REPRINT FROM THE ST. LOUIS COURIER OF MEDICINE, JAN. 1887. 
THE ACTION OF THE CONSTANT GALVANIC 
CURRENT, ESPECIALLY IN THE TREATMENT 
OF STRICTURE OF THE URETHRA. 
By David Prince, M. D., Jacksonville, III. 
Abstract of liemarks made at the Central JU. Dist. Medical Society in 
Springfield, Oct, 19, 1886.] 
THE galvanic force is conceived of as partially decomposing 
the tissues, sending the oxygen and the acids toward 
the positive pole as applied to the surface of the body, while the 
hydrogen and the alkalies go in the opposite direction or to the 
bougie introduced into the urethra or to any other metallic body 
introduced into any other part. 
When this decomposing agent acts in a moderate degree of 
intensity, the tissues are not destroyed but are rendered more 
yielding, so that cicatricial material which is ordinarily unyield- 
ing, acquires the property of expanding before a moderate force. 
In the treatment of stricture of the urethra by this agent, an 
ordinary steel bougie is introduced as far as it will go. 
It is better to employ a size that wdl enter the stricture a 
little. It will rarely be necessary to employ a size smaller than 
No. 12, French scale. 2 
The positive pole (connected with the copper or the carbon) is 
made to occupy such a position on the surface of the body as 
will afford a shorter line to the point of the bougie, than to any 
other part of it. The sacrum is the place, therefore, for the posi- 
tive pole which may consist of a sponge or of a wet napkin upon 
which the patient lies in a semi-recumbent position. 
It is not necessary to insulate the bougie, as by the arrange- 
ment of the sponge on the sacrum, the resolving force crowds 
toward the point, where it is needed to act upon the solid tissue. 
A failure to pass the instrument is not considered a failure in 
treatment, as the softening influence is found to last several 
days, and an instrument may pass in three days, which failed to 
pass in the first treatment. • 
The statement of the strength of the constant current best 
adapted to the purpose is one which is uncomfortable to the 
hands when holding wet sponges as terminals of the wires which 
convey the current. These sponges should be as large as can 
be conveniently grasped by the hand. In use, the negative 
sponge is placed upon the heel of the bougie, or the sponge is 
detached from the wire and a metallic connection is secured. 
With a current of a strength here indicated, ten minutes should 
be considered a sufficient length of time for one sitting, though 
a much longer period has been occupied without injury. 
It should not be the ambition of the operator to get through 
the first time. 
It is better to try again the next day or the day after. It is 
sometimes found that though the instrument may fail to pass, 
the patient finds an improvement in the readiness with which the 
urine gets away. The relief of the spasmodic element in the 
obstruction may help to account for this. 
It has been found that in a case of total cessation of the pas • 
sage of urine through the penis for years, a short passage having 
been found through a fistulous opening, the urine passed to 
some extent through the natural channel after a first treatment 
which did not succeed in securing an entrance of the bougie into 
the bladder. 
A battery of 60 cells of the LeClanche style will furnish a 
current strong enough for this purpose if kept in good order. 3 
It is believed that no stricture needs to be cut unless it is one 
oilowing an injury in which the healing has taken place with a 
detachment of one portion of the urethra from the other, and this 
condition would, of course require to cut down upon the strict- 
ure from without, to find the detached ends, and to bring the two 
parts of the tube into line, when it must be held for a time by 
an instrument retained in the urethra. 
[The method of employing the galvanic current was illustrated 
by a drawing, of which the accompanying cut is a copy.] 
In the employment of the galvanic current for all resolving 
purposes, the negative pole is used. When, however, the current 
is used for hastening the healing of ulcers and the dispersion or 
solidification of neoplasms manifesting spongy growths, the 
positive pole is employed. The entrance of the current is dis- 
tributed over a considerable surface by means of a wet sponge 
or other convenient soft substance. 
Some growths manifesting the power of returning after ex- 
cision have been suppressed by this agency. 
The employment of the current in the treatment of mother's 
marks and cancerous congenital developments, or aneurism by 4 
anastomosis, must be on a different principle. The current 
must be intense enough to destroy the tissues, hence the force is 
concentrated upon needles which are introduced into the tissues; 
and between the points of the needles, the tissues are intimately 
torn by the chemical breaking up of the molecules in the develop- 
ment of the hydrogen which goes to the negative pole and the ox- 
ygen which goes to the positive needle. If it is desired to avoid 
the deposit of the carbon of the decomposition as a black for- 
eign body upon the needle, a platinum needle should be em- 
ployed on the positive side.