A Newly Discovered System of Electrical Medication Part 8

If the cancer be on the face, or on any part of the head or breast, place P. P. on back of neck; but if it be in the stomach, uterus, or any of the abdominal viscera, place P. P. on spine, a little higher than the affected part. Then treat the disease with N. P., _long cord_, so as to run the current immediately _out_ from the lesion, and yet bring the latter on the _negative_ side[E] of the central point in the circuit; that is, within the negative half of the whole circuit.

ASPHYXIA. (_Suspended Animation._)

Use B D current, pretty strong force. Place P. P. at back of neck--second or third cervical vertebra, and treat with N. P., over all the chest and along the lower margin of the ribs, so as to excite the pectoral muscles, lungs and diaphragm.

RECENT WOUNDS, CONTUSIONS AND BURNS.

Use the B D current, strong force as can be borne. Bring the lesion under P. P., and place N. P. at discretion, in view of the location of the injury. Treat five to eight minutes, twice or thrice on the same day. Unless the injury is very severe, no further treatment will be required. Healing will take place with little or no soreness or swelling. In severe cases, repeat the treatment whenever inflammation gets too high. If _fungus_--"proud flesh"--should appear, treat that with a small-pointed electrode, N. P., placing P. P. on a healthy part, not remote, using A C current, in pretty strong force.

OLD ULCERS.

Take the A D current. If _torpid_, treat with mild force. Treat the sore with N. P., while P. P. is held upon some healthy part, and usually at a higher point. Treat five to ten minutes, three or four times a week. If _high inflammation_ be present, this must first be reduced by applying P. P., in pretty strong force, with N. P., on a healthy part not far away. For this purpose, treat some five to eight minutes daily. Then, when the inflammation is sufficiently subdued, treat as when _torpid_, with mild force and less frequently. It is best, when it can be done, to place the affected part in warm water along with N. P.; bringing the ulcer immediately above the surface of the water.

HEMORRHAGE.

Take B D current, strong force. Apply P. P. to the open blood-vessel, or as near to it as possible; placing N. P., _long cord_, to some adjacent part, and, as nearly as practicable, in the direction from which the blood chiefly comes.

CHLOROSIS. (_Green Sickness._)

This is a disease mostly or entirely peculiar to young women who have not menstruated, and disappears on the establishment of the monthly periods.

Take the A D current. If any symptoms exist of an effort of nature to bring on the menses, note the _time_ of them, and regard it, in the treatment, as the proper monthly period. If no symptoms of such a period are perceptible, the pract.i.tioner must _fix_ upon a time for it, and regard it accordingly. About four to six days before the periodic time, commence to treat as follows, using a _moderate force_: Insert the uterine electrode, N. P., wet in warm water, per v.a.g.i.n.a, until it meets the uterus; and manipulate with P. P. over the dorsal and first two lumbar vertebrae, and more or less over the back on both sides of the spinal column, some six or eight minutes daily, down to the period fixed upon for the catamenia to appear. If they do not start, let the patient rest for some four or five days, and then begin with _general tonic treatment_. (See page 95.) Continue this, three times a week, until within a little less than a week of the _periodic_ time, when the same treatment with the uterine electrode as was at first employed should be resumed, and again be continued to the time a.s.signed for the menses. If no success should appear, return, after a few days, to _general tonic treatment_ as before. Let these forms of treatment be prosecuted until success crowns the effort. Ordinarily, not many months--perhaps not more than one or two months--will be required; especially, if the treatment be aided, on the part of the patient, by a good degree of moderate exercise in the open air, and a free, nouris.h.i.+ng diet.

AMENORRHA. (_Suppressed Menstruation._)

Treat as for _chlorosis_. But if the case be recent--the effect of taking cold--begin, in the first few sittings, to treat eight or ten minutes as for common cold; then conclude the sitting by treating, about as many minutes, in the same manner as prescribed for chlorosis.

DYSMENORRHA. (_Painful Menstruation._)

If the disease be occasioned by uterine displacement, obstructing the _os uteri_, the organ must be restored to its normal position. This can best be done by mechanical action. But it is most commonly occasioned by irritation of the mucus membrane lining the interior cavity of the uterus. Mucus surfaces, under _chronic_ irritation, are electrically negative. Therefore, in this case, if it be an _old_ one, taking the A D current, _very mild force_, apply the uterine electrode, N. P., to the _os uteri_, and treat over the lower dorsal and upper lumbar vertebrae with P. P., _long cord_. Treat five to eight minutes, three times a week.

But I should add, that recovery from this infirmity, when occasioned by uterine irritation, will be much aided by commencing each sitting with a _general tonic treatment_ (see page 95), and closing with the treatment just above prescribed.

The last described form of dysmenorrha is sometimes attended with spasmodic contraction of the _os uteri_, thus preventing the catamenial flow. This may be readily relieved by applying P. P. to uterus, and N.

P. to lower dorsal and upper lumbar vertebrae.

MENORRHAGIA. (_Excessive Menstruation._)

If the menstrual flow is apt to terminate in hemorrhage, it is best to give _general tonic treatments_, about three times a week, between the periods; and during the last four or five days before color is expected to appear, to take the B D current, medium force, and treat the uterus directly, once a day, with the uterine electrode P. P., while moving N.

P. over the dorsal vertebrae, about five to eight minutes, at the close of _general tonic treatment_.

If there be no _hemorrhage_, properly, but only too profuse or too long-continued flow of catamenia, the discharge may commonly be stopped by one or two treatments, of eight to ten minutes each, with the uterine electrode, as prescribed above.

PROLAPSUS UTERI. (_Falling of the Womb._)

Take the B D current, of good medium force, and give _general tonic treatment_ (see page 95), on alternate days, ten minutes, pa.s.sing briefly over the several parts. After this, treat five to eight minutes with uterine electrode, in the manner prescribed for _menorrhagia_. Then close the sitting by removing the uterine instrument, subst.i.tuting the sponge-cup as P. P., and treating with it externally, about five minutes, over the pelvic region, while N. P. is stationed on the spine, at the first or second dorsal vertebra.

On the _intervening_ days, treat only with the uterine electrode, as above prescribed.

LEUCORRHA. (_Whites._)

Take A D current, _very mild_ force. Introduce the v.a.g.i.n.al electrode, N.

P., until it meets the uterus, and manipulate with P. P. over the dorsal vertebrae five to eight minutes, three times a week. Once or twice a week, on the intervening days, give _general tonic treatment_. Omit treatment altogether, for one or two weeks, once in two to three months. Considerable time is often required for the cure of old cases.

SPERMATORRHA.

The points to be gained are, to reduce the action of the amatorial organs of the brain and the secretion of the _testes_, and to contract and strengthen the tissue of the seminal vesicles and the prostrate gland.

Take the B D current. First, treat the lowest part of the cerebellum, on both sides of the spinal cord, with a _mild_ force; using P. P. upon these organs of amativeness, and N. P. on the dorsal vertebrae. Treat so some three minutes. Next, increase the current to medium force; and, taking a handled cup or mug, holding a pint to a quart, mostly filled with tepid water, drop the _p.e.n.i.s_ and _t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es_ into it, along with the tin electrode P. P., and move N. P., _long cord_, over the lumbar vertebrae. Treat in this manner about five minutes. Then place the P. P.

on the pelvis, close above the p.e.n.i.s, and again treat with N. P., _long cord_, over the small of the back, two or three minutes. Treat about three times a week.

IMPOTENCE.

Take B D current, moderate force. Treat exactly as in spermatorrha, except with _reversed poles_, using the _long cord_ with P. P. Treat thrice a week.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] The _process_ of this will probably be explained if another edition should be called for. It is given in one of the author's Cla.s.s Lectures.

[B] Study carefully _Polarization of the Circuit_, page 29.

[C] _Polarization of the Circuit_, page 29.

[D] By a current of _good medium strength_, I mean one which, in the hands, is ordinarily felt rather strongly, yet not sufficiently so to produce distress.

[E] See _Polarization of the Circuit_. Page 29.