CERTAIN QUERIES IN ELECTRO-PHYSIOLOGY AND 
ELECTRO-THERAPEUTICS.1 
BY 
GEORGE M. BEARD, M. D. 
1. Is it possible to affect Diseases of the Shin by Central 
Galvanization alone, without mahing any Application to the 
Diseased Surface ? 
This query I am now in a position to answer decidedly in 
the affirmative. My conclusion is based on experiments made 
during the past year, in a variety of cases of diseases of the 
skin, some of which I have had exceptionally good opportuni- 
ties to study, not only during the treatment, but subsequently. 
Central galvanization is a term that I have applied to a 
method of using the galvanic current, in which the negative 
pole is placed at the pit of the stomach, while the positive is 
passed over the head, neck, and spine, in such a way as to 
bring the cranial contents, the sympathetic, the spinal cord, in 
short, the entire central nervous system as well as the pneu- 
mogastric, under the direct influence of the current.3 Among 
my experiments with central galvanization in diseases of the 
skin are the following: 
1 Extracted from a paper read before the Medical Section of the Amer- 
ican Medical Association, May 8, 1872. 
31 have previously described this method, in a general Way, in the New 
Yorlc Medical Record, December 15th. The details of the applications will 
soon he published in the Mew York Medical Journal, when a com- 
parison ■will be made between this and the ordinary method of using 
electricity, localized electrization, and general faradization. 2 
QUERIES IN ELECTRO-PHYSIOLOGY 
In the Long Island College Hospital, a very remarkable 
case of chronic eczema of the leg in a woman of middle life, 
of a most obstinate character, that had resisted all forms of 
treatment for eight years, was immediately relieved of the 
symptoms of distress and irritation by two applications of cen- 
tral galvanization, and in less than a week the appearance of 
the leg was greatly altered for the better. The disease had 
involved the whole surface of the leg below the knee, and was 
especially severe at the ankle, so that the patient could not 
bring her foot to the ground, and was helped about the ward 
with great difficulty. In six weeks the leg was nearly well, 
and the patient was able to go several blocks. In three 
months the portion of skin that had been diseased had become 
smooth, except one small spot at the outer ankle. By June 
25th, the patient was entirely well, and was discharged from 
the hospital. 
A boy of eleven years of age, who for six years had suf- 
fered from general prurigo, with severe itching and pain, espe- 
cially at night, was immediately benefited by central galvani- 
zation, and in eight weeks’ application was nearly cured. 
Both of the above cases were presented, at the different 
stages of their progress under treatment, before the medical 
class of the Long Island College Hospital. 
A child, that was covered by patches of eczema over a 
large part of the body, was cured in two weeks by central 
galvanization. 
Another case of general prurigo, in a woman of middle life, 
improved slowly, but'yet decidedly, under the same treatment. 
Two cases of acne, of very long standing, have improved 
appreciably, under central galvanization, after the usual reme- 
dies have failed. One of them was a young man whom I was 
treating for epilepsy. His back was covered with acne, and 
also the face, arms, and forehead. Central galvanization was 
used for the epilepsy, for three months, on the average about 
twice a week. At the end of that time, although the epileptic 
attacks were not entirely dispelled, the acne was so far bene- 
fited that the back was almost entirely smooth, and only a 
very fews spots remained on other parts of the body. The 
other case, where acne has been the only symptom, is now de- AED ELECTRO-THERAPEUTICS. 
3 
cidedly improving under central galvanization, and is still 
under treatment. 
A case of syphilitic eczema of the hands and feet, of long 
standing, was relieved and nearly cured by central galvaniza- 
tion, and then relapsed, and was again successfully treated by 
the same method. I may here remark that relapses of invet- 
erate affections are possible, after this method of treatment, 
as after any other method; but it would seem that electrical 
treatment thus directed to the nerve-centres would achieve 
a more permanent cure than electrical treatment directed to 
the periphery alone. 
A case under care of my assistant, Dr. Sterling, of obsti- 
nate and very long standing, lichen of the lower limbs, at- 
tended with severe itching, was somewhat benefited by local 
galvanization of the diseased surface, but relapsed, and did not 
on the second trial yield to the same treatment. Central gal- 
vanization relieved the itching at once, and after three appli- 
cations the improvement was so great that he discontinued 
treatment. 
On the other side, it should be remarked, in a case of abso- 
lute and painful gastralgia, complicated with eczema of the 
anus, that was treated by central galvanization, the gastralgia 
yielded rapidly and permanently, but the eczema constantly 
grew worse, and about in proportion to the improvement in 
the gastralgia. 
The subject is not yet wholly worked up, and many ques- 
tions will arise concerning it that I am unable to answer; but 
if the future shall confirm the experience of the past in this 
matter, if other observers shall obtain the same results that 
we are continually obtaining in the dispensary, the discovery 
will be of inestimable value. 
It will be of value to the dermatologist and to all who seek 
to relieve some of the most obstinate maladies of the race. 
It will be of value to the pathologist, who will here find an 
additional argument in favor of the theory that the centre of 
disease as wTell as the centre of life is in the nerves. 
Finally, it will be of value to us, as explaining, in a most 
interesting way, the beneficial action of certain remedies, as 
arsenic, phosphorus, cod-liver oil, etc., in diseases of the skin. 4 
QUEEIES IN ELECTEO-PHYSIOLOGY 
2. To what extent is it possible to affect the Cervical 
Sympathetic by External Electrization ? 
Concerning the power of electricity to affect the sympa- 
thetic, and through the sympathetic to modify the circulation, 
there has been not a little difference of opinion among electro- 
therapeutists. 
Two years ago I instituted careful experiments, with the 
cooperation of some of the leading ophthalmologists of New 
York, to see what effect galvanizing and faradizing the neck 
(placing the electrodes in such a position that the current in 
passing from one to the other must traverse the cervical gan- 
glia of the sympathetic) would have on the retinal circulation. 
These experiments, which have been since frequently re- 
peated with different individuals, with different strengths of 
current and with different batteries, seem to me to demon- 
strate the following propositions :1 
1. Galvanizing or faradizing the region of the cervical 
sympathetic has a marked temporary influence over the retinal 
circulation. It may cause contraction of the arteries, or dila- 
tation of the veins. 
2. The faradic current produces precisely the same effects 
on the retinal circulation as the galvanic, only more slowly. 
The physiological difference between the current in this re- 
spect is therefore a difference of degree and not of kind. 
3. Mild currents and short applications caused contraction 
of the blood-vessel of the retina, while strong currents and 
long applications caused dilatation. Much seemed to depend 
on the temperament and condition of the individual. What 
would cause contraction in one would in the other cause dila- 
tation.'1 These varying effects correspond with clinical experi- 
ence. 
4. When the patient on whom the experiment is made is 
in an excited or irritable condition from any cause, or from pre- 
1 The ophthalmologists who observed the retina in these experiments 
were Drs. Roosa, Hackley, Loring, Matthewson, and Newton, to all of 
whom I desire to return my acknowledgments. 
2 The opposite and contradictory results obtained by different observers 
who have studied the effects of chloral, bromide of potassium, etc., on the 
retinal circulation, may be similarly explained. AISTD ELECTRO-THERAPEUTICS. 
vious electrization, even a mild current will sometimes cause 
dilatation at once, without any early contraction. 
5. The contraction which takes place is sometimes fol- 
lowed, a few minutes after the close of the seance, by dilatation 
which is greater than normal. 
6. The dilatation which takes place is sometimes followed 
by contraction after the close of the seance. 
The question now arises, whether these changes in the reti- 
nal circulation were due to the effect of the current on the 
sympathetic or on the pneumogastric, or did they take place 
through the spinal cord or by reflex action. 
This question is answered by comparing the result of these 
experiments with the result of experiments made by Du- 
chenne and Prof. Ligeois, of Paris. These gentlemen laid 
bare the cervical sympathetic in a rabbit and electrized it 
with both currents in the same manner that I electrized the 
necks of the individuals on whom I experimented. The re- 
sults on the circulation in the rabbit’s ear were in every dis- 
tinctive feature identical with the results on the retina when 
the galvanic current was passed through the neck of the living 
human subject. 
The effects of galvanizing the cervical sympathetic—dis- 
position to sleep, sweating, increased circulation in the ex- 
tremities, etc.—seem to confirm these physiological observa- 
tions. 
While making all these concessions, I retract nothing I have 
elsewhere said of the method of using electricity by galvanizing 
the cervical sympathetic. It is a method that has been great- 
ly overrated, and the effects it produces are a complex result- 
ant of the direct and indirect action of the arrest on other 
parts of the person’s system besides the sympathetic. Practi- 
cally I find that central galvanization accomplishes all that 
galvanization of the cervical sympathetic will accomplish, and 
very much more than the latter method could accomplish. 
The experiments of Onimus and LegrosI—from which they 
conclude that the faradic current always contracts, and the gal- 
vanic always dilates, the blood-vessels—are unsatisfactory, for 
two reasons: 
1 “.Traite d’Electricite Medicale,” Paris, 1872, pp. 177-185. 6 
QUERIES m ELECTRO-PHYSIOLOGY 
1. They ignore the wide difference in degree between 
man and the lower animals. In proportion as the organiza- 
tion of man is more complex than that of the lower animals, 
in that proportion will the physiological reactions of the hu- 
man body to the electric current, or indeed to any other influ- 
ence, be more complex and uncertain, and more liable to devi- 
ations and modifications, than the physiological reactions of 
the inferior forms of life to which we are supposed to be re- 
lated. Conclusions in electro-physiology, derived solely from 
experiments on animals, have therefore the great merit of 
simplicity, but when applied to the far higher and more com- 
plex organization of man, and especially of civilized man, 
with his excessively-sensitive system of nerves, they are apt to 
lead into serious error. Granted that the differential effects 
of the galvanic and faradic currents on the sympathetic of an- 
imals are precisely what has been claimed by Onimus and Le- 
gros, it by no means follows that the same is true of the sus- 
ceptible nervous system of human beings. 
2. They do not attach sufficient importance to the strength 
of the current in making electro-physiological researches. A 
current from a powerful battery of say thirty cells may pro- 
duce an effect to all appearance entirely opposite from that 
produced by a current from a weak battery of five or ten cells. 
This consideration is of very great importance in electro- 
therapeutics, and is probably not mnch less so in electro-phys- 
iology. 
3. Is it possible to improve the General Nutrition of 
Marasmie and Debilitated Children by General Faradiza- 
tion f 
This query can now be answered definitely in the affirma- 
tive. I am accustomed to apply the faradic current all over 
children and very young babies, in all cases where lack' of 
appetite or strength, or flabbiness of muscle, or emaciation, or 
simple nervous irritability, indicates a chronically depraved 
nutrition of the general system. 
I make these applications with currents as strong as can 
be borne without apparent pain for about two minutes. It is 
a fact of great interest that children bear electricity relatively AND ELECTRO-THERAPEUTICS. 
7 
very much better than adults. With many adults of both 
sexes electrization must be administered with caution and 
with studious care not to overdo the treatment; with children 
this caution appears to be less requisite. All other medicines 
are adapted to the age of the patient; to a babe of one year we 
give one-twelfth, to a child of seven years one-half of the 
adult’s dose. Electricity does not need to be so adapted. 
Unpleasant effects of a temporary character may be caused by 
such undue stimulation, but the danger is, I believe, less than 
in the treatment of adults, at least when the faradic current is 
used. 
I attempt no explanation of this fact. We know that 
the nervous system of children is different from the nervous 
system of maturity; that it is less liable to neuralgia, to hys- 
teria, hypochondriasis, and insanity, and it may be that, be- 
tween this fact of comparative exemption from the nervous 
condition of which these diseases are symptoms and the fact 
of the greater capacity for bearing electricity, there is a kind 
of correlation which future science will unfold. 
I have sometimes suspected that perhaps children might, 
after all, experience equally with adults the annoying second- 
ary effects of over-electrization ; that the malaise, the nervous- 
ness, the exaggeration of general morbid symptoms, are really 
experienced by children when they receive more electrical 
treatment than is good for them, but that their defective intelli- 
gence does not allow them to observe these unpleasant effects 
or to speak of them. 
Certain it is that children, of both sexes, and of all ages 
between a few months and a few years, can be faradized; one 
pole armed with a broad sponge being applied to the coccyx, 
the other applied all over the surface of the trunk and limbs 
daily, or every other day, without any apparent harm, and 
with rapid, permanent and sometimes brilliant improvement 
in the nutrition. 
More specifically, the infant thus treated exhibits greater 
liveliness and vigor, nurses with' greater energy and enthu- 
siasm, grows more rapidly, and assumes a healthier color. 
Infants do not object to the treatment; some of them appear 
to like it as they like milk. 8 
QUERIES lIST ELECTRO-PHYSIOLOGY 
Of a litter of four puppies, two were submitted to general 
faradization, every other day, for eight minutes each, and 
two were not so treated, all having an equal chance at 
their mother’s breast and nothing besides. All the puppies 
were carefully weighed at the beginning and at the end of 
the treatment, which lasted for four weeks. It was found that 
both of the pups that had been electrized weighed more than 
the puppies that had not been electrized; all had, of course, 
increased in weight, but of those electrized one had increased 
five ounces and the other eleven ounces more than his fellows 
that had not been electrized. The difference of size in favor 
of the puppies that were electrized was so marked and so 
easy to see, that without great difficulty one who had never 
seen them succeeded in picking out, from ocular inspection, 
those that had been treated, and that too in the evening, and 
in a bad gas-light. It was observed during the treatment that 
the puppies that were electrized became ravenous, and sucked 
with greater energy than their less favored companions.1 
That this result is exceedingly interesting and suggestive, all 
will agree, and yet it is nothing more than I have frequently 
obtained in the treatment of patients, even of adults. I have 
frequently treated babies from six weeks old and upward, in 
the same manner as these pups were treated, and for the same 
purpose. 
The method of treating the pups, I may remark, was to 
put them on a sheet of copper, while the hand of the operator 
or a sponge-electrode was rubbed all over the surface of the 
body, previously moistened. 
I am now making a similar experiment with a litter of 
rabbits. 
4. Are there certain Constitutions for which Electricity 
in any Form, or however administered, is contraindicated f 
This question must also be answered in the affirmative. 
There are individuals whom electricity always injures, the only 
difference in the effect on them between a mild and a severe 
application being, that the former injures less than the latter. 
1 The details of the application were entrusted to my assistant, Dr. 
Sterling. AND ELECTRO-THERAPEUTICS. 
9 
There are patients upon whom all electro-therapeutical skill 
and experience are wasted ; their temperaments are not en 
rapport with this mysterious force which we call electricity. 
It matters not w'hat may he the special disease or symp- 
toms of disease from which they suffer—paralysis, or neural- 
gia, or neurasthenia, or hysteria, or affections of special organs 
—the immediate and the permanent effects of galvanization 
or faradization, general or localized, are evil and only evil. 
I have not arrived at this opinion by theorizing ; I have been 
driven to it by the accumulating and irresistible logic of tacts. 
The first query that arises in the mind of the electro-thera- 
peutist when a case under his care responds badly is, “Am I 
rightly using this remedy; am I making the application too 
long or too severe, or by improper methods ? "Would a change 
of current be desirable ? ” But after we have tried all electri- 
cal applications ; after we have gone from galvanism to fara- 
dism, from general to localized electrization, from long and 
severe to short and gentle treatment; after we have rung 
the changes on all these, and yet persistently aggravate rather 
than mollify the disease, and instead of strength and relief 
produce weakness and distress, and instead of calmness cause 
irritation—then we have only to make as graceful a retreat 
as possible, and put that patient down as a case that was not 
born to be treated by electricity. I have no explanation to 
offer of this phenomenon ; and the popular belief or supposi- 
tion, that the excess or deficiency of animal electricity has 
something to do with these matters, is as undemonstrable as it 
is plausible; he who should attempt to prove or disprove it 
would find he had undertaken any thing but an easy task. It 
would seem to come in the list of those strange but familiar 
likes and dislikes in regard to certain articles of food or drink, 
or to certain sights or odors. I know of no physiognomical 
or other external appearances by which to determine whether 
a patient does or does not belong to the unfortunate few who 
can have no lot or share in electro-therapeutics. The strongest 
equally with the "weakest, the plethoric and the enervated, are 
found among these Gentiles of science. 
The reverse proposition, that there are certain constitutions 
for which, by whatever form of chronic disease they may be 10 
QUERIES m ELECTRO-PHYSIOLOGY 
afflicted, electricity is always indicated, is equally true. Tliere 
are patients who find in electrical treatment almost a specific. 
Whether they suffer from dyspepsia or neurasthenia, from hys- 
teria or diseases of special organs, rheumatism or neuralgia, 
electrization always relieves them up to a certain point, at 
least, if it does not positively cure. The hroad fact to he un- 
derstood is, that it is not so much the disease or the symptoms 
as the temperament that indicates or contraindicates electri- 
zation. 
While some chronic diseases are more amenable to elec- 
tricity than others, among all there are individuals to 
whom it is a matter of indifference wdiat special affection they 
may suffer from ; so long as improvement in local or general 
nutrition is indicated, they will be benefited by electrical treat- 
ment. 
To all this it should be added that some persons are indif- 
ferent to electricity—they can bear almost any strength of ei- 
ther current very frequently, and for long applications, without 
experiencing any effect either good or evil. Electricity may 
be poured over them in limitless measure; they may be satu- 
rated with it, and they may come out from the applications, 
or from a long course of treatment, just as they were before, 
not a whit better or worse. Patients who are quite delicate 
and sensitive exhibit this supreme and provoking indifference 
to electricity. lam inclined to believe also that patients vary 
in their susceptibility to electricity at different times of life. 
Susceptibility to stimulants and narcotics oftentimes under- 
goes strange modifications during the lifetime of an individ- 
ual. Those who at one time cannot drink coffee sometimes 
find that a few years so modify the temperament that they 
can drink it with absolute freedom, and vice versa. Similarly 
also, alcoholic liquors act in a most capricious way, sometimes 
benefiting, at other times injuring even when nearly all the other 
conditions except age are the same. Idiosyncrasies in regard 
to certain articles of food are by no means constant through 
life—they may change either way, and that* too in the course 
of a few years; they may be modified by attached febrile or 
other diseases that revolutionize the system, or by residence in 
various climates, or by mere lapse of years. Analogy would AND ELECTEO-THEEAPEIJTICS. 
11 
lead us to suppose that susceptibility to electricity might also 
be thus modified, and my observations seem to convince me 
that such is the case. 
I am further inclined to believe that susceptibility to elec- 
tricity, favorable and unfavorable, like all other constitutional 
tendencies, is subject to the laws of hereditary descent, and 
runs in families. lam now treating by electricity three mem- 
bers of the family of a physician, wdio are afflicted with quite 
diverse maladies, but all of whom not only improve under the 
treatment, but can be electrified with great freedom by either 
current; and yet none of them are strong, and two of them are 
delicate. 
On the other hand, I have treated families where several 
of the members are so susceptible to the electric current that 
the application must be made with great care lest unpleasant 
results occur. lam fully convinced also that the proportion 
of those who do not bear electricity well is larger among the 
higher than among the lower classes; in hospital and dispen- 
sary practice the number of patients who exhibit excessive 
susceptibility to the electric treatment is quite limited, where- 
as in private practice, among the intellectual classes, one out 
of five or ten, take the cases as they run, must be treated with 
very considerable caution, lest disagreeable symptoms arise. 
5. Have the Slow Interruptions of the Faradic Current 
any Therapeutical Advantage over the Rapid Interruptions 
of the same Current, or over the Slow Interruptions of the 
Galvanic Current f 
In this matter there has been too little of fresh, indepen- 
dent observation, and too much of blind and absurd deference 
to European authority. If a muscle will not contract under a 
rapidly-interrupting faradic or slowly-interrupting galvanic 
current, it will not contract under a faradic current, however 
slowly interrupted. The slow interruptions are not, accord- 
ing to my experience, any less irritating than the rapid inter- 
ruptions. I have tested them side by side with rapid inter- 
ruptions, in cases of facial paralysis, hemiplegia, and infantile 
paralysis, for the sole purpose cf ascertaining the truth in this 
matter, and I do not find any therapeutic advantage in favor 12 
QUERIES m ELECTRO-PHYSIOLOGY 
of the slow interruptions. It may be that in Duchenne’s 
machine such a difference of therapeutic action is observable ; 
but those who use a machine which, like Kidder’s, gives a 
very rapidly-interrupted and pleasant current, will find that 
the reputed advantages of a slow interruption have been over- 
rated. I have compared slow with rapid interruptions in the 
machine of the Galvano-Faradic Manufacturing Company, 
which is an excellent contrivance for producing slow interrup- 
tions, and I have not been able to differentiate any advantage 
that it has over tbe galvanic current, or over the rapid inter- 
ruption of the same machine. 
The practical difference between the primary and second- 
ary faradic currents has also been over-estimated. Granting 
all that Duchenne claims in regard to the differential physiolo- 
gical action of the currents of the primary and secondary coil, 
that the primary acts more powerfully on the deeper tissues, 
and the secondary on the skin, and so- forth, still we are forced 
to admit that the practical therapeutic difference in the action 
of the currents is not so demonstrable, and that, whatever dif- 
ference there may be, cannot well be reduced to a general 
law. 
Electro-physiology is one science, electro-therapeutics is 
another. Electro-physiology answers only to explain, to for- 
tify, and to elucidate, and in some respects to guide electro- 
therapeutics ; but, in the present state of either science, it can- 
not be a complete basis for electro-therapeutics, and theoreti- 
cal deductions from the former to the latter cannot be ac- 
cepted until they have stood the test of experience. 
Similarly, also, in Kidder’s machine, in which the helix is 
composed of three coils of wire of different length and thick- 
ness connected together, and, so to speak, tapped, at different 
points there is a decided difference in the electro-physiological 
action of the different currents A-B, A-C, A-D, B-C, C-D, 
and B-S ; but the practical difference between these currents 
in the treatment of disease, so far as Dr. Rockwell and my- 
self can ascertain from long use of the machine, can mostly 
be explained by the differences of intensity. To the head and 
very sensitive parts we use the A-B current, because it is AND ELECTRO-THERAPEUTICS. 
13 
mild and pleasant; to the body generally, we nse A-D and 
A-C. 
There may be an important therapeutical difference in the 
action of these currents besides that of simple intensity, but, 
on account of the vast complications of the subject, it seems 
impossible to reduce it to a general law.