Atmospheric electricity as a remedy : a paper read before the Suffolk District Medical Society, October 28, 1882 / by Alfred C. Garratt.

  • Garratt, Alfred C. (Alfred Charles), 1813?-1891.
Date:
1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Atmospheric electricity as a remedy : a paper read before the Suffolk District Medical Society, October 28, 1882 / by Alfred C. Garratt. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    primary current from a compound battery, and the static from a friction machine; they as remedies were then to me new and unique. From what I there saw in the few selected cases of the marked good effects by the static form, I provided myself also with a first- class static machine, which has been more or less in use in my electrical rooms in this city almost to the present time, it being, no doubt, the most worked, ex- clusively for remedial uses, by a regular physician, of any apparatus of that sort in this country. After all, the friction machine, working only at times, was found to be quite limited in its range of usefulness, because it produced too little for the electric air bath, and we could not increase or accumulate it by Leyden jars for any practical purposes, as I had determined never to use it as a shock. For these and other reasons its occasional good effects could not be reported, nor could the method be recommended to the medical profession. Notwithstanding, in my own experience during the many years, when other treatments were baffled, and only slight applications were required, positive sparks, an inch or two long, could be elicited from the prime conductor, or negative sparks from the rubber end, so making very efficient localized effects. The former suc- ceeded admirably sometimes in cervical, occipital, and facial neuralgias, also for recurring pains along the back or about the thorax and heart. Recent experi- ence with the Holtz machine while the patient is well insulated on the platform chair, and fully charged gen- erally with positive electricity, the negative sparks be- incr thoroughly drawn, proved it a rapid remedy often for chronic muscular, periosteal, or arthritic rheuma- tism, for cramps in the muscles of the limbs, or of the diaphragm or stomach, or cramps anywhere, especially if it is also directed to the cervical and dorsal ^spine, also for some of those obstinate “shoulder cases, lum- bago, and sciatica, for soreness and stiffness in over- worked or strained muscles. Fine positive sparks or electric spray can be directed to the closed eyelids m