Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-03-09
ELECTRICITY IN MEDICINE.


Paper From DR.. Andrew Grnyson, o
Philadelphia, Defending Its Proper Use
Remedial Agency That Should Not b,
Abandoned TO Quacks.
| THERE is great struggle to-day among physi
clans concerning the use of electricity il
the science of medicine. When little wa.
known concerning the mysterious agent which
has given to this period the name of THE Elec
| tric Age" charlatans, calling themselves
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. used it to hum5ug patients
| Now however, when a greater knowledge OF
the electrical current has been gained by scien
fists, Its remedial qualities have become recog
nized and physicians of the highest standing
are contending that its beneficial uses should
not be abandoned to the fraud and the quack.
| A majority, however, of the most conservative
of all professions, stand aghast at the suggested
| innovation. In Philadelphia, naturally the
war RACES most bitterly. That city of great
| medical colleges is famous for narrow-minded
| ethics of its doctors. There the physician who
| cOnsults with the member of another school is
| expelled from his medical society, and the
| same fate befalls him who advertises even a
| change in the location of h1s office or, worse
| than all. who permits the use of his name in a
newspaper interview.
A few Philadelphia physicians of renown,
regardless OF consequences, introduced elec-
trcty in their practice. and the result has been
bitter warfare in the County Medical Society.
The new. progressive school, however, has at
its head SUCH an eminent man as DR.. Roberts
Bartholow, formerly of Cincinnati. He Is the
physician to whom recently was forwarded a
check for $4,000 to pay one visit to Plankinton,
the dying millionaire pork packer, and who re-
turned the sum and refused to make the jour
ney to Milwaukee because he was too busy with
his studies. Were less prominent man at
their head the new school of progressists would
doubtless have been professionally ostracised
ere this. Enthusiasts among them even con-
tend that electricity can, to a large extent,
take the place of the surgeons knife. DR..
Ban tholow's leading follower is DR.. Andrew
Grayson. He is SO fervent in his belief that.
in defiance of conventionalIsnl, he has written
for publication the annexed defense of his
creed:
N reply to The frequently uttered statements
that have been made that electricity is but
an instrument of charlatanism. used by un-
princpled men to mystify and delude. it gives
me great pleasure to write as a progressive
man seeking the truth of the matter. Among
the many remarkable developments of our age
none exceed the adaptations of electricity to
the treatment and cure of disease. Mankind
does not conceive of the manifold benefits that
are being worked out daily among the ills of
humanity; of the cures that are being accom-
plished without pain or danger to the patient
The prejudice against electricity that is found
among the masses also prevails to certain ex-
tent with physicians. But this latter is giving
way to the scientific precision and accuracy
that is evldenclng itself in the manipulation Of
the agent
The mention of electricity to many means
simply shock, pain. Some time in their lives
they have been experimental upon by some
funny man on the corner, or at the county fair
or perhaps by some ignorant charatan pretend
ing to drive out disease by inflicting pain. The
memory of that awful grip and twist of the
muscles that grasp of death, powerless to free
themselves from that rigor mortis has never
LETT them, and that is their idea of electricity.
That iair ht1t tho htea of
physicians who have spent years upon the
study of its proper application are not using it
in that manner. 1t is given with measured ac-
curacy, carefully dosed.
A PHYSICIAN never allows his patient to
guess at the dose of medicine by drinking
it from the bottle, but the graduated medicine
glass gives the dose without any IN istake
And so with electricity. A meter is used that
always measures the dose with care and pre-
cision. And in giving it the physician does not
hurt his patient. In fact he gets his best re-
suits without hurting him. 1t is very import
ant point both to the patient and as to results
not to cause any pain. Gentle methods best
effects, has become an axiom in electricalltreat-
ment. Pain is alleyiated, surgical operations
rendered unnecessary, tumors reduced. bleed
ing stopped, debility replaced by vigor and
strength, and all without pain or danger.
Strong treatments defeat the very object you
are after.
There is another point upon which the public
is not informed. The mention of electricity
brings to mind visions of wet sponges bath
tubs. etc. Now, it is wellproven fact that
the very best of results arc obtained by means
of one form of electricity which is drawn di-
rectly through clothing of any description. A
patient goes into the doctors office and is
treated and results obtained which he can
recognize without the removal of any article
of clothing not even his overshoes. Pain has
been gotten rid of from every part of the body
without any inconvenience to the patient. This
rtap pt faat yVi1l to
ladies as doing away with a great annoyance.
This mode of relief applies largely to that pain
from which almost everybody suffers, more or
less-headaehe. 1t vanishes under its applica-
tion. And in many kindred troubles OF the
head and brain it does marvels. Merchants,
professional men, actors, men and women who
are driving their brains beyond their capabili-
ties. are given new vigor and power and by
methods which are devoid of the slightest dis
comfort or danger.
THERE are some few progressive physicians
who are daily using electricity in their
practice, but quietly because Of the existing
prejudice. They do not want to be known as
and they are not, but by using cleo
tricity, together with medicines and according
to the principles of their profession, they know
they are obtaining results which cannot be had
from anything else and with no danger to the
patient. They are progressive enough to face
and down this opposition on account of the
good results which their patients receive. And
these very happy consequences give rise to in
credulity. But these physicians do not claim
'cure alp properties to be connected with cleo
tricity. They use it as an adjunct in their gen.
eral practice, because it is valuable in its own
direction.
1t makes the treatment all the more satisfac-
tory because it is in the hands of one trained to
know what cases it will benefit and what ones
it will not He Is not like non-medical cleo
trician who can administer electricity or moth
The mnlical nrOfpSSiOO
stop to consider the significance of this fact
and to recognize that it is much better tor
trained physicians to handle this agent than an
ignorant person with the one sole idea of max
ing money regardless of any consequences that
NAV come in the use of force which requires
that perfect knowledge be had of it.
INSTEAD of disbelief there should be the spirit
of investigation. Unbelief in this matter
cannot, in Mr.. Podsnap's manner. sweep it out
Of the world, results are convincing
10 the ones concerned. patient and physician.
For instance, in a long line of diseases by
which womankind is peculiarly afflicted and
that manifest them selves in backaches, pains
n right and left Sides cramps at times, 1.-The
as they express it, for which the
Knife was thought to be the only remedy cleo
srIcity has demonstrated its ability and power |
20 cure, and in the curing to remove q very I'M |
oortant factor of danger from the cases.
1t has been said by some and taught by many |
that electricity was lie This has never been |
proven but it seems as if it supplies to those |
almost lifeless a new lease of life When the |
busy man in any pathway of life is using his |
5iuality with prodfgalty, this agent will restore
him. When sleep forsakes the woman of |
society, or the housewife; or when she rises |
rom her bed unrefreshed by slumber, and her |
nervous system is a mass of tangled sensbili- |
les unstrung and out of tune with her life, |
will soothe and make tense those |
elapsed strings, will cause them to viOrate |
With new life and tone and harmonic with her
But L can only say in closing |
that if i have succeeded in making clear the |
,alue that some physicians put upon electricity,
which is not misplaced, and why they thus |