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

ready for a better or deeper hold; and as this is being done, that instant let on the current, grasp the tooth, and pull systemati- cally and carefully in the same order and about as quick as a person can say, one, two, three; so I say, make contact (press the foot) for one, grasp the tooth for two, pull with a waving motion for three. The two former motions can be practised until exact, and without a failure. The latter cannot always be limited. The current seems to mask the pain for about five seconds, as near as I can judge from all my trials. If, then, the current was let on right, and the tooth fang leaves the alveoli and gum before that time is up, it is a success. When the tooth hangs hard, and is slow in yielding, I break the current, slack the pull, and then make it again with a renewed pull. So if the battery cur- rent is too strong, or is irregular, or fails to pass; or if the for- ceps are not perfectly insulated from the operator's hand, as well as the patient's lips or inside of cheek or gum ; or if the current is let on too soon, or, on the other hand, if it is let on too late, i. e. only after the pain is already established from the crowding for- ceps upon the inflamed gum, — in either case, I say, it is neces- sarily a failure. But when all these conditions are complied with, which is only like any other exact but eminently practical art, there is a success that may be called complete in every eight cases out often. I would not include cases of "fang pulling" when there is a protracted process of "getting hold;" but in fair cases, when the adroit operator can readily adjust the beaks of the instruments on " a good hold," the operation is then more like pulling wooden pegs, than like tearing bone from bone. For single tooth extraction, my experience leads me to say, electrici- ty is far preferable to ether. This, although but a partial improvement, yet, like ether- ization, is of American origin. It can be shown that I was experimenting in this line all the fall and winter before Dr. Francis made public his experiments in Philadelphia, being led to it while making trials with different electric currents in sur- gical cutting operations. I found that the periosteum of bones almost every where received a peculiar impression, not exactly