On the application of galvanic electricity to medicine / by Robert Peter.

  • St. Judy, Robert.
Date:
[1836?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the application of galvanic electricity to medicine / by Robert Peter. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    Another interesting fact is, that, according to the anatomi- ical examination of M. Geoffrey Saint Hillaire, of those fishes,, no particular nerve is especially appropriated to the function of developing electricity; for in the Torpedo it is the fifth pair of nerves which supplies the electrical apparatus; in the Gymnotus the nerves of this organ are cerebral in their origin; and in the Silurus those of the eighth pair supply this function. These interesting facts render probable the prophecy of M. Becquere!,* to whom I am indebted for many of the facts of this paper, that if we one day discover that the electrical fluid enters into the phenomena of life, it will be through the study of the singular property possessed by these fishes. An electrical shock has been obtained from a common ani- mal. In 1G86, Cotugno announced, that a student of medicine, while dissecting a living mouse, was much surprised to expe- rience in the hand, an electrical shock, on touching one of the nerves of the animal with his scalpel. (Jour. Encyclop. de Bol- ogne No. 8.) Analogous observations have been made by those who have employed acupuncturation in the removal of diseases. Acupuncturation consists in the introduction, into the body, of slender metallic needles, which are first driven through the skin by smart strokes with a small hammer, and then, by twirling them in the fingers, carried to any required depth. The most important vital organs have been transfixed in this way, with- out accident, and the operation is said to relieve many neural- gic affections, rheumatism, &c. It has been supposed by some that these needles acted by conducting electricity out of the system, and the following case seems to favour the supposition. M. Jules Cloquetj inserted a needle into the thigh of a patient to the depth of one inch; about six minutes afterwards, on touching the body of the needle with a wet finger, he perceiv- ed a slight shock, similar to that produced by the pole of a weak galvanic pile. At every new touch the patient complain- ed of severe prickings and darting pains, proceeding from the *Trai(e Exper. de Elect, et du Magn. T. 3. p. 255. fMorand on Acupuncturation, Translated by F. Bache, ]828, p. 31.