The New York herald., 1922-06-18
Electric Light and Heat Re-
place Drugs and Effect
Bodily Change.

nHYSICAL pain which deters
many in need of medical treat
ment from submitting to the
slightest operation. either surgically
or dentally. has at last been van
quished without any fear of a person
forming craving for drugs which too
often has followed their temporary use
for the alleviation Of bodily agony.
DIR. Richard Kovacs, director of the
department of electrotherapy in the
Park West. has after several years Of
applied experiment with patients suf-
fering from all kinds and manners of
painful ailments abolished pain in it's
most finite form through diatherrny,
or electric heat, applied by plates
carrying strong currents Of the in
visible fluid to the seat of disease or
accident, and by blue and violet lights
focused on the location of the trouble.
In celebration Of his triumph. which
Is acclaimed by the large house staff
of the hospital, DR.. Kovacs doffed for
the first time in many months the
surgical coat Of white. and on Wednes-
day led to the altar Miss Ina Clare
Nickel, brilliant young woman who
has been the Doctors helpmeet in his
arduous experiments.
Triumphs of Reconstruction
BY the Electric Process
He made the rounds Of the wards of
the hospital before leaving and was
assured that for the first time since
the foundation was laid there was not
n patient complaining of the slightest
discomfort or pain. And this In the
only hospital in New York where ac-
cident cases of serious import, many
of which have been given up-by other
hospitals as hopeless. are taken and in
80 cases out Of 100 saved by the re-
construction process.
ELECTRICITY" said DIR. Kovacs, lis
one OF the most potent agents in the
hand of man. No field OF medicine
offers greater encouragement for the
study and application Of electricity
than that Of electrotherapy. The
chemical action Of electricity is used
in the so-called galvanic current for
the softening Of adherent scars in GER
tain types Of adhesions, in the relief
of pain and the stimulation OF certain
kinds of wounds. This Is called fon1-
zation.'
Electricity has to be scientifically
prescribed just like prescription or
drugs and has to be applied by trained
workers. The prejudices against cleo
tricity In the field OF medicine after It's
oyerenthusiastic acceptance in the
second part Of the last century was
due TO unwarranted claims of pseudo
scientific teaching Of we'll meaning but
errirfg enthusiasts; to the false belief
that electricity Is purely psychical IN
action and that Its chief use, therefore,
is In the field Of nervous diseases, and
to the fact that electrical applications
were painful and disagreeable. Inis
is not so: electrical applications are
absolutely painless, but have to be
applied on the basis Of proper diaSno-
sis, with an entire knowledge or the
medical and surgical condition OF the
patient. Electricity In its light and
energy produces definite changes in
the human body If one knows how TO
use IT, Both electric light and heat
increase blood supply In the exposed
portions of the human body. open
wounds treated with open lamps. as !
have demonstrated, heal faster, pain is
relieved and soaring is minimized.
"I found that by using blue in
candescent globe Of high candlepoWer
in a parabolic reflector the pain re-