Medical electricity / By H. L. Jones ... Being the third edition of Medical Electricity, by W. E. Steavenson, M.D., and H. L. Jones, etc.

  • Steavenson, W. E. (William Edward), 1850-1891.
Date:
1900
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Medical electricity / By H. L. Jones ... Being the third edition of Medical Electricity, by W. E. Steavenson, M.D., and H. L. Jones, etc. 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.

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    modern modes of treatment by the battery (galvanism) and the induction coil (faradism). Both were eminent men ; but the latter especially has left his mark upon modern work in medical electricity. It is to Duchenne** that we owe the principle of applying the currents directly to the affected nerves or muscles. Duchenne also showed that the muscles could be most easily excited at certain points of the surface, which he called points d'election. These points where shown by R. Remak and von Ziemssen to be the places nearest to which the motor nerves enter the muscles. They are now called the motor points. (Chap. VII.). About 1850 great advances were made in our know- ledge of electro-physiology. Du Bois Reymond and Pfliiger demonstrated the electrical phenomena of living nerve and muscle, and established the laws of electro- tonus, the phenomena of the contractions of muscle, and the existence of muscle currents. Remak wrote upon the catalytic effects of the galvanic current, viz , upon the use of continuous currents for the relief of congestions and chronic inflammatory processes, effects which we should now probably speak of as due to an action upon the circulation. Our present modes of application of electricity in medicine have been built upon the investigations of Duchenne, Remak, Brenner, von Ziemssen, Boudet de Paris, Onimus, Erb, De Watteville, D'Arsonval,. and many others of note. 4. Position of electricity in medicine.—It is now one hundred and fifty years since the beginning of Medical Electricity. During the whole of that time it ' De I'electrisation localisee, et son application a la pathologic et a la therapeutique, par courants induits et par courants galvani- ques, interrompus et continus. (Translated in an abridged form for the New Sydenham Society by Dr. G. V. Poore).