The conditions of the unipolar stimulation in physiology and therapeutics / by A. de Watteville.

  • Watteville, A. de (Armand), 1846-1925.
Date:
[1879?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The conditions of the unipolar stimulation in physiology and therapeutics / by A. de Watteville. 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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    placed in these positions, all we shall have to do is to divide the diameter x specific resistance of the nerve by the dia- meter x mean specific resistance of the tissues of the thigh. The equation ^ gives us tlie result.. Assuming D1 = 12 and R1 = 5, when D and R are taken at unity this would give us -^th of the current as passing through the nerve at the point, which is a very high estimate. This rough calculation gives us at least as accurate quantitative results as the galvanometric experiments of Burkhardt1 and others, since the unknown relation between the resistance of the piece of nerve included between the needles and that of the galvanometer used can hardly be determined. This is not the place to discuss the arguments adduced by those who uphold the influence of the direction of the currents on the various tissues.2 They cannot escape the objections deduced from the fact of a peripolar direction of the current in the nerve and from the great diffusion of the current in the interpolar region ; it is only within a short radius of each electrode that the density is sufficiently great to produce physiological effects. And though the therapeutical conditions drawn from the electrotonic influence of the poles are not justified, it has yet to be shown that the very weak currents which traverse the tissues at a distance from the electrodes have any curative power, apart from any demonstrable physiological action. This supposition is, of course, within the range of possibility ; but the partisans of direction-influence have hitherto produced no proof that their results do not depend from the relative position of the poles. The discussion of this point will be best deferred to another occasion. If these pages, as I hope, have shaken one of the many Idola Specus of electro-therapeutics, and disposed of some of the loose talk and thought so rife in the literature of thej| subject, my object is fulfilled. 1 “ Die polare Methode,” ‘Deutsches Archiv,’ 1870. 2 Oninnis and Legros, ‘Traite' d’Electricite me'dicale,’ Paris, 1872. LONDON I PRINTED BT WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.