d had
it not been for the quiet and patient labors of a few progressive
spirits, we would at the present day be still deprived of the benefits
which we reap from it in these conditions. Even to-day, the number of
those who are satisfied of the utility of electricity in this respect is
comparatively small. Only two years ago, I attended a gentleman who was
suffering from a very severe attack of rheumatic gout. I had both a
galvanic and a faradic battery at his house, which, in addition to
appropriate medicinal treatment, I applied daily to the affected
joints,--using mainly the faradic current. Being compelled at the time
to go to the country, the case during my absence drifted into the hands
of a gentleman, a professor at one of the medical colleges, of high
standing in the profession and considered one of our leading medical
men, who ridiculed and promptly discontinued the use of electricity in
the case. He gave it as his opinion that it did more harm than good, and
I have no doubt he did so conscientiously--however unprofessional his
conduct may have been, in this as well as other respects. The
contributions of others have since then vindicated my views in this
respect. Among others, Dr. Drosdoff[10] of St. Petersburg has given a
number of cases of acute articular rheumatism from the clinique of
Professor Botkin, in which the faradic current was employed either alone
or in conjunction with other treatment. From among the deductions which
he makes from a series of careful experiments in this respect, I quote a
few--such as bear directly on our subject, and to which I affix my own
numbers.

1) "The sense of pain as the result of electric irritation is
considerably diminished, and sometimes entirely lost, in joints
attacked by acute articular rheumatism, so that the patient
experiences no pain, even when the distance between the coils
equals naught[11], and both closure and opening are accompanied
by the evolution of numerous sparks. At the same time the
slightest pressure of the affected parts gives rise to the most
intense pain."

"The diminution of the electro-sensibility appears in the
majority of cases to be in inverse proportion to the severity of
the disease and the intensity of the pain produced by mechanical
irritation."

2) "The enhanced tactile and thermic sensibility of the diseased
joints is diminished by a faradization lasting from 5 to 10
min