The _galvanic_ bath shares with other galvanic applications made in the
cranial and upper spinal region, the effect of producing the galvanic
_taste_, as also the _flashes_ when the current is interrupted, showing
that the
CRANIAL NERVES
come within the sphere of its influence.
A further effect peculiar to the galvanic bath is a sense of
ITCHING,
felt chiefly in the lower extremities and about the neck, and
proportioned to the intensity of the current. Rather pleasant when mild
or medium currents are used, under the influence of strong currents it
may become so intense as to create an irresistible desire on the part of
the bather to scratch especially the legs.
A negative effect of the galvanic bath, even where very intense currents
are used, is the
ABSOLUTE FREEDOM FROM PAIN
throughout the entire process. I wish this to be understood of course
as holding good only when currents within the ordinary limits of
intensity are employed. The strongest that I have used, and on which I
base my statement, was that from 48 Stöhrer or 60 Hill cells. As
stronger currents are not required for therapeutic purposes, what I have
asserted remains practically true as applied within these limits.
This absence of pain, which cannot be claimed for correspondingly
intense local applications, is to be attributed to the _diffusion_ of
the current throughout the body and its surface, as well as through the
water of the bath. The redness of the _entire_ back after a galvanic
bath, is among the proofs of this diffusion.
Freedom from pain is a characteristic likewise of the faradic bath,
_properly administered_. When too strong a faradic current however is
incautiously administered, the resulting muscular contractions are
accompanied by an amount of local pain proportioned to the violence of
the contractions. By keeping the faradic current within proper limits,
all pain can be avoided.
With respect to
MUSCULAR CONTRACTIONS,
the effects of the electric bath may be distinguished from those
obtained by other modes of faradization by their comprehensiveness.
Many groups of muscles may be made simultaneously to contract by this
means. The practical bearing of this on the therapeutics of _pareses_
and _paralyses_, renders it an important characteristic of the bath.
The physiological effects on
THE MIND
of electric baths, is a natural result of the enhanced tone and vigor of
the physical system, and keeps pace with this. Mental buoyancy and even
exhilaration are among the most common sequences of electric baths.
Although indirect, these results are none the less decided.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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