascertained, there is but one testimony, and that is, that no other means known in surgery is so capable of modifying the low, morbid vitality, and producing so uniformly a rapid growth of healthy granulations in old and ill-conditioned ulcers as by the continu- ous current of galvanism, and that, for example, from a Hum- boldt battery. It is rapid, and has no detracting contingency.