Static electricity may be used; it is preferable to galvanism and its effects arc more lasting. Tt may he used in a variety of ways, the simplest I wing that of passing a sc ries of shocks the, larynx from a Leyden jar. As the aphonia is, however, only one of the many manifestations of the hysterical state, it will he advisable to administer the static elec tricity in a way that will affect the entire system. The simplest and mildest method of it is to place the. patient on an insulated stool or in an insulated chair, and by means of a metal font-plate to her body with the positive pole.of a. Ca rre, lIoltz, or a Wimsliorst machine. This condition of continuous positive electrification is called the static bath. I;y changing the poles, negative electrification is produced and a series of sparks may he drawn by approaching a large brass electrode to the patient's body; or the static breeze or spray may be employed by using an electrode with numerous points.
McClure insulates the patient, and for the first two sittings administers the bath; afterwards by bringing a wooden ball close to the skin, but not close enough to produce a spark, lie moves it in all directions over the body. When the paralysed part or an area of ancesthesia is approached the ball is laid aside, and sparks (light or heavy) are extracted by means of metal electrodes. Aphonia may be similarly treated by drawing sparks from the skin over the larynx.
General Faradisation may be employed in hysteria, as static electricity is administered by the static bath, in order to bring all parts of the body under the influence of the current. With her naked feet the patient stands upon a large metal disc or moistened sponge electrode connected with the negative pole of the battery, and the physician places himself in connection with the positive pole through a wire held in one hand, with the other he holds in contact with the patient's body a large metal ball enveloped in a moistened sponge. The current thus passes through his body, and also through the patient as it passes from pole to pole. in the same wav Gaivano-Faradisation may be employed as by de Watteville's method. Thigh-frequency and sinusoidal currents and the
hydro-electric bath arc also employed; the effects obtainable are probably (Inc entirely to suggestion.
ellial1C011S hyperresthesia is best dealt with by static electricity as just described by drawing sparks from the affected regions as in local anes thesia; it also will yield to smart counter-irritation or the cautery.
Vomit/lig when purely hysterical may be suddenly stopped by a light application of the cautery to the skin of the epigastric region, and hysteri cal hiccough yields readily to the same treatment. When either symptom shows a tendency to return a mustard-leaf or a cantharides blister may he applied, or Faradism or static electricity may be employed.
Anorexia Nervosa is best dealt with by a course of Weir Mitchell treat and as in the treatment of obstinate hysterical vomiting the food introduced into the stomach by the siphon may he, retained and digested thoroughly, whilst that administered in the normal way is usually re jected or remains for a long time unchanged in the organ. Rectal feeding is generally useless.
Hystero-Epilepsy.—The treatment of this apparently formidable malady (major hysteria) is to be carried out upon the same lines as are indicated for the management of a patient suffering under a severe convulsive seizure. Nitrite of Amyl in the writer's experience sometimes proves of decided value in bringing the attack to a speedy conclusion. and Pilocarpine has been credited with similar powers. Bromides in full doses, though not capable of effecting the good results observable in epilepsy, occasionally may be found to lessen the tendency towards the repetition of the seizures. Prolonged Weir Mitchell treatment is clearly indicated. The various Continental methods of treating the manifesta tions of the severer forms of hysteria by the application of magnets (metallo-therapy) and other agents need not be discussed; they can only exercise any benefit through the influence of suggestion, which may be more rationally employed by other methods.