The Sun.
London, England, 1853-06-10 00:00:00

LITERATUR

Application and Effect of Electricity and Galvanism,
&c. By Richard Moore Lawrance, M.D. One
vol. Henry Renshaw.
Already the author of this little volume has,
through the medium of a similar work—but a work
more restricted in its character—acquainted the
world of readers with the efficacy with which
diseases of a rheumatic kind may be treated by the
application of galvanism and electricity. He has
judiciously deemed it advisable to follow up the
result of his curious and interesting researches.
Hence the present valuable, and in every respects
really admirable, production. Scarcely a hundred
pages constitute the volume, but within these hun-
dred pages there is compactly stored up a mass of
valuable information. The writer's purpose—as
implied upon his title-page—is simply to explain
the application and effect of electricity and gal-
vanism in the treatment of cancerous, nervous,
rheumatic, and other affections. Not merely can-
cerous, nervous, and rheumatic, but other affec-
tions in like manner. It will be found, indeed, on
perusal of the four chapters into which the treatise
before us is divided, that Dr. Lawrance insists
strenuously upon the advisability of applying the
electro-galvanic current in cases of impaired diges-
tion, of obstinate constipation, of loss of voice or
aphonia, of deafness, of failing vision or amau-
rosis, of paralysis, of asphyxia, or suspended
animation. From all this it may be conjec-
tured by some of the less credulous that the
writer of the volume, enamoured of his sub-
ject, is (like most medical practitioners with a iiew
discovery) for transforming an excellent remedy in
one or two cases, into an universal recipe or
panacea. At any rate, even the most suspicious must
admit, after an examination of the well-authenti-
cated facts compressed into the disquisition under
review, that the statements advanced by Dr. Law-
ranee are, to say the least of them, most remark-
able, and such as are surely entitled to careful and
deliberate investigation. It must be observed that
our author does not write, from first to last, in any
way superficially. He speaks with authority, as
we have before intimated, and this simply because
he has thoroughly mastered a knowledge of his
subject before putting pen to paper. A rather
less frequent occurrence this than by many, per-
haps may be conjectured. Dr. Lawrance writes
thinkingly. He does more than this--he evidently
desires, from the outset, that his readers may read
thinkingly. To the end that this wish may be the
more effectually realised, he " begins at the begin-
ning," as they say in the story-books. He re-
capitulates all the elementary data connected with
the rise and development of the enthralling
science of the Electrician. Data, for example,
such as—How Tinkles was the first to observe the
electric properties of amber six centuries before
the dawn of Christianity ! How, 300 years after-
wards, it was discovered that tourmaline had the
property of attracting light bodies, the discoverer
being Theophrastus, of Eresos, the most illus-
trious of the disciples of Aristotle ! How, after
being forgotten or disregarded, these " first gleams
of knowledge" were recognised in their true im-
portance only 200 years ago, when Dr. Gilbert, of
Colchester, published his work upon Magnetism !
How, little more than one hundred years ago,
namely, ia 1746, the introduction of the Leyden
jar revealed many of the surprising effects of fric-
tional electricity ! How, from the truths which
were then elicited by experiment, there gradually
grew up the study of Electra-Physiology ! By
these firm and easy steps Dr. Lawrance brings
even those who are least instructed in such matters
to a recognition of the value and interest of the
theme of his disquisition. lie goes further. He
specifies the five different sources of electricity.
I.—Frictional Electricity, or electricity produced
by rubbing, as by the friction of polished glass by
a woollen cloth, shown in the two kinds of elec-
trical machines, the plate machine and the cylin-
drical. ll.—Galvanic or Voltaic Electricity, or
electricity produced by chemical action—a study
first opened up by Professor Galvani, of Bologna,
and ripened into a science by Professor Volta, of
Pavia, to whom electricians are indebted for the first
voltaic-pile. 111. —Electro-Magnetism , or electricity
evolved from certain arrangements of induced mag-
nets, or magneto-electricity produced by permanent
magnets—arrangements first suggested by Professor
Oersted in 1819, and afterwards perfected in 1830
by M. Hipolyte Pixii of Paris, the inventor of the
first magneto-electric machine. IV.—Animal
Electricity, or that electricity which arises from
some peculiar power possessed by certain animals,
such as the gymnotus and the torpedo. V.—
Thermo-Electricity, or electricity arising from dis-
turbances of temperature. The instrument em-
ployed by Dr. Lawrance in the treatment of
disease, an instrument called by its inventors an
Electro-Galvanic Machine, differs from the gene-
rality, says he, "in deriving its electricity from
the battery, the current being sent through one
coil of thick wire, in order to give it sufficient in-
tensity to overcome the resistance which it experi-
ences in passing through the body." With this
powerful instrument he appears to have carried out
a series of extraordinary researches in Electro-
Physiology. It will allay the anxiety of the timor-
ous to find the author acknowledging (p. 24) that
" the therapeutic application of electro-galvanism
requires no less consideration than that of any
other powerful remedy." In obedience to which
lie seems to act systematically with exquisite
caution. As evidence of the manner in which
his application has become systematised, there
are (at pp. 22-24) three tables of diseases,
wherein are numbered, firstly, those in which the
free electricity circulating in the nerves should be
increased ; secondly, those in which it should be,
decreased ; and thirdly, those in which electro-
chemical decomposition should be produced. From
our comments upon the contents of this unam-
bitious but arresting volume, it must be obvious,
we hope, that its argument is regarded by us as
eminently entitled to a scrupulously painstaking
and minute investigation.

On Consumption: its .11f ature, Symptoms, and Treat-
ment. To which was awarded the Fothergillian
Gold Medal of the Medical Society of London.
By Richard Payne Cotton, M.D., Assistant-
Physician to the Hospital for Consumption.
Bvo. Churchill, Princes-street, Soho.
It is not often that we introduce into these
columns notices of works strictly professional in
their character. The subject of consumption, how-
ever, is one of such painful interest to every section
of the great commonwealth of man, that we feel
it a duty in making the present exception.
There are many points in the work before us
demanding the attention of every one. The author
shows how much may be effected in preventing the
accession of this fatal disease—how much may be
done towards checking its early stages ; and how
comparatively little can be done when the malady
has fully established itself. There is a chapter on
" Preventive Treatment," freed from all techni-
calities, in which are given many judicious rules
for meeting the threatenings of the destroyer. The
following extract shows how important these are
considered by the author :—" Every one has it
greatly within his own control, whether ho will
himself enjoy and bequeath to his descendants a
freedom from tuberculous diseases ; or, whether
he will yield himself a sacrifice to a careless or more
culpable disregard of causes which, he might
have known, were at least likely to be its fore-
runners." The grounds on which Dr. Cotton has
based his observations are not merely specula-
tive ; they are fair deductions from a number of
carefully tabulated cases which have fallen under
his own treatment. If we were to single out the
peculiar merit of hig book, it would consist in the
fact that he does not attempt to satisfy his readers
with mere abstract doctrines, but practically ex-
hibits his facts by statistical evidence : he takes, in
fact, 1,000 cases from the out-patients of the on-
sumption Hospital, and shows, by their respective
histories, the mode of origin of the disease, the age
at which we are most liable to its initiation, the
sex, the occupation, the way of living, and many
other points which are concerned in its development.
Dr. Cotton is strongly opposed to the too-pre-
valent custom of expatriating our consumptive
countrymen. He shows how prevalent are the
causes of the disease, and that there is no
favoured spot whose climate is incompati-
ble with its advances. When the disease
is at all advanced in its career, he counsels every
one not to think of leaving their native land,
showing how unnecessary such a course really is,
and how deceptive it is nearly certain to be. At
the same time he advises change of air and scene,
as one of the most effective remedies in the early
stages of the malady.
To the general reader interested in the subject
we commend the book before us. We have found
the work full of information, as authentic, appa-
rently, as it is entertaining and profitable. It
seems to us to place the subject of consumption in
a new light. And although it will not lead us to
believe that the disease is altogether within the
control of the physician, it cannot fail in allowing
that it is, to a considerable extent, preventable,
and that even when fully developed, much may be
effected towards arresting its progress, and alleviat-
ing its most painful symptoms.

THE MANSION-HOUSE.—Among the curiosities exhi-
bited on Wednesday at the Convcrsazione at the Man-
sion-house were eight drawings by Sir Richard Thornhill,
being his original etchings for his paintings in the dome
of St. Paul's Cathedral. These curious and valuable
memorials were presented by Mr. James Anderton to
the City Library.