ELECTRICITY IN MEDICINE
One of the most remarkable things about electricity is the immense
number of different purposes for which it may be used. We have already
seen it driving trams and trains, lighting and heating our houses, and
carrying our messages thousands of miles over land and sea, and now we
come to its use in medical work. In the minds of many people medical
electricity is associated with absolute quackery. Advertisements of
electric belts, rings, and other similar appliances have appeared
regularly for many years in our newspapers and magazines, and constant
exposures of the utter worthlessness of almost all these appliances
have produced the impression that medical electricity is nothing but
a bare-faced fraud, while the disgusting exhibitions of so-called
electric healing which have been given on the music-hall stage have
greatly deepened this impression. This state of things is very
unfortunate, because electricity, in the hands of competent medical
men, is a healing agent of wonderful potency. Still another source of
prejudice against electricity may be found in the fact that electric
healing is popularly associated with more or less violent shocks. On
this account nervously-sensitive people shrink from the idea of any
kind of electrical treatment. As a matter of fact electric shocks have
no healing value, but on the contrary they are frequently harmful, and
a very severe shock to a sensitive person may cause permanent injury.
No shocks whatever are given in electric treatment by medical men,
and indeed in the majority of cases the treatment is unaccompanied by
unpleasant sensations of any kind.
In the previous chapter we spoke of the use of the Röntgen or X-rays in
examining the various bones of the body. By means of the fluorescent
screen it is quite easy to find and examine fractures and dislocations,
and many of the diseases of the bones and joints can be seen and
recognized. Metals are opaque to the X-rays, and so the screen shows
plainly such objects as needles or bullets embedded in the flesh.
Sometimes people, especially young children, swallow coins and other
small metal articles, and here again the X-rays will show the exact
position of the intruder. A particularly valuable application of the
rays is in the discovering and locating of tiny fragments of metal in
the eye, for very often it is quite impossible to do this by ordinary
observation. Most of these fragments are of steel or iron, and they are
most easily removed by means of an electro-magnet. If the fragment is
very small a powerful magnet is used, one capable of supporting 500 or
600 lb.; but if it is fairly large a weaker magnet, supporting perhaps
30 lb., must be employed, because the forceful and rapid dragging out
of a large body might seriously damage the eye.
If the chest is examined by the Röntgen rays the lungs are seen
as light spaces between the clearly marked ribs, and any spot of
congestion appears as a darker patch. In this way the early stages
of consumption may be revealed, and in pneumonia and other similar
complaints valuable information regarding the condition of the lungs
can be obtained. It is possible also to follow to a considerable extent
the processes of digestion. X-rays easily pass through ordinary food,
but if bismuth oxychloride, which is quite harmless, is mixed with
the food, the mixture becomes opaque to the rays, and so its course
may be followed on the screen. The normal movements of the food are
well known, and an abnormal halt is probably caused by an obstruction
of some kind, and thus the X-rays enable the physician to locate the
obstruction, and to form an opinion of its nature.
In our chapter on wireless telegraphy we saw that the discharge of a
Leyden jar takes the form of a number of rapid oscillations backwards
and forwards. These oscillations take place at a rate of more than half
a million per second, but by the use of an apparatus called a “high
frequency transformer” the rate is increased to more than a million per
second. Electricity in this state of rapid oscillation is known as high
frequency electricity, and high frequency currents are very valuable
for some kinds of medical work. The application of these currents is
quite painless, and but for the strange-looking apparatus the patient
probably would not know that anything unusual was taking place. To
some extent the effect maybe said to be not unlike that of a powerful
tonic. Insomnia and other troubles due to disordered nerves are quickly
relieved, and even such obstinate complaints as neuritis and crippling
rheumatism have been cured. The treatment is also of great value in
certain forms of heart trouble. By increasing the strength of the high
frequency currents the tissues actually may be destroyed, and this
power is utilized for exterminating malignant growths, such as lupus or
cancer.
The heat produced by a current of electricity is made use of in
cauterizing. The burner is a loop of platinum wire, shaped according
to the purpose for which it is intended, and it is used at a dull red
heat. Very tiny electric incandescent lamps, fitted in long holders
of special shape, are largely used for examining the throat and the
various cavities of the body.
In the Finsen light treatment electric light is used for a very
different purpose. The spectrum of white light consists of the colours
red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Just beyond the
violet end of the spectrum are the ultra-violet rays. Ultra-violet
light consists of waves of light which are so short as to be quite
invisible to the eye, and Dr. N. R. Finsen, a Danish physician, made
the discovery that this light is capable of destroying bacterial germs.
In the application of ultra-violet rays to medical work, artificial
light is used in preference to sunlight; for though the latter contains
ultra-violet light, a great deal of it is absorbed in passing through
the atmosphere. Besides this, the sun sends out an immense amount of
radiant heat, and this has to be filtered out before the light can be
used. The usual source of light is the electric arc, and the arc is
much richer in ultra-violet rays if it is formed between electrodes of
iron, instead of the usual carbon rods. The light, which, in addition
to the ultra-violet rays, includes the blue, indigo, and violet parts
of the spectrum, is passed along a tube something like that of a
telescope, and is focused by means of a double lens, consisting of two
separate plates of quartz. Glass cannot be used for the lens, because
it is opaque to the extreme ultra-violet rays. A constant stream of
water is passed between the two plates forming the lens, and this
filters out the heat rays, which are not wanted. In some forms of
Finsen lamp an electric spark is used as the source of light, in place
of the arc.
The most important application of the Finsen light is in the cure
of the terribly disfiguring disease called lupus. This is a form of
tuberculosis of the skin, and it is produced by the same deadly microbe
which, when it attacks the lungs, causes consumption. In all but
extreme cases the Finsen light effects a remarkable cure. A number of
applications are necessary, each of half an hour or more; and after a
time the disease begins to disappear, leaving soft, normal skin. The
exact action of the light rays is a disputed point. Finsen himself
believed that the ultra-violet rays attacked and exterminated the
microbe, but a later theory is that the rays stimulate the tissues to
such an extent that they are enabled to cure themselves. As early as
the year 1899 Finsen had employed his light treatment in 350 cases of
lupus, and out of this number only five cases were unsuccessful.
The ultra-violet rays are said to have a very beneficial effect upon
the teeth. Experiments carried out in Paris, using a mercury vapour
lamp as the source of light, show that discoloured teeth are whitened
and given a pearly lustre by these rays, at the same time being
sterilized so that they do not easily decay. The Röntgen rays are used
for the treatment of lupus, and more particularly for deeper growths,
such as tumours and cancers, for which the Finsen rays are useless,
owing to their lack of penetrating power. The action of these two kinds
of rays appears to be similar, but the X-rays are much the more active
of the two.
Electricity is often applied to the body through water, in the form
of the hydro-electric bath, and such baths are used in the treatment
of different kinds of paralysis. Electric currents are used too for
conveying drugs into the tissues of the body. This is done when it
is desired to concentrate the drug at some particular point, and it
has been found that chemicals can be forced into the tissues for a
considerable distance.
Dr. Nagelschmidt, a great authority on medical electricity, has
suggested the use of electricity for weight reducing. In the ordinary
way superfluous flesh is got rid of by a starvation diet coupled with
exercise, but in many cases excessively stout people are troubled
with heart disorders and asthma, so that it is almost impossible for
them to undergo the necessary muscular exertion. By the application
of electric currents, however, the beneficial effects of the gentle
exercise may be produced without any exertion on the part of the
patient, and an hour’s treatment is said to result in a decrease in
weight of from 200 to 800 grammes, or roughly 7 to 27 ounces.