Chapter 5

I have not treated a case of cholera; but my own impression of it is, that in the first stage, or during the "rice-water" discharges, the condition of the system is, as in other acute affections, excessively positive; but that, as the collapse comes on, it rapidly subsides into an intensely negative state, thus assuming the chief characteristic of a chronic condition.

In the above remarks, I would not be understood to indicate any doubt that the prevalence of cholera is often aggravated or mitigated by peculiar electrical states of the atmosphere. It appears altogether probable that such may be the fact; and I should presume that electrical treatment, properly administered, would be found eminently successful in this fearful malady.

Again, in _chronic rheumatism_ there might, at first view, seem to be frequent exceptions to the rule last above stated; but the cases alluded to are not such. It is often the fact, during chronic rheumatism, that soreness and severe pain are felt, especially under the presentation of the negative pole, thus showing that these points require to be treated with the positive pole. But, in such cases, although the general disease of the system be chronic and negative, these sore and severely painful points have, for the time, risen in their electro-vital condition, and so become acute and positive. But when chronic rheumatism is attended with only a _dull_ pain, and that chiefly under exercise of the parts, and with little or no increase of pain under an application of the negative pole of the A D current, medium strength, and with no swelling, then the pain, the stiffness and the lameness are all marks of the negative state, and the parts must be treated with the negative pole of the A D current, _strongly_ at first, but diminishing in force, from time to time, as the patient becomes relieved.

_Alkaline_ affections--those causing excessive alkaline secretions--are electrically positive. _Acid_ or _acidulous_ states are negative.

HEALING.

For healing wounds, burns, ulcers, irritation of mucous membranes, and cutaneous eruptions, the A D current is by far the best. _Recent_ wounds, contusions and burns are electrically positive. _Old_ ulcers and irritations are generally negative.

DIAGNOSIS.

To make a correct diagnosis, it is needful to bear in mind the following general principles:

1. Where the organism is in health, the momentary application to the patient of the negative pole of the double Faradaic current B D--the best for diagnostic use--in good medium strength,[D] will be directly felt, yet will cause no pain. Whatever _muscular contractions_ may be produced for the time, they are harmless, and need not be noticed. Wherever the electro-vital fluid is in _excess_, producing hypersthenia--too much vital action--the part is morbidly _positive_; and, excepting sometimes in the stomach and bowels, the B D current, of medium force, directed to that part under the negative pole, will produce _sharp pain_. But where a current of full medium strength can not be felt under the negative pole, there is a morbidly negative state--a deficiency of vital action--a condition of at least partial paralysis--anaesthesia.

2. In a state of health, different persons will have different degrees of sensibility to the electric current, depending on their varied nervous susceptibility. Again, the same person will be much less sensitive to the current when directed to the spine, particularly the lower part of it, and to the stomach, than when directed to most other parts. Also, where bones lie near the surface, the periosteum--the membrane immediately investing the bone--is apt to feel more sensibly under the electrodes than the muscular parts. But these variations soon become so familiar to the practitioner that he finds no difficulty in making the proper allowances for them.

In making an electrical examination, the two following questions present themselves to be answered: First, whether anywhere, and, if so, where is there a morbid electrical state in the body of this patient? Second, what is the electrical condition of that unhealthy part? Is it _positive_ or _negative_?

These questions being answered, according to the tests just given, the well-instructed practitioner is prepared to go on and treat the patient judiciously, and with success, if success be attainable by any form of medication.

Let me next say, It is best, as a general rule, to make examinations with the _negative pole_. The reason of this is that, since the current is always more energetic under the negative than under the positive pole, it makes itself more sensibly _felt_ there than under the positive pole. Indeed, it will commonly be felt even to _painfulness_ there, if the part were overcharged and inflamed before. Thus, under the negative electrode, the current readily detects any active disease. But, if we be making the examination with the _positive pole_, as we come upon any point more or less inflamed, the current, quick as lightning, rushes away from such inflamed part to the part under the stationary negative pole, carrying with it, for the time being, more or less of that excess of electro-vital fluid which was in force at the inflamed point; so that _no pain_, perhaps, is experienced there; and thus the disease escapes detection.

I am aware that it has been said by some of our practitioners, with, if I rightly remember, the able discoverer of the grand practical principles of our system, Prof. C. H. Bolles, at their head, that it is not quite prudent to use the negative pole in hand for diagnosis, lest we possibly contract the disease from the patient; since, in that case, the current runs from the patient to the practitioner. They think it safer to use the positive pole in hand; so letting the current run from the practitioner to the patient. There is force in this consideration, without doubt, where the patient is affected with a poisonous or malignant disease. And where any thing of this nature is apprehended, I would never examine with the negative pole in hand. But these cases are commonly so manifest, or so easily determined by colloquial inquiry, that examination with the electric current is rarely if ever necessary. And when the disease is plainly not of a poisonous or infectious nature, I do not think there is any danger to be apprehended from the cause stated. I therefore prefer, as a general rule, to examine with the negative pole; and for the reason given above.

The temperature of the room and the adjustment of apparel should be the same as for treatment. To prevent improper chilliness, the room ought to be of such temperature that clothing is not required for bodily comfort--say, from 70 to 80 degrees, _Fahrenheit_. Seat the patient on a stool or chair, (a stool is most convenient), and yourself at his side, with your machine, ready for use, on a table or bench before him, and a vessel of warm water within easy reach. If the patient be a man we let his trunk be disrobed, giving free access to the back, chest and abdomen. If the patient be a woman, let her be covered with a treating-robe, of which garments the practitioner should keep a supply. They are made much like a lady's plain nightgown; but large and loose, so as to serve ladies of any size, and give ample room to work the electrodes under them. Her skirts should be dropped _below the seat_, so far that their bands shall lie across her lap.

Let us now suppose the machine to be working. We will take the B D current. Let it be of good medium strength. We regulate the strength by the quantity of fluid in the battery, so far as _volume_ is concerned, and by means of the plunger as respects _intensity_. The electrodes should be dampened with warm water. Let the _sponge-roll_, [a very thin expansion of sponge, quilted upon a muslin lining, and enveloping one of the tin electrodes], be made the positive pole, and be placed under the coccyx--lowest part of the spine. Then attach the _positive_ cord; that is, the cord connected with the _negative_ post, to another sponge-roll, to be held in the operator's right hand; or, what is better, attach it to a thin, flexible, metallic wristband, (brass is good, but metallic lace--such as is used in trimming _regalia_, is best), underlaid with wet muslin, and fastened around the right wrist. This brings the operator's hand into the circuit as the negative electrode or pole. Next, pass a moist, warm sponge all over the patient's back. Now, before the back becomes dry, press the points of two fingers firmly, yet not uncomfortably, upon the back of the neck at the base of the skull; thence move gradually downward, by frequent touches of the same firm but gentle character, keeping one finger on each side of the spinous processes, until the whole length of the spine has been, in this manner, passed over. If sharp pain or soreness be felt at any point, _note_ that point; there is inflamed irritation there. Then return up to the right or left shoulder, and pass, in like manner, by frequent touches with one or two fingers, over all parts of the back on that side of the spine, down to the hips. Then, in the same way, examine the shoulder and back on the other side of the spine, noting, as before, every point, if there be any, where soreness and pain appear. After this, pass over the entire neck, then over the front parts of the thorax and abdomen, down to the pelvic bones, everywhere watching for soreness and pain. Next, go to the head. Wet the hair through to the scalp, (because dry hair is a bad conductor,) and change to a _very soft_ B C current. Then go over all the head in the same manner as over the neck and trunk. Better _reverse_ the poles on the head, by transposing the cords in the posts, so as to make the manipulating hand the _positive_ pole. The head is, or ought to be, extremely sensitive. You need not do this, however, if the negative pole can be received on the head without discomfort, as it sometimes can be. Commence on the cerebrum, and then pass to the cerebellum.

If, in the examination of the spine, the practitioner finds it uncomfortable to bear in his fingers a current of sufficient strength to be distinctly felt in that part of the patient, he may use the side-sponge cup on the spine. But let him _never use a current on another person_ which he does not first apply to his own nerves, so as to know its intensity. Indeed, if one prefer to use the side-sponge cup through the whole process, he can do so; although there is advantage in using the fingers, since, by their concentrated impressions, he is more sure to detect disease than by the broader face of the sponge cup.

[->]Now, wherever there is found _soreness_ or _lancinating pain_ under the touch, it is sure that the part is preternaturally _positive_--more or less so, according to the degree of painful irritability. On the other hand, if there be found a part evincing much _less_ than the usual sensibility found in the _healthy_ corresponding part of other patients, it may safely be pronounced torpid or paralytic, more or less. It lacks sufficient electro-vitality--is improperly _negative_, and needs to be treated with the negative pole.

It will often happen that diseased action is found in parts where the patient was entirely unaware of its existence until the practitioner's fingers or other electrode revealed it. Again, it will sometimes be found that there is no disease whatever in parts where the patient supposed disease to be active. But when we find patients to be especially nervous, it is not always best to tell them immediately just what our examinations have revealed to us--how severely or how little we think them diseased. It is sometimes better to humor, more or less, the patient's own views for a time; lest, by exciting him or her, we make a difficult case out of one that might have been mastered with comparative ease. In this matter discretion should guide us.

But let me say farther, what I deeply feel, that neither do I think it right to _persistently_ conceal from patients, especially those who are dangerously affected, a knowledge of their true condition. In my opinion, physicians often unwittingly incur an awful responsibility in this way, wronging their patients in the most vital and momentous of all interests--the interests involved in a due preparation for death. I believe the true way, in every such case, is for the physician himself, in a kind and soothing manner, to reveal to the patient, little by little, if need be, what he really thinks, or to ask the patient's pastor, or some other calm and judicious person to do it for him. I believe the visits of a discreet and affectionate pastor, or, in the absence of a pastor, of some other mild and Christian friend, to the bedside of the sick is, nine times in ten, not only no embarrassment to the patient's recovery, but positively favorable to it, and ought to be habitually encouraged, rather than restrained, by medical practitioners.

PRESCRIPTIONS.

PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

The author wishes to caution the reader not to rely merely on the forms of treatment here prescribed, but to study thoroughly the principles taught in the preceding pages, until he shall have mastered them, and can judge for himself of the correctness of these prescriptions. It should be remembered, however, that the diseases here considered are viewed in their _simple_ or _uncomplicated_ states. Where complications exist, the treatment must be modified according to the judgment of the practitioner.

In these instructions, it is always to be understood that the treatment prescribed is with _cords of equal length_, except when the _long cord_ is especially mentioned.

In most of the local diseases here named, particularly those which are electrically _negative_, it is desirable to supplement the local treatment prescribed with occasional _general tonic_ treatment, where, in the judgment of the practitioner, it can be given without detriment to the local affection.

In all treatments, the electrodes should be moistened with warm water.

GENERAL TONIC TREATMENT.

Take the B D current, (A D is very good), of fair medium strength. Place the sponge-roll, N. P. [Negative Pole], at the coccyx--lowest point of spine--and manipulate with side-sponge cup, P. P. [Positive Pole], from the feet all over the lower limbs to and about the hips; occupying three or four minutes, or less. Then remove the N. P., substituting for the sponge-roll the end-sponge cup, and place this upon the spine at the lower part of the neck. Now manipulate with side-sponge cup, P. P., over the trunk generally, from the lower to the upper parts; giving special attention to the spinal column by treating it somewhat more than other parts. Treat the trunk some five to eight minutes. Next, keeping the N. P. still upon the back of the neck, treat with P. P. over the hands and arms, up to and about the shoulders. Treat here two or three minutes.

It has been customary, for the most part, in giving general tonic treatment, to make the P. P. stationary--placing it successively at the feet, the coccyx and the hands--and to manipulate above it with the N. P. But the better way is as directed above. The object is to reinforce the main nerve-lines and centers with electricity from without. The nerves branch off from their centers--the brain, the spinal cord, the ganglions, and the great plexuses--and run, in general, downward and outward from the trunk lines, in a manner somewhat analogous to the branches and twigs of an inverted little tree. If we place before us such a shrub, with the root upward and the branches pointing downwards, and then draw lines from the lowest point of the lowest twig to the outer ends of all the branches surrounding the main trunk, we shall see that our lines, instead of running in the general directions of the limbs, will, for the most part, run _across_ the twigs. But, if we draw our lines from the outer extremities of the branches and twigs up to the root, or near to the source of the trunk, we will find the lines, in the main, running nearly parallel with the branches. Now, let us substitute for this inverted tree the nervous system of a man, and remember that the electric current moves from the positive to the negative pole as nearly in straight lines as it can where there are good conductors, such as the nerves and muscles, and it will at once appear that, in treating the lower limbs, if we place our N. P. at the coccyx, and then manipulate with P. P. over the feet and legs, our electric lines are running from all the surface extremities of the nerve ramifications, wherever the P. P. is moving, directly into and along these fine ramifications, and, through the larger nerve-branches, up to the stationary N. P. Or, if we treat the _trunk_ of the body by placing the N. P. on the spine, near its upper end, and then manipulate with P. P. from the lower part upward over the back, sides, abdomen and chest, our current strikes into the surface extremities of the nerves at every point where the electrode touches, and makes its way upwards, along the nerve-lines, to the great spinal cord under the N. P.--thus replenishing with fresh electricity all the ganglions, plexuses and nerve-trunks along the way. But if P. P. be made stationary at the lower end of the section under treatment, and we manipulate over the parts with the N. P., the current strikes from P. P., across the nerve branches and comes out at their surface extremities wherever the negative electrode moves--so reaching but indirectly and imperfectly the trunk-lines and their centers.

COMMON COLDS.

Take the B D Faradaic current--moderate strength. If the affection be mainly in the head, give,

_1st._ _A face bath._ Let an earthen wash-basin, nearly filled with tepid water, be placed on a table or chair before the patient, he holding the sponge-roll [see page 89] N. P. in his hands. Now let him bury his face in the water as long as he can hold his breath. At the instant after his face is in the water, drop into the water the tin electrode P. P. Repeat this process as often as he recovers his breath, some eight, ten or a dozen times.

_2d._ Place the sponge-roll N. P. in the hands as before, and, making an electrode P. P. of your own hand, in the manner directed for _diagnosis_, clasp the nose of the patient between your thumb and finger, moving them up and down along the sides of the nose, and on the nose between the eyes, about five minutes.

Repeat the above forms twice or thrice a day.

If there be hoarseness, or cough, or stricture of lungs, or soreness of chest, place N. P., with _long cord_, upon back of neck, and treat with P. P. over the front part of neck and breast, and wherever upon the thorax stricture or soreness appears.

If there be a feverish condition of the system, attended, perhaps, with pain in the head, place P. P. on the spine, a little below the cranium, and treat with N. P., _long cord_, all the way down the spine, and over the entire back, sides, thorax and abdomen. In this case let the current be rather mild, and be continued for a considerable length of time, with the view of bringing out perspiration. It is _best_ that the patient should receive treatment in bed, perfectly protected from any cool air that might restrain or check perspiration. In these cases, I not unfrequently treat with a light B D current a full hour, unless perspiration start freely in shorter time, working over the trunk and limbs generally. But, while treating over the lower limbs, the P. P. should be upon the hypogastric flexus, at the "small of the back." Treat once or twice a day until relief appears.

After the stricture and soreness of the lungs are removed, and the general febrile action is suppressed, it is desirable to give a _general tonic treatment_.

CEPHALAGIA. (_Headache._)

1. "_Nervous headache._" Take the B D current--moderate force. Place P. P. on back of neck, just below the brain, and manipulate with side-sponge cup, N. P., all the way down the spine and over the back.

It may often be necessary to apply the P. P. directly to the suffering part of the head. In that case, take the soft Faradaic current B C. If the fluid in the battery cell be fresh, use very little--just enough to reach well the platina plate and make the machine run. Wet the hair thoroughly through to the scalp, where the electrode is to be applied. Seat the patient on N. P., or let him hold it in both his hands, (the former is the better way), and treat lightly over the affected parts of the head with P. P. Treat five to ten minutes, as may be required, and if the pain returns, repeat the treatment. Only a very light current can be safely applied directly to the brain, and that an _induced_ Faradaic current.

2. _Sick Headache._ The _procuring_ cause of this distressing disease is involved in considerable mystery. It seems, however, to be largely dependent on the secretion and discharge into the duodenum of an improper quantity of bile, and an irregularity in the peristaltic action of the upper part of the bowels, particularly of the duodenum, in which that action more or less is _reversed_, and thereby throws the biliary fluid up, through the pylorus, into the stomach. After a time, the stomach becomes nauseated by its accumulation; and the head, through nervous sympathy, is rendered electrically positive in excess, and thus is made to ache. Yet there are certain characteristics of the disease which this view does not satisfactorily explain, and which must remain unexplained until advancing science shall reveal to us more perfect light.

When this disease has become habitual and periodic, it is very obstinate, and requires persistent treatment--often for several months.

Take the B D current, with moderate force. Place the N. P. on the spine, immediately above the kidneys, and treat with P. P. over the stomach and the duodenum, (lying transversely just below the stomach), three to five minutes. Treat in this manner about twice a week.

It may sometimes be necessary to treat the head directly. If so, after the treatment above prescribed, add that prescribed for the head directly, in _nervous_ headache, with this difference, viz: instead of seating the patient on the N. P., or placing the same in his hands, pass it over the stomach and duodenum, unless the former may be already too positive. In that case, let the N. P. be at the seat.

DEAFNESS.

_The prognosis_ is very uncertain. This infirmity is often cured by our system, even when of long standing; and often, again, the treatment fails. The uncertainty arises from the difficulty in determining the exact pathological derangement.

Take the A D current, mild force. Introduce the ear electrode as the N. P. when the disease is of long standing, or as the P. P. when it is of recent origin. Apply the opposite pole to the back of the neck. Treat five to eight minutes, once a day for three or four days, and afterwards three times a week. If no success appears within three weeks, it will probably be vain to expect it afterwards.

NOISES IN THE HEAD.

Treat the same as for deafness.

INFLAMED EYES.

If the disease be recent and acute, (but not infectious), as from sewing or reading by lamp light or other irritation, take the C D current, of moderate force. Treat with the eye-bath, filled with tepid water, having the eye open in the water. Make the bath the P. P., and place the N. P. on the spine at the upper dorsal vertebra. Treat each eye three minutes daily.

If the disease be acute and _infectious_, use the A C current some four to six times, and then change to A D. Apply the current as directed above.

If the disease be chronic, or the lids granulated, treat with A D, _very mild_ current, applying the eye-bath, N. P., to the eyes, and place the P. P. upon the spine, at the top of the back. Treat each eye three to five minutes three times a week.