ly realization in any case of its appropriateness. I
trust however that in the future, from being a "dernier ressort," it
will come to take its proper place among other remedies, to be
administered "when it will do the most good." When this comes to pass,
the results obtained, satisfactory as they are even now, will become as
brilliant and well-authenticated as those of every other remedy from
which experience has taught us how to reap the greatest advantage.

In the following "clinical record" I shall not omit to cite cases where
the baths were unsuccessful, wherever it shall appear to me that the
citation of such cases may be of assistance in arriving at a true
estimation of the therapeutic value of the remedy.

In giving the histories of cases, it will scarcely be necessary to enter
very minutely into details; the demands of the present work will be
fully met if sufficient is said of a case to illustrate the effects of
the baths in the class of cases that it represents.

Finally, I wish it understood that in a few of the conditions in which
I shall advise the employment of the baths, I have had no personal
experience in their use, but base my opinions on what I know of their
effects, together with what is known of the results obtained in
analogous conditions by local electrical methods.

SPECIAL DISEASES.

RHEUMATISM.

Its great frequency, the pain and discomfort which it occasions, and its
many, often dangerous _sequelae_, added to its frequent obstinacy under
the most varied treatment, render rheumatism one of the most formidable
diseases that we have to encounter. The long list of remedies that have
from time to time been employed in its treatment, bear witness by their
very number to the little reliance that can be placed in any one of
them. A remedy then which can be _relied on_ to exercise a favorable
influence in all the forms of rheumatism--acute, subacute and
chronic--as well as on most of its sequelae, should of right become a
welcome addition to our armamentarium in the treatment of this disease;
and such is the electric bath. The treatment of the sequelae I shall
speak of under separate heads. The disease itself I will divide into
three classes, viz: _a_) acute, _b_) subacute and _c_) chronic
rheumatism.

_a_) ACUTE RHEUMATISM.--A few years ago the use of electricity in acute
inflammatory conditions was scouted by most of the profession, an