A Newly Discovered System of Electrical Medication Part 3

As the cords that accompany the machine from the manufacturer are usually cut about two yards in length, every pract.i.tioner should supply himself with an extra cord, of at least three yards, to be used as the _long cord_.

THE INWARD AND THE OUTWARD CURRENT.

I have already said that when the conducting-cords are of equal length, as for the most part they should be, the central point of the circuit will be in the person of the patient, about midway between the two electrodes. Now, since the current always runs from the positive to the negative pole, and makes its whole circuit in that direction, it will be readily seen that, from the place on the patient where the positive pole is applied, inward as far as to the central point, the direction of the current may properly be said to be _inward_; and that, from the central point to the place of the negative electrode, where the current comes out, its direction may be said to be _outward_. When, therefore, a part is treated with the positive pole, or when the part under treatment appears anywhere between the positive pole and the central point, it is not unusual to say, It is treated with the _inward current_. And when a part is treated with the negative pole, or when it appears between the central point and the negative pole, it is often spoken of as being treated with the _outward current_.

MECHANICAL EFFECT OF EACH POLE.

The _mechanical_ effect of the forward end of the current, or that part of it which is under the negative electrode, is to relax, expand and weaken; while that of the rear end, under the positive electrode, is to contract and strengthen. A moving ship disperses the waters at its bow, but draws them in at its stern. The bullet shot from a gun, in pa.s.sing through a plank, leaves the perforation closed where it enters in, but wide open where it comes out. Thus, in physics, the advance end of a moving body tends to disperse the element through which it is pa.s.sing, while the rear end tends to its contraction. a.n.a.logous to this are the _mechanical_ effects of the different ends of an electrical current in the living tissue. When, therefore, we wish to relax a muscle that is unnaturally contracted, as by rheumatism or otherwise, we must bring it under the forward end--the outward current--the negative pole. If we desire to contract ligaments or muscles that are abnormally relaxed, (not _atrophied_), as in prolapsus uteri, we must subject them to the rear end of the current--the positive pole. Parts that are unnaturally contracted are electrically negative in excess, and need to be made more positive. And parts that are unhealthily relaxed are too positive, and should be made more negative. We make a part more positive by applying to it the negative pole, and more negative by applying to it the positive pole. Parts _spasmodically_ contracted are acute and positive; those _permanently_ contracted are chronic and negative.

RELAXED AND ATROPHIED CONDITIONS.

I alluded, above, to a distinction between a _relaxed_ and an _atrophied_ condition of an organ. There is such a distinction, which should be carefully observed while treating parts so affected. An atrophied muscle or organ becomes soft and flabby from lack of nourishment. But this condition is not properly one of _relaxation_. It is rather a diminution--a _thinning out_ of atoms, by wasting without replenishment. Such a condition is always negative, and requires treatment under the negative pole. On the contrary, relaxed parts, such as appear in prolapsus uteri, and in the sagging down of the diaphragm, with the thoracic and abdominal viscera, exhibit no lack of nutrition or of vital action. Relaxation is a _loosening_ of atoms from each other, more or less, without loss of aggregate weight; and implies a condition electrically positive in excess, and calls for treatment with the positive pole.

GENERAL DIRECTIONS OF THE CURRENT.

_Negative_ affections, as a general rule, are best treated with the _upward-running_ current--the positive pole being placed at a lower point than the negative. _Inflammatory_ affections, and other _plus_ conditions, for the most part, should be treated with the down-running current, keeping the negative pole at a lower point than the positive.

But these rules admit of frequent exceptions, which every pract.i.tioner's experience will soon reveal.

The _downward_ current, running _with_ the downward and outward course of the nerves, tends to _depletion_ and _weakness_, for the reason that it _runs off_ from the system the electro-vital fluid. The _upward_ current, on the other hand, running _against_ the nerves, inward towards their source, feeds the system with fresh electricity, and gives a _tonic_ effect. Yet for this purpose, it must not be too long continued, nor of too severe strength, lest it overtask and irritate the nerve-sheaths.

In treating a _paralyzed_ organ, the current should commonly be run from a _healthy_ part, whether that require it to be directed downwards or upwards. For example: In treating a paralyzed foot or leg, the positive pole should be upon the lower part of the spine--at the coccyx--or even under the sole of the opposite foot. It is best to alternate between these positions. So in treating a paralyzed hand or arm, let the current be run from the upper part of the spine, and frequently also from the opposite hand. With the _negative_ electrode, treat all over the paralyzed parts. Yet it is well, in these cases, often to _reverse_ the direction of the current for a brief period at the close of the sittings, say one to two minutes, for the purpose of rousing the nervous susceptibility, and to prevent exhaustion from too continuously running off the electro-vital fluid.

TREATING WITH ELECTROLYTIC CURRENTS.

For decomposing and carrying off unnatural growths, as fistula, ficus, glandular enlargements and other tumors, it is often best to dilute the _electrolytic_ quality of the galvanic current A B with one or both of the Faradaic currents, as by taking A C or A D instead of A B. But _malignant_ and _poisonous_ affections, as scirrhus and other varieties of cancer, and also cases of infectious virus, demand continually, or with but occasional exceptions, the primary galvanic current A B. ?In treating these malignant affections, the current should be run through as short a distance of _healthy_ tissue as possible, yet so as fairly to reach the diseased part. And whether this part be brought, for a given time, under the one pole or the other, the opposite pole should be attached to the _long cord_, so as to throw the central point of the circuit, not in the person of the patient, but out on the long cord, thus bringing the entire organic parts though which the current is pa.s.sed on one and the same side of the center, and so, under the ruling influence of the same pole.

Those diseases which require the chemical or electrolytic currents should, for the most part, be treated under the negative pole, particularly those which need the galvanic current A B, and also old ulcers and _chronic irritation of mucus surfaces_. Glandular enlargements not of scirrhous character, and excrescent growths not poisonous, may often be reduced, and perhaps sometimes cured, under the positive pole. But my own experience, even with these affections, is that it is better to treat them under the negative pole until they come to a.s.sume, as sometimes they will, an _acute_ state, when the positive pole may be used with success. If, however, it appears desirable to produce a _cauterizing_ effect, this must be done by persistent treatment under the negative pole of a strong A B or A C current, and, if the disease be external, with a small pointed electrode.

POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE MANIFESTATIONS.

_Acute_ diseases are to be regarded as electrically positive, and _chronic_ affections as negative. The exceptions are rare, if any at all. _Malignant cholera_, which is eminently acute, might by some be considered as an exception. In negative diseases, there is a low degree of electro-vitality. And it has been remarked by careful observers, particularly in the Orient, that cholera rages with greatest destructiveness when no special electric phenomena have for long time appeared in the atmosphere, and when the artificial electrical apparatus could be made to yield its sparks only with difficulty, or not at all.

And again, after a thunderstorm, when the electric machine works again freely, the cholera is also found to abate quickly, and sometimes very greatly. The inference drawn from these facts has been that the prevalence of cholera is largely owing to a lack of electricity in the atmosphere, and consequently to a want of the animal electricity or electro-vitality in the system of the patient; and thence it might be concluded that cholera implies a negative condition of the system. I think there is a fallacy in this reasoning. There appears to me to be an unwarrantable a.s.sumption in confidently attributing the long absence from the heavens of marked electrical phenomena, and the failure of the electric machine to give its spark, to an unquestioned deficiency of atmospheric electricity. Electrical manifestations take place only when the _plus_ and _minus_ conditions are existing, in relation to each other, somewhat near, or not very remote; and the visible phenomena appear when the positive and negative rush together, so as to produce a polar equilibrium. But suppose a _plus_ condition to exist over a wide region, then, everything being _overcharged_, the visible phenomena would be as rare and as difficult of attainment as if all around were negative. How, then, can it be inferred, with any certainty, from such data, that there is a _deficiency_ of electricity, rather than an _excess_ of it?

I have not treated a case of cholera; but my own impression of it is, that in the first stage, or during the "rice-water" discharges, the condition of the system is, as in other acute affections, excessively positive; but that, as the collapse comes on, it rapidly subsides into an intensely negative state, thus a.s.suming the chief characteristic of a chronic condition.

In the above remarks, I would not be understood to indicate any doubt that the prevalence of cholera is often aggravated or mitigated by peculiar electrical states of the atmosphere. It appears altogether probable that such may be the fact; and I should presume that electrical treatment, properly administered, would be found eminently successful in this fearful malady.

Again, in _chronic rheumatism_ there might, at first view, seem to be frequent exceptions to the rule last above stated; but the cases alluded to are not such. It is often the fact, during chronic rheumatism, that soreness and severe pain are felt, especially under the presentation of the negative pole, thus showing that these points require to be treated with the positive pole. But, in such cases, although the general disease of the system be chronic and negative, these sore and severely painful points have, for the time, risen in their electro-vital condition, and so become acute and positive. But when chronic rheumatism is attended with only a _dull_ pain, and that chiefly under exercise of the parts, and with little or no increase of pain under an application of the negative pole of the A D current, medium strength, and with no swelling, then the pain, the stiffness and the lameness are all marks of the negative state, and the parts must be treated with the negative pole of the A D current, _strongly_ at first, but diminishing in force, from time to time, as the patient becomes relieved.

_Alkaline_ affections--those causing excessive alkaline secretions--are electrically positive. _Acid_ or _acidulous_ states are negative.

HEALING.

For healing wounds, burns, ulcers, irritation of mucous membranes, and cutaneous eruptions, the A D current is by far the best. _Recent_ wounds, contusions and burns are electrically positive. _Old_ ulcers and irritations are generally negative.

DIAGNOSIS.

To make a correct diagnosis, it is needful to bear in mind the following general principles:

1. Where the organism is in health, the momentary application to the patient of the negative pole of the double Faradaic current B D--the best for diagnostic use--in good medium strength,[D] will be directly felt, yet will cause no pain. Whatever _muscular contractions_ may be produced for the time, they are harmless, and need not be noticed.

Wherever the electro-vital fluid is in _excess_, producing hypersthenia--too much vital action--the part is morbidly _positive_; and, excepting sometimes in the stomach and bowels, the B D current, of medium force, directed to that part under the negative pole, will produce _sharp pain_. But where a current of full medium strength can not be felt under the negative pole, there is a morbidly negative state--a deficiency of vital action--a condition of at least partial paralysis--anaesthesia.

2. In a state of health, different persons will have different degrees of sensibility to the electric current, depending on their varied nervous susceptibility. Again, the same person will be much less sensitive to the current when directed to the spine, particularly the lower part of it, and to the stomach, than when directed to most other parts. Also, where bones lie near the surface, the periosteum--the membrane immediately investing the bone--is apt to feel more sensibly under the electrodes than the muscular parts. But these variations soon become so familiar to the pract.i.tioner that he finds no difficulty in making the proper allowances for them.

In making an electrical examination, the two following questions present themselves to be answered: First, whether anywhere, and, if so, where is there a morbid electrical state in the body of this patient? Second, what is the electrical condition of that unhealthy part? Is it _positive_ or _negative_?

These questions being answered, according to the tests just given, the well-instructed pract.i.tioner is prepared to go on and treat the patient judiciously, and with success, if success be attainable by any form of medication.

Let me next say, It is best, as a general rule, to make examinations with the _negative pole_. The reason of this is that, since the current is always more energetic under the negative than under the positive pole, it makes itself more sensibly _felt_ there than under the positive pole. Indeed, it will commonly be felt even to _painfulness_ there, if the part were overcharged and inflamed before. Thus, under the negative electrode, the current readily detects any active disease. But, if we be making the examination with the _positive pole_, as we come upon any point more or less inflamed, the current, quick as lightning, rushes away from such inflamed part to the part under the stationary negative pole, carrying with it, for the time being, more or less of that excess of electro-vital fluid which was in force at the inflamed point; so that _no pain_, perhaps, is experienced there; and thus the disease escapes detection.

I am aware that it has been said by some of our pract.i.tioners, with, if I rightly remember, the able discoverer of the grand practical principles of our system, Prof. C. H. Bolles, at their head, that it is not quite prudent to use the negative pole in hand for diagnosis, lest we possibly contract the disease from the patient; since, in that case, the current runs from the patient to the pract.i.tioner. They think it safer to use the positive pole in hand; so letting the current run from the pract.i.tioner to the patient. There is force in this consideration, without doubt, where the patient is affected with a poisonous or malignant disease. And where any thing of this nature is apprehended, I would never examine with the negative pole in hand. But these cases are commonly so manifest, or so easily determined by colloquial inquiry, that examination with the electric current is rarely if ever necessary.

And when the disease is plainly not of a poisonous or infectious nature, I do not think there is any danger to be apprehended from the cause stated. I therefore prefer, as a general rule, to examine with the negative pole; and for the reason given above.

The temperature of the room and the adjustment of apparel should be the same as for treatment. To prevent improper chilliness, the room ought to be of such temperature that clothing is not required for bodily comfort--say, from 70 to 80 degrees, _Fahrenheit_. Seat the patient on a stool or chair, (a stool is most convenient), and yourself at his side, with your machine, ready for use, on a table or bench before him, and a vessel of warm water within easy reach. If the patient be a man we let his trunk be disrobed, giving free access to the back, chest and abdomen. If the patient be a woman, let her be covered with a treating-robe, of which garments the pract.i.tioner should keep a supply.

They are made much like a lady's plain nightgown; but large and loose, so as to serve ladies of any size, and give ample room to work the electrodes under them. Her skirts should be dropped _below the seat_, so far that their bands shall lie across her lap.

Let us now suppose the machine to be working. We will take the B D current. Let it be of good medium strength. We regulate the strength by the quant.i.ty of fluid in the battery, so far as _volume_ is concerned, and by means of the plunger as respects _intensity_. The electrodes should be dampened with warm water. Let the _sponge-roll_, [a very thin expansion of sponge, quilted upon a muslin lining, and enveloping one of the tin electrodes], be made the positive pole, and be placed under the coccyx--lowest part of the spine. Then attach the _positive_ cord; that is, the cord connected with the _negative_ post, to another sponge-roll, to be held in the operator's right hand; or, what is better, attach it to a thin, flexible, metallic wristband, (bra.s.s is good, but metallic lace--such as is used in tr.i.m.m.i.n.g _regalia_, is best), underlaid with wet muslin, and fastened around the right wrist. This brings the operator's hand into the circuit as the negative electrode or pole.

Next, pa.s.s a moist, warm sponge all over the patient's back. Now, before the back becomes dry, press the points of two fingers firmly, yet not uncomfortably, upon the back of the neck at the base of the skull; thence move gradually downward, by frequent touches of the same firm but gentle character, keeping one finger on each side of the spinous processes, until the whole length of the spine has been, in this manner, pa.s.sed over. If sharp pain or soreness be felt at any point, _note_ that point; there is inflamed irritation there. Then return up to the right or left shoulder, and pa.s.s, in like manner, by frequent touches with one or two fingers, over all parts of the back on that side of the spine, down to the hips. Then, in the same way, examine the shoulder and back on the other side of the spine, noting, as before, every point, if there be any, where soreness and pain appear. After this, pa.s.s over the entire neck, then over the front parts of the thorax and abdomen, down to the pelvic bones, everywhere watching for soreness and pain. Next, go to the head. Wet the hair through to the scalp, (because dry hair is a bad conductor,) and change to a _very soft_ B C current. Then go over all the head in the same manner as over the neck and trunk. Better _reverse_ the poles on the head, by transposing the cords in the posts, so as to make the manipulating hand the _positive_ pole. The head is, or ought to be, extremely sensitive. You need not do this, however, if the negative pole can be received on the head without discomfort, as it sometimes can be. Commence on the cerebrum, and then pa.s.s to the cerebellum.

If, in the examination of the spine, the pract.i.tioner finds it uncomfortable to bear in his fingers a current of sufficient strength to be distinctly felt in that part of the patient, he may use the side-sponge cup on the spine. But let him _never use a current on another person_ which he does not first apply to his own nerves, so as to know its intensity. Indeed, if one prefer to use the side-sponge cup through the whole process, he can do so; although there is advantage in using the fingers, since, by their concentrated impressions, he is more sure to detect disease than by the broader face of the sponge cup.

?Now, wherever there is found _soreness_ or _lancinating pain_ under the touch, it is sure that the part is preternaturally _positive_--more or less so, according to the degree of painful irritability. On the other hand, if there be found a part evincing much _less_ than the usual sensibility found in the _healthy_ corresponding part of other patients, it may safely be p.r.o.nounced torpid or paralytic, more or less. It lacks sufficient electro-vitality--is improperly _negative_, and needs to be treated with the negative pole.

It will often happen that diseased action is found in parts where the patient was entirely unaware of its existence until the pract.i.tioner's fingers or other electrode revealed it. Again, it will sometimes be found that there is no disease whatever in parts where the patient supposed disease to be active. But when we find patients to be especially nervous, it is not always best to tell them immediately just what our examinations have revealed to us--how severely or how little we think them diseased. It is sometimes better to humor, more or less, the patient's own views for a time; lest, by exciting him or her, we make a difficult case out of one that might have been mastered with comparative ease. In this matter discretion should guide us.

But let me say farther, what I deeply feel, that neither do I think it right to _persistently_ conceal from patients, especially those who are dangerously affected, a knowledge of their true condition. In my opinion, physicians often unwittingly incur an awful responsibility in this way, wronging their patients in the most vital and momentous of all interests--the interests involved in a due preparation for death. I believe the true way, in every such case, is for the physician himself, in a kind and soothing manner, to reveal to the patient, little by little, if need be, what he really thinks, or to ask the patient's pastor, or some other calm and judicious person to do it for him. I believe the visits of a discreet and affectionate pastor, or, in the absence of a pastor, of some other mild and Christian friend, to the bedside of the sick is, nine times in ten, not only no embarra.s.sment to the patient's recovery, but positively favorable to it, and ought to be habitually encouraged, rather than restrained, by medical pract.i.tioners.

PRESCRIPTIONS.

PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

The author wishes to caution the reader not to rely merely on the forms of treatment here prescribed, but to study thoroughly the principles taught in the preceding pages, until he shall have mastered them, and can judge for himself of the correctness of these prescriptions. It should be remembered, however, that the diseases here considered are viewed in their _simple_ or _uncomplicated_ states. Where complications exist, the treatment must be modified according to the judgment of the pract.i.tioner.

In these instructions, it is always to be understood that the treatment prescribed is with _cords of equal length_, except when the _long cord_ is especially mentioned.

In most of the local diseases here named, particularly those which are electrically _negative_, it is desirable to supplement the local treatment prescribed with occasional _general tonic_ treatment, where, in the judgment of the pract.i.tioner, it can be given without detriment to the local affection.