The Electric Bath   By: George M. Schweig

ITS MEDICAL USES, EFFECTS AND APPLIANCE

BY

GEORGE M. SCHWEIG, M.D.

MEMBER OF THE NEW YORK COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY AND OF THE MEDICAL JOURNAL ASSOCIATION OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK; ONE OF THE PHYSICIANS TO THE NEW YORK LYING IN ASYLUM, ETC.

NEW YORK G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 182 FIFTH AVENUE 1877

COPYRIGHT, G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, 1876.

PREFACE.

In No 216 of "The Medical Record" (Dec. 15th, 1874) was published an article written by me, entitled "On some of the Uses of Galvanic and Faradic Baths."

The interest manifested in the subject, as evidenced by numerous letters of inquiry since received from physicians in almost all parts of the United States, and some in Europe, has induced me to write the present treatise, in which I have endeavored to present to the profession, as far as lies in my power, all that is necessary to a full comprehension of the electro balneological treatment.

When it is considered that in the employment of electric baths I have been to a great extent groping in the dark, that I have been deprived of the advantage of having the experience of others to guide me, it will not appear surprising that I should have met with many disappointments. My failures have been illustrative of the fact that the electric bath is no more a panacea for all ills than any other remedial agent. Applicable as it is to a great variety of pathological conditions, it meets with many where it is destined to have negative or at best imperfect results. Far from discouraging me, however, failures have served to inspire me with fresh ardor to seek for light, and to persevere in my efforts to establish on the basis of statistical truth, the therapeutic merits of the agent which I employed.

In view of the imperfectness of the results thus far obtained, I should consider the present work premature, did I not find a justification for it in my desire to induce other and abler observers to investigate the subject, and place it on whatever footing it may merit.

To say that I am fully conscious of the shortcomings of my work, would be but feebly to express my convictions in this respect. I beg the reader however to consider that the subject is not a hackneyed one, that mine has not been the work of the compiler who remodels the brain work of others. It may be crude and rough, it may lack the gloss and polish that is the result of much handling, but I have at least the consciousness that it has the merits of originality and candor.

NEW YORK. 160 Second Avenue. November, 1876.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

THE APPARATUS.

PAGE

a ) The tub. b ) The electrodes and connections. c ) The water. d ) Chemicals. e ) The batteries. 7

CHAPTER II.

MODE OF ADMINISTRATION 19

CHAPTER III.

PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS.

Characteristic differences between the electric bath and other methods of electrization Effects on sleep; on general sensation; on the change of matter; on the pulse and temperature; as a stimulant and tonic; on general nutrition; on the digestive apparatus; on the sexual apparatus Sedative influence Affects cranial nerves Cutaneous sensation Its freedom from pain Muscular contractions Effects on the mind 31

CHAPTER IV.