GALVANIZATION, Treatment of Dis ease by. Of the different forms of electricity used in medicine the galvanic or direct current is perhaps the most widely employed. This form of current is derived from a primary battery, a storage battery, or a direct current dynamo. Its therapeutic use has a wide range: invigoration of the muscles; stimulation of the nutritive processes and of the secretory organs; allaying congestion; equalizing the blood pres sure; elimination of morbid substance from the tissues; repulsion of bacterial attack; and sedative effects upon the nervous system. Gen eral galvanism is sometimes applied before a surgical operation to put the patient in a satis factory state, and after the operation as a tonic measure, and also where the healing processes tend to produce local deformities. It may be administered either locally or centrally; local galvanization is used especially for the relief of pain. It is applied to the brain, eye, ear, sympathetic nervous system, spinal cord, ure thra, bladder and chest, either by what is known as application, in which both electrodes are kept in a fixed position, or by "labile) application, in which one or both electrodes are slid over the surface, but not lifted from the skin. It is found that a greater sedative influence is obtained if the galvanic current is not interrupted. Labile and stabile
interrupted currents are generally preferred for the galvanization of muscles of the head, spinal cord and nerve-tracts. Stabile continu ous currents, either uniform or increasing, give the best results. When the galvanic current is interrupted it causes, as is well known, pro nounced muscular contraction. This is of service as a tonic to poorly nourished and atrophied muscles.
By "central)) galvanization is meant that mode of treatment by the galvanic current by which the entire central nervous system may be brought under the influence of the electrical fluid. In order to accomplish this, one electrode, usually the negative, is placed over the solar plexus, at the pit of the stomach, while the other is firmly pressed to the top of the head and passed gradually over the back of the head and along the inner border of the strong muscle that pulls the neck to one side, the sternoclidomastoid. From here the electrode is passed down the spine. It is thought to in crease the electrical excitability of the central nervous system, inducing sleep and relieving general tire. It is a method, however, that should be used with great caution, as it may do more harm than good. See ELEcrRo THERAPEUTICS.