Whatever  difference  of  opinion  there  may  be  concerning  the  rationale
of  electrization,  or  whatever  dispute  there  may  be  concerning  the  use  and
the  meaning  of  the  words  stimulant,  sedative,  and  tonic,  the  majority  of
advanced  practical  electro-therapeutists  must  substantially  indorse  the
emphatic  words  of  Professor  Niemeyer :  "  In  the  constant  current  we  have  a
means  more  powerful  than  any  other  of  modifying  the  nutritive  conditions
of  parts  that  are  deeply  situated."  *

Rationale  of  Electrization. — The  stimulating,  the  sedative,  and  the  tonic
effects  of  electrization  are  resultants  of  the  various  and  diverse  action  of
the  currents  on  the  tissues.  These  effects  have  been  defined  as  mechanic,
physical,  catalytic  (increase  of  circulation  and  absorption),  electrotonic
(modification  of  nerve),  electrolytic  (electro-chemical  decomposition),  and
chemic.  The  mechanic  effects  are  more  markedly  observed  from  the
faradic  current,  the  other  effects  from  the  galvanic.  These  terms,  con-
sidered as  explanations  of  the  action  of  electrization,  are,  it  must  be  ad-
mitted, quite  unsatisfactory,  since  they  are  incapable  of  exact  and  com-
plete definition,  and  must,  to  a  certain  extent,  include  each  other.  It  is
safe  to  say  that  we  know  as  much  of  the  rationale  of  electrization  as  of
most  of  our  internal  remedies.  .  (See  chapter  on  the  subject  in  Electro-
Physiology.)

Is  Electricity  Transformed  into  Nerve  Force? — Nearly  all  of  the  earlier
experimenters  in  electro-therapeutics  assumed  without  argument  that  elec-
tricity was  identical  with  the  nerve  force,  or,  at  least,  that  it  was  directly
transformed  into  it.  Although  the  weight  of  evidence  is  at  present  de-
cidedly against  the  theory  of  the  identity  of  those  forces  (see  Experiments

*  "  Text-Book  of  Practical  Medicine."     Translation  of  Drs.   Humphreys  and  Hack-
ley,  vol.  ti.,  p.  90.
202  ELECTRO-THERAPEUTK  -.
