On the application of electricity directly to the nerves and muscles by means of acupuncture / by John E. Morgan.

  • Morgan, John Edward, 1829-1892.
Date:
[1879]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the application of electricity directly to the nerves and muscles by means of acupuncture / by John E. Morgan. 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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    atrophied. They are affected by what is termed waxy degeneration and hypertrophy of the interstitial connective tissue. This induces in them extensive cirrhotic changes; but even here, so soon as regenera- tion of the nerves takes place, reparative processes also occur in the muscles, which usually follow a retrograde course. When the hyper- trophy of the connective tissue is far advanced, it may readily be believed that recovery will necessarily be slow and protracted ; still,, even after a true cirrhosis of the muscles, a restoration of the fibres- to their normal size and state is possible. In dealing with cases of paralysis we must constantly bear in mind these extraordinary re- parative changes, which, under favourable conditions, nature herself seems capable of effecting when the powers of the system are in a great measure suspended. When the nutritive processes in certain parts of the body are dormant and cannot fulfil their functions in a healthy manner, some power capable of arousing them into renewed activity is urgently needed. No extraneous influence is so well able to impart fresh impetus to the latent powers of nature as electricity introduced immediately into the tissues by means of acupuncture. Duchenne in his writings strongly insists that in the electric treatment of paralytic diseases the rheopliores should be approximated to each other as closely as possible. In this manner are obtained currents of the greatest density, capable of stimulating the parts to which they are applied to the utmost extent. If, however, a current thus localised is, according to this high authority, so peculiarly valuable, surely that current may be rendered still more concentrated and energetic when needles are thrust subcutaneously into the mus- cular fibres themselves. This is a still more direct method of apply- ing electricity. It can thus penetrate any portion of the muscles, whether voluntary or involuntary : it can thus directly influence the several nerves, whether motor, sensoi-y, vaso-motor, or trophic; both those structures which lie deep and those which lie nearer the integu- ments. Duchenne himself remarks, “ the thicker the muscle the stronger must be the current, for if the current be feeble, the excita- tion of the muscles only takes place in the superficial layers.” If this be so, there is a manifest danger of the more external fibres being over-stimulated ere a sufficiently strong current is employed to influence those which lie further from the surface, for the effect of the current on the underlying muscles is necessarily weakened by its passage through those which are superimposed. Whenever two rheophores are placed over different parts of the body, the current penetrates the epidermis by one of them, diffuses itself through the tissues for a certain distance, and then gradually converges in the direction of the other. By such ramifications much of its density must be dissipated. Nor is this all. Du Bois Raymond and others have shown that there are, both in nerves and muscles, certain definite electric currents. These currents vary in their intensity and direction. From experiments made on the muscles of animals recently killed, it appears that the dii’ection of this current is from