ELECTRICITY.

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Charge: at the same time the ami BC points out the number ofdegrees to which tlife ball B is repelled; so that, by repeated trialsthe number of degrees answering to a given number of grains,may be ascertained, and a table formed from these experiments,by which the electrometer, fig. 20, may be used without that offig. 21,

MEDICAL ELECTRICITY.

Of the Origin, Improvement, and Advantages, ofMedical Electricity.

The application of the electric fluid to medical purposes took itsrise not long after the discovery of the electrical machine. Thefirst idea of its probable utility, in this respect, appears to havearisen from observing the effects produced by it, upon those who,from curiosity, submitted to be electrified; although the fearnatural to persons, who first venture to make such experiments,doubtless led them to magnify these effects, and to ascribe to elec-tricity ail tiiose consequences which probably arose from their ownapprehensions; such as increase of pulsation, heat, perspiration,&c. Mr. Cavallo says, that “ the number of patients electrifiedat that tune is prodigious, and the pretended cures effected by itwere wonderful indeed. Accounts of those miracles performed byelectricity were publishe I in various parts of Europe , togetherwith the method of electrifying the patients; to which were add-ed such theories as, allowance being made for flu infancy of elec-tricity at that time, would seem impossible ever to have been pro-posed to the public. These theories were usually enforced by theaccount of experiments which often proved false upon examina-tion. But at present a much better acquaintance with the scienceof electricity than philosophers had about 30 or 40 years ago, andless faith in the accounts of the generality of those persons, whoseinterest it is to promote (lie use of electricity in medicine, haspointed out the effects of that power upon the human body, in va-rious circumstances, and has shewn how far we may confide in it;establishing upon indisputable facts, that the power of electricity isneither that admirable panacea it was considered by some fanaticaland interested persons, nor so useless an application as others haveasserted ; but that when properly managed, it is a harmless remedy,which sometimes instantaneously removes divers complaints,generally relieves, and often perfectly cures, various disorders,some of which could not be removed by the utmost endeavours ofphysicians and surgeons. When the first rumour occasioned inEurope by the a< counts of many pretended, and of a few realwonders, performed by electricity, had in some measure subsided,many creditable and experienced physicians, who justly consider-ing it as their duty, had undertaken to examine the power of thisnew remedy, published some unsuccessful applications of elec-tricity in divers diseases; in which cases they had not only pre-scribed the electrization, but the operation had been performedeither by themselves or under their inspection. These publicationsgave a new turn to the reputation of medical electricity ; and sincethat time the generality of physicians and surgeons had not theleast regard for its medical application; so that the practitioners ofit were rather considered as fanatics and impostors. However, anattentive examination of this subject, after several trials, and afterovercoming in a great measure the rooted prejudice among phy-sicians, began to est iblish anew the reputation of medical elec-tricity ; and shewed that many applications of electricity, pub-lished in the above-mentioned accounts, had proved unsuccessful,because the operation was not managed properly : so that it hadbeen the abu :e, and not the use, of electricity, that had provedunsuccesviil, and in sonic cases even detrimental; lor at that time,strong shocks and strong sparks were generally administered, whicha long series of experiments and observations has proved to begenerally useless or hurtful. Mr. Lovet, who practised medicalelectricity for a long time was, as tar as I know, the tir.it who pro-tested a-tansi tli - use of strong shucks; and in an essay of his in-tilled “Subld Medium proved,” asserts, the shocks to be usedin medical electricity should be very small; by which treatmenthe hardly ever failed of curing or at least relieving, his patients.One thing, however, appears to be a little remarkable in favour ofelectricity, as i medicine, th. t though it has often fallen into thehands of very unskilful and injudicious persons, who have appliedit at random in all cases, without bemg capable of distinguishing

either the nature of the disorder, or the degree m which it ought tobe administered yet it lias seldom been known to be attended withany bad effects; the patient has generally been relieved, and veryfrequently cured, but the ill consequences have be.n < veil morerare than those of inoculation. Electricity differs Irom ether medi-cal applications in this, that it requires not so much a thoroughknowledge of the distemper, as a peculiar nicety in conducting theoperation. For, however paradoxical this may appear, it is certainthat the electric shock is by no means prejudicial to persons inhealth, and therefore to electrify a sound part of the body alongwith a diseased one, can do no harm. The degree of electrizationmust be regulated rather by the patient’s feelings, than by thespecies of disease, and therefore nosology is not an indispensablynecessary branch of science to the medical electrici n. '1 lure canbe no doubt, however, that medical electricity will have everychance of being best applied, as well as improved by skilli.! phy-sicians or surgeons, whose knowledge ot anatomy, as well as ofnosology, will enable them to direct die electr.cal fluid, to themost proper part of the body, and to p..ss it ih.ough the mostminute vessels, according to the nature of the di-ease and the partof the body affected. And it is to be hoped, that in suen skilfulhands, this useful branch of the science may be brought to perfec-tion, by the discovery of easier and more certain meihods of ap-plying the electric fluid with the best effects, in different diseases.“The superiority of electricity,” says Mr. Cavailo, “over oilierremedies, in many cases, may appear from considering, that medi-cines in general cannot always be confined to a particular part ot thebody, and to let them pass through other parts is often dangerous,for which reason they cannot be used ; besides that after those me-dicines have exerted their required power, they are with greatdifficulty, if at all, separated from the body. But it is of no conse-quence, whether the power of electricity passes through this orthat other part of the body, in order to come at the seat of thedisease; and after having exerted its action, it is instantly dispersed.Hence it appears why electricity has often cured such obstinate dis-orders as have not yielded to any other treatment.”

Of the Apparatus necessary for the Medical Appli-cation of Electricity.

Tlie apparatus for medical electricity, besides the electrical ma-chine, consists o. the following articles: 1. An insulating stoolwith glass feet, or, what is much better, an arm chair, well round-ed at the edges of the wooden parts, and fixed on a large stoolwith glass feet, wlrfeh should be atleast nine orten inches in length ;for the longer the feet are, the better will the insulation be. Theinside part of the back of the chair should move on an hinge, thatit may tie occasionally let down to the stool, and the back ofthe patient lie thus electrified more conveniently ; the arms of thechair should be made longer than ordinary. 2. A Leyden bot-tle with a discharging electrometer. 3. A pair of directors of con-siderable size, with glass handles and wooden points. 4. A largemetallic ball of brass or copper, with a metallic handle to receivethe sparks. The ball should be unscrewed, and the wire long andsharp-pointed to receive the stream of electric fire. 5. A few glasstubes of different bores, some of them with capillary points. 6.Several yards of brass wire or chain; or, which is much better,several lengths of wires with loops at the end: the part of the wirebetween these being covered with some non-conducting substance,as a silk ribbon, &c. The directors are represented on PlateLXIV. fig. 24, the handles being of glass, one of them having aball on its end represented by A ; the other is without the ball,having its wire bent for the conveniency of conducting the electricstream on the eye, &c. Either of the balls may be unscrenedfrom the wires, and the wooden point B screwed in its place, or thepoiieed end of the brass wire used. The glass handles should beheld as far from the brass work as possible. To convey the elec-tric fluid to the ear or throat, glass tubes with sliding brass wiresthrough them should be made use of, such as are represented infig. 23, and 2b. Pig. 27 represents the electric forceps, which isthought by some electricians to lie more convenient ti r giv : ng theshock than the directors. Fig. 9, plate LXII1. is the medic; 1 jar,with an electrometer, above described, that regulates the strengthof the shock, and enables the operator to give asuccesson of themof nearly equal force. In using this medical jar, the ball B mustbe placed in contact with the conductor of the electrical m..cti,„e,

or