On the therapeutic application of electro-magnetism in the treatment of rheumatic and paralytic affections / By Robert Froriep ; tr. from the German by Richard Moore Lawrance.

  • Froriep, Robert, 1804-1861.
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the therapeutic application of electro-magnetism in the treatment of rheumatic and paralytic affections / By Robert Froriep ; tr. from the German by Richard Moore Lawrance. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    CONTRACTION OF THE CAPILLARIES. 2 1 and comes to the conclusion that paralysis of the capillaries is the principal cause of congestion, inflammation, and effusion. It cannot be denied that the vessels contract, since Schwann saw them contract beneath the microscope on the application of cold; and Valentin has also observed the same result from irritation of the nerves supplying them. The contraction of the capillaries is induced by effects of temperature, mechanical, chemical, and electrical stimulants. This is proved by the experi- ments which have been made with solutions of salt, sal volatile, cantharides, and alcohol on the veins and capillaries: contraction of the veins has been produced by pinching them with forceps; and I have often seen distended vessels* contract on the application of an electrical current, the part sti- * Dr. Golding Bird remarks in his lectures,—We have seen that electricity, under all its modifications, is a most energetic agent in exciting contractions of muscular fibre. This susceptibility to the stimulus of electricity is not limited to real muscular tissue, but is equally participated in by those white contractile tissues, which, by some physiologists, are hardly regarded as belonging to the class of true muscles. I allude particularly to the muscular coats of arteries, intestines, and bronchial tubes, as well as the structure of the uterus. Dr. J. C. B. Williams has actually demonstrated the contrac- tibility of a bronchus under the influence of a current of voltaic electricity.—Ed.