A letter to Mr. George Adams on the subject of medical electricity; from Mr. John Birch, surgeon.

  • Birch, John, 1745?-1815.
Date:
1792
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A letter to Mr. George Adams on the subject of medical electricity; from Mr. John Birch, surgeon. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

    17/58
    By Friftion. Intermittent complaints were extremely fre- quent in the years 1780 and 81* infomuch that the failure of the Peruvian bark, which had been confidered as a fpecific in this diforder, was re- marked by many practitioners, and hence the red bark was introduced. Several patients were fubmitted to the expe- riment of electricity, when other means failed of fuccefs, and the refult of repeated experi- ments was remarkable. A young man, aged ?2, had been 6 months afflicted with an ague, which at it’s commence- ment was a tertian, and degenerated into a quartan ague; he had taken the cortex and various other remedies without fucccfs, he was much emaciated; I electrified him w ith fric- tions, directed him to try the bark again, and to come when he expected his next fit. The bark would not flay upon his ffomach, but he came on the day he expected his fit, one hour previous to it’s ufual time. I placed him in the infulated chair, and applying the ball of the glafs-mounted director, connected to the prime conductor by a wire, to the region of the fto- C much.