CERTAIN INSTRUMENTS, APPARATUS, AND ARTICLES FOR THE APPLICATION OF ELECTRO-GALVANIC AND MAGNETIC ACTION FOR MEDICAL PURPOSES
Year: 1852

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Antoine Burq at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 9th.
October 1852.
(Void by reason of notice to proceed not having been given within the
time prescribed by the Act.)
"
J, ANTOINE BURG, of Paris, Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for CERTAIN INSTRUMENTS, APPARATUS, AND ARTICLES
FOR THE APPLICATION OF ELECTRO-GALVANIC AND MAGNETIC ACTION FOR
MEDICAL PURPOSES" to be as follows:-
It has been discovered by medical men that the outward application
to the human frame of various metals, either in a pure or allayed form,
is more useful and efficacious than the application of galvanic currents
for the same purpose. The magnetic, electric, or other like properties
possessed by various metals differ much in quality and degree, and the
effects resulting from their application also vary with circumstances,
such as the state of health of the patient, age, &c., and thus it happens
that the application of copper may have no beneficial effect on one
patient while it may benefit another, or vice versâ; steel may be inju-

page_text: rious to one and useful to another, and the judicious combination of
metallic bodies forms the great secret of success in this art. And I find
that the application of copper and brass and English and German steel
combined form useful combinations for medical applications. And my
Invention consists in certain instruments and apparatus made of these
four metals, to be applied to the human frame for the purpose of giving
to it magnetic, electric, or magneto-electro action. Fig. 1, represents
two rings, one (A) half brass, half copper; the other (B) half English,
half German steel; and those rings may be worn together or not.
Fig. 2, is a medal. Fig. 3, is a series of medals, made of copper and
brass,- English and German steel. The same medals may be used as
shown in Fig. 4, hung together by chains. Figures 5, 6, & 7, show
different combinations of the same metallic medals. That shown by
Figs. 7, & 8, may be worn as a bracelet. Fig. 9, represents a corset
busk, one side being made of copper and brass, and the other of Eng-
lish and German steel, or they may be made with the four metals on
one side. Fig. 10, represents whipping rods, made of a bundle of the
four metals. Fig. 11, an Indian strygil for causing friction; the small
wooden wheels are alternately covered with copper, brass, English and
German steel. Fig. 12, represents what I call metallic wadding; it is
made of cotton wadding, moistened with some glutinous matter, such as
treacle, on which a coating of filings of the four above-named metals is
sprinkled; over which a thin layer of cotton is again placed. Figs. 18,
& 14, represent armatures or large rings for the thigh, leg, or arm. If
the whole of the limb is to have the application, two may be used, and
these rings are made of the same metal. Fig. 15, is a peculiar bath,
in which filings of the said four metals are to be used in a wet or dry
state. For the prevention of oxidation or other ill effects I sometimes
coat the outer face or faces of these instruments with tin, silver, or
silver gilt. I do not confine myself to the precise forms of the
instruments shown.