The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1893-04-13
.SCIENC E AND INDUSTRY 7.
THE RAPID STRIDES OF. INvEN-
TORS AND 3SCIENTISTS.
Electricity in. Medicine, its Wonder
full Progress and Development
1.-THE Light Of the Future 81
Periis in Electricity--s.
Rapid Transit.
Elcctricity In Medicine.

Per1tS In EIeCtfICfty--S
Rapid Transit.
Electricity I'm Medicine.
When the sum of this is put into
words, the aggregate is quite astonish-
ing. The electric motor turns the drill
Of the dentist, under the manipulation
of the rhinologist bores out the noses,
and runs the saw and the trephine of
the surgeons, and in divers other ways
is caused to help the physicians. sur
geon and specialist The electric light
is made to illumine ali the cavities and
interiors of the human body. 1t is
nothing now to put an telescope into the
stomach and scrutinize its walls from
one end to the other. Electricity fur
nlshes heat to the cautery, with which
morbid surfaces may be healed, wounds
stimulated and tumors extirpated.
one OF the new features Of electric
medication is the Introduction Of drugs
into the human body through the skin.
This is done by placing solutions Of any
drug upon sponge, which is made the
positive pole and placed against the
skin. When the current is turned on.
the drug is actually driven through the
skin into the tissues. The application
is not at all painful Thus cocaine has
been driven i'll over a painful nerve.
and neuralgias have been relieved by
1t. Many other drugs have been used
In this way. This property Of electric
lty IS known as cataphoresis Opera
lions have been performed after an
aesthetizing the skin and subjacent
tissues cataphoretically.
Inc method of the working Of cleo
tllclty in disorders Of the nervous sys-
tenn is much more obscure than in the
maladles mentioned above. where heat,
light, electrolysis and cataphoresis pro-
uuce ehectS at once apparent to the
senses. Not able to demonstrate OBJ.
Jectively the value of electricity in
some OF the chronic nervous diseases,
a great deal has to be accepted on
faith. There is dispute in some quar-
ters as to it's intrinsic value here. and
many incline to the idea that sugges-
ton has Il good deal to do with i'm
provement i'll patients of this kind
treated in this way
Besides it's employment as a thera-
peutic agent electricity has consider
able value as Il means of diagnosis in
many neurological conditions. For in
stance, the resistance as measured by
the rheostat is reduced in exophthalmic
goitre and increased in hysteria. The
muscular contractions produced in pa
ralysls from injury to certain parts of
the nervous system are so different
from contractions produced by cleo
tricity in paralysis due to LESSONS in the
brain, as an example, that their differ
entiation constitutes an important aid
in distinguishing these affections one
from another. Then, too, in the sur
gerry of the brain and spinal cord,
which has newly sprung into existence
electric stimulation of parts of the
brain and of nerve roots is very valu-
able in localizing the exact region to
be operated upon. Indeed. much of
our knowledge of the localization of
functions in different parts of the sur
face of the brain is owing to the use
Of electricity made use of by physiol-
ogists in their marvellous experimental
researches in cerebral domains.
Altogether electricity occupies an ex-
| tensive place in the armamentarium Of
the physician. All parts Of the human
economy are explored by it's benefcent
| light, and there is no cell so secretly
| hidden that it may not be influenced by
this wonderful force which may be
made to penetrate skin, muscle, bone,
blood, nerves and viscera. No one can
yet place a limit upon it's possibilities
as a remedial agent, for each year new
apparatus, new devices. new forms of
current and new methods are made
available to- the medical profession in
it's noble warfare against the diseases
which assail mankind on every hand.
It is not in vain that men have some
times looked heayenward for aid in
sore affliction, for has not the light
ming been drawn from the clouds to
become his friend and heaven-born
ally ?--World's Progress.