Electricity may be more efficiently applied in connection with water
than by itself. Water is a better conductor of electricity than the dry
skin, and hence facilitates its communication to the body. The ordinary
method of applying electricity is by attaching one pole of the battery
to a metallic plate, placed in contact with some part of the body, while
the circuit is completed by the application to the patient of a moist
sponge connected with the other pole. The operator often holds one pole
in his hand and applies the other hand, moistened, to the part to be
treated. He is in this way enabled to judge very accurately of the
strength of the current applied. The metallic plate is frequently placed
at the feet of the patient, sometimes in a foot bath. The sponge may be
applied to various parts of the body while the patient is in a sitz
bath. For a general application of electricity the full bath is most
convenient.
This bath is applicable to a very large variety of conditions. To
describe them all would be to give nearly all the uses of electricity as
a remedial agent, which does not come within the scope of this work. The
electric full bath has been strongly recommended for the removal of
mineral poisons from the body. Just how efficacious it is in this
respect, we cannot confidently affirm. Probably its value has been
somewhat exaggerated. Only the primary or galvanic current could be of
any service in this direction.
Electricity is generally acknowledged to be a powerful remedial agent;
but its use requires costly apparatus and much skill in application. It
is necessary that the operator should not only understand the nature of
diseases and the proper methods of applying electricity in treating
them, but he must also thoroughly understand the general laws of
electricity. The electric bath is as badly abused by quacks and
charlatans as the Turkish bath. It should not be employed by unskillful
persons; and for this and other reasons given, it is not well adapted to
home use.