Electricity in its relations to practical medicine / by Moritz Meyer.

  • Meyer, Moritz, 1821-1893.
Date:
1874, ©1869
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Electricity in its relations to practical medicine / by Moritz Meyer. 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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    I hope that the present volume, while it recognizes, on the one hand, the superiority of the constant current in cer- tain directions, on the other it aids the interrupted current to recover its full and well-founded rights, of which it has of late heen deprived by a sort of distinguished and un- merited distrust, and that it advances the true object of therapeutics in securing to the greatest possible number of the afflicted either a radical cure, or, at least, some relief. Then, we must not forget that the interrupted current is to-day the common property of the profession, while the constant current will, perhaps, never come into so general use. At all events, it has thus far comparatively few advo- cates, and these are found only in the larger cities. A retrospective glance at the progress made in electro- therapeutics, especially during the last few years, is in the highest degree encouraging. The possibility of the constant current acting on the brain or spinal marrow—which has been until late so generally doubted—the electrotonic action of the constant current on the living, the galvanic irritation of the sympathetic nerve, etc., have been stricken from the list of hypotheses, and elevated to places among scientific facts. In surgery, the electro-chemical action begins to attract more attention. It is now being used not only in cases of varices and aneurisms, but also in the treatment of strictures, tumors, etc. In regard to obstetrics, we would repeat the wish expressed on a former occasion—that more extended experiments may be made by our honored col- leagues, especially by those who have charge of our public hospitals. Dk. Moritz Meyer. Berlin, March 29, 1868.