The use of electricity in the removal of superfluous hair : and the treatment of various facial blemishes / by George Henry Fox.

Date:
1886
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The use of electricity in the removal of superfluous hair : and the treatment of various facial blemishes / by George Henry Fox. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

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    like a caustic in destroying the cutaneous tissue, but is more efficient in many respects and under our control to a far greater degree than any ordinary caustic which could be used. It is not a true caustic in an etymo- logical sense, for it destroys tissue by chemical action, and not by the generation of heat as in the platinum wire connected with a galvano-caustic battery. And now, before closing, let me say a few words in answer to questions which might otherwise be asked respect- ing the character of the battery employed for the pur- pose of electrolysis, and the number of cells which it is necessary to use. It seems almost superfluous to say that the battery should be of the kind which is known as the galvanic or constant current battery, and yet I have known physicians to attempt the use of electro- lysis with a faradic battery, i. e., one with an inter- rupted current, which is wholly unsuited to the pur- pose. The galvano-caustic battery, though producing a constant current, is constructed for the sole purpose of heating a platinum wire, and is equally unsuited for electrolysis. There are a number of galvanic batteries with different elements, any one of which will answer the purpose of electrolysis, but the ordinary zinc-car- bon battery is the one commonly employed. I have used here in the clinic a chloride of silver battery with cells hermetically sealed, and which is therefore adapted to being carried about. It can be tipped over without any danger of ruining a carpet by spilling the contained fluid, but it is an expensive battery, and