In view of the firm foothold gained by electricity in the therapeusis of gastric and intestinal disorders, it will not appear superfluous to give a brief review of the history and physiological action of this agent with reference to the digestive tract.

Numerous experiments have been made in the study of the influence of electricity upon the stomach and intestines; all of them serve to demonstrate the physiological effects of this agent.

Ludwig and Weber,1 von Ziemssen,2 and Bocci3 have stated that in animals the faradic, as well as the galvanic, current, applied directly to the stomach, causes contractions of this organ, and produces secretion of gastric juice.

Schillbach,4 upon applying the galvanic current to the bowels of a rabbit, observed intense contractions at the site of the anode, followed by peristaltic movements. Fubini 5 lately demonstrated, after making a Vella's double intestinal fistula, that electricity quickens intestinal peristalsis to a high degree, viz., about five or six times.

The influence of electricity upon the stomach and intestines thus being evident, many authors endeavored to make use of this means in the therapeutics of these organs.

For many years past numerous writers have employed electricity in affections of the stomach and intestines. The method generally used for this purpose consisted in the percutaneous application of the current; usually one electrode was held in the neighborhood of the vertebral column at about the sixth dorsal vertebra on the left side, the second electrode being placed at the epigastrium.

A. D. Rockwell and M. Beard6 were among the first to make use of electricity on a large scale in the treatment of nervous dyspepsias. To the application of electricity to the stomach they added general electrization, and had the most brilliant results.

1Ludwigand Weber: Cited from Kussmaul, Arch. f. Psych, und Nerv., 1877, Bd. viii., p. 205.

2Von Ziemssen: Klin. VortWige, No. 12, "Die Electricitat in de Medicin".

3 Bocci: Lo Sperimentale, June, 1881.

4Schillbach: Virch. Arch., Bd. 109, p. 284.

5Fubini: Centralbl. f. d. med. Wissensch., 1882, No. 33. p. 579.

6A. D. Rockwell and M. Beard: Philad. Med. Surg. Report., 1868, No. 20, and 1871, p. 470.

Neftel1 likewise had much success from the electrical treatment.

Fuerstner 2 recommends the galvanic current for the treatment of atonic dilatations of the stomach.

Oka and Harada,3 Leube,4 Lente, 5 Semmola,6 Richter7 and Leubuscher,8 speak highly of the application of the electric current in various pathological conditions of the stomach and intestines.

Besides these clinical facts, there have lately been added some more exact notes as regards the physiological effects of percutaneous electricity of the stomach in man. Ewald and myself 9 have been able to demonstrate an acceleration of the motor faculty of the stomach under the influence of percutaneous faradization, by the appearance of the salol test in the urine about one-fourth of an hour earlier than otherwise. A. Hoffmann 10 showed that the galvanic current percuta-neously applied in the gastric region for twenty minutes produces an abundant secretion of gastric juice.

1 Neftel: Centralbl. f. d. med. Wissensch., 1876, No. 21, p. 370.

2Fuerstner: Berl. klin. Wochensch., 1876, No. 11.

3Oka and Harada: Berl. klin. Wochensch., 1876, No. 44.

4Leube: Deutsch. Arch. f. klin. Medicin, 1879, tome 28, p. 98.

5Lente: Arch, of Electrol. and Neurol., 1874, i., p. 193.

6Semmola: "L'elettricita nel vomito." Gaz. med. Ital. Lombard., 1878, No. 6.

7Richter: Berl. klin. Wochensch, 1882, Nos. 13 and 14.

8 Leubuscher: Centralbl. f. klin. Med., 1887, No. 25.

9Ewald and Einhorn: Verhandlungen des Vereins fur innere Medicin, 1888, p. 58.

10A. Hoffmann: Berl. klin. Wochensch., 1889, Nos. 12 and 13.