ELECTRO- THERAPEUTICS

a term applied to the use of electricity for the cure of disease. The treatment of lupus and other skin diseases employs the action of the X-rays or of other rays discovered by Finsen, special electric lamps being employed; while X-rays have also proved of benefit in cancers and other new growths, retarding their progre and diminishing their size, and in leucocythaemia by diminishing the size of the spleen. Enlarged and diseased tonsils, under the application of X-rays shrink and disappear. The permanence of the cure has however been questioned. So-called Electrolysis is the best method of removing superfluous hair and moles. Electric treatment is also used to promote the coagulation of blood in the sacs of aneurisms, for the treatment of inflammation of the internal lining of the uterus, for rodent ulcer, for ankylosis or adhesions of joints, and for adhesions in the pleura and elsewhere. The sphere of its application is being gradually extended, a very recent addition consisting in the pa age of a current through the thorax, as a therapeutic measure in pneumonia cases. Both continuous and interrupted currents are used in the treatment of nervous affections, infantile paralysis, neurasthenia, sciatica, chorea, etc., in wasting conditions after aneamia or any prolonged illne , for lumbago,rheumatism, and other painful conditions, very often in combination with ma age. The so-called ‘electric’ belts, rings, etc., depend, however, for their therapeutic powers, not on electricity, but on the faith of the individual who wears them.»