Electrocution

“ By C. B. Radcliffe, M.D. Macmillan.
[2] See Mr. Netten Radcliffe upon the differential reaction of voltaic and induced currents of electricity. Note to page 331, vol. i., of Bazire’s translation of Trousseau’s “Clinical Medicine.” Hardwicke.
[3] This observation, made in 1873, requires some qualification now (1886) . At several of the great medical schools, though not at all, electrical treatment has been transferred from the hospital porter to some member of the hospital staff; and at more than one a systematic course of lectures upon electro-therapeutics has been delivered. ”

“ But, if we were to attach two or more pipes to the tank, or one large pipe, we should make it easier for the water to flow, and, therefore, the total amount of resistance to the passage of the water would be very much less, and the tank would quickly be emptied.
[10]
Now, as you already know, water has substance and weight and therefore occupies some space, but electricity has neither substance nor weight, and therefore cannot occupy any space; consequently, to carry electricity from one place to another we do not need to use a pipe, which is hollow, but we use a solid wire. ”

“ Grounding the circuit. The faucet and water pipe lead the electricity to the ground.
Why a bird is not electrocuted when it sits on a live wire. If a man accidentally touches a live wire that carries a strong current of electricity he is electrocuted; yet birds perch on such a wire in perfect safety. If a man should leap into the air and grasp a live wire, hanging from it without touching the ground, he would be no more hurt by it than a bird is. A person who is electrocuted by touching such a wire must at the same time be standing on the ground or on something connected with it. ”

“ Now if every living animal, and every cell within it, be really an electrical machine—a generator of electro-magnetic energy—it is evident that in order to secure and use the power thus produced the apparatus must be insulated from its surroundings, otherwise the electricity would instantly escape back into the earth whence it came. All our electric machines and batteries are thus insulated.
Are animal bodies provided with this electric insulation? They are. The insulatory resistance of the bare human skin varies from 1,000 to 6,000 ohms. ”

“ It has been of late ascertained, likewise, that a change of physiological condition—that is, a change as to healthy and normal action—affects the electricity of the parts of the system, and consequently of surrounding bodies. Substitute a man in the place of a galvanic battery, making his two hands the electrodes, and there will go out from him an electric current, that shall sensibly deflect the needle of a galvanometer, an instrument employed for showing the presence of small portions of electricity. ”

“ It is this energy which, by the action of the machine, is converted into the potential energy represented by the electric field surrounding the two electrodes. To increase the charge it is customary to connect the electrodes with the knobs of two Ley den jars, since by the use of a condenser the quantity of electricity, which can be accumulated with a given difference of potential, is greatly augmented. That energy is used in producing electrification is distinctly felt when working the machine by hand. ”

“ As an illustration of this I may mention that the first experiment I tried with the discharge of a Leyden jar produced luminosity in the tube, but it was not until after six weeks' continuous experimenting that I was able to get a discharge in the exhausted tube which I was satisfied was due to what is ordinarily called electrodynamic action. It is advisable to have a clear idea of what we mean by electrostatic action. If, previous to the discharge of the jar, the primary coil is raised to a high potential, it will induce over the glass of the tube a distribution of electricity. ”

“ Those which readily exhibit electrical phenomena by heating and cooling.—Of these, the tourmaline [9] is the principal.
The best method of disturbing the electric fluid, that is of making it pass from one body to another, is friction. This may be done either by rubbing one electric with another, or with a conductor; but the electricity is generally stronger in the latter case. Other methods for causing electrics to shew electric appearances, are, 6melting, or pouring a melted electric on another substance, heating and cooling, evaporating or effervescing. ”

“ Tho', as in EXPER. VI. a man standing on wax may be electrised a number of times, by repeatedly touching the wire of an electrised bottle (held in the hand of one standing on the floor) he receiving the fire from the wire each time: yet holding it in his own hand, and touching the wire, tho' he draws a strong spark, and is violently shock'd, no Electricity remains in him; the fire only passing thro' him from the upper to the lower part of the bottle. Observe, before the shock, to let some one on the floor touch him to restore the equilibrium in his body ”

“ The voltaic cell, on the other hand, furnishes a large quantity of electricity at low pressure, as a street may be flooded by a broken water-main though the pressure is low. In fact, the quantity of electricity required to decompose a grain of water is equal to that discharged in a stroke of lightning, while the action of a dilute acid on the one-hundredth part of an ounce of zinc in a battery yields electricity sufficient for a powerful thunder-storm. ”

“ It is impossible to tell the precise quantity of electricity which ought to be administered in every complaint, because persons who are affected with the same disease will sometimes require very different degrees of electrization, which must be judged of by the nature of their constitution, their habits of body, and other circumstances. ”

“ We will next consider cutaneous electrization. I have already shown you that when the skin and the conductors are both quite dry, a Faradaic current of moderate power (and practically this form of electricity is always employed in cutaneous electrization) does not penetrate the skin, but is localized upon its surface. ”

“ When now we close the circuit, as before, a brisk effervescence takes place. Bubbles of gas rapidly form on the platinum wires and break away, rising through the liquid. Twice as many form on the negative wire as on the positive one. As these gases rise to the top of the bottle an equal volume of the water drips out through the small hole in the cork.
Fig. 153
Two amperes of electricity will liberate two fluid ounces of hydrogen at the negative pole and one [266] fluid ounce of oxygen at the positive pole, in five minutes. ”

“ But if the body has been electrified it will communicate the electricity to the rod inside, and attract to itself the fluid of opposite quality; the same kind of electricity then is in action in the gold-leaf or needles, and they fly apart—repel each other. Supposing that positive electricity were first communicated, we can cause the contraction of the leaves or wires by applying a negative kind, which, meeting the positive, neutralizes it, and the wires collapse. ”

“ 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. ”

“ You cannot get “positive” without negative electricity. “Positive” is the term applied to the kind produced by rubbing glass with silk or wool; “negative” is the term applied to the kind developed by rubbing sealing-wax, but the kind developed by friction depends on the rubbing substance and certain conditions.
Bodies charged with the same electricity repel; if charged with different kinds they attract each other. The more readily displaced particles when bodies are rubbed become negatively electrified as a rule. ”

“ If, for example, on a winter day in a cold climate, you walk briskly along a wool carpet, the friction of your feet with the carpet generates a store of statical electricity, which immediately passes over the entire surface of your body. If now you touch another person or a metal conductor, such as a steam radiator or a gas pipe, a brilliant spark jumps from your finger, and you experience what is spoken of as an electrical shock. ”

“ Electric currents passing through the human body expend their energy partly in heat and partly in electrolysis. So simple and harmless a thing as common salt would become a virulent poison if it could be electrolized in the body into its elements sodium and chlorine.
Let us make use of an electric current to decompose water into its elements, hydrogen and oxygen. I have a three-ounce wide-mouthed bottle (Fig. 153) and through its cork I pass two short pieces of No. 24 platinum wire by pushing a stout needle through first. ”

“ Where, then, we are able accurately to diagnose a case, there cannot be much doubt as to the appropriateness or not of electrical treatment, and in cases whose origin is obscure, which may be considered practically functional and therefore treated more or less empirically, electricity holds out as much or more hope than any other remedy. Whether electricity should be employed locally or in the form of baths, must depend on the features presented by each individual case. ”

“ ELECTRIC BATH. Electricity may be more efficiently applied in connection with water than by itself. Water is a better conductor of electricity than the dry skin, and hence facilitates its communication to the body. The ordinary method of applying electricity is by attaching one pole of the battery to a metallic plate, placed in contact with some part of the body, while the circuit is completed by the application to the patient of a moist sponge connected with the other pole. ”

“ It is an operation skill in which is easily acquired and applied. The escape of electricity cannot be detected by the sense of smell as can gas, but it can be detected by apparatus far more certain and delicate. Leakage not only means waste, but in the presence of moisture it means destruction of the conductor and its insulating covering by electric action. ”

“ A.D. 1756.—In the “Subtil Medium Proved,” etc., of Mr. R. Lovett, lay-clerk of the cathedral church at Worcester, England, are shown numerous medical cures successfully made by electricity. He asserts that the electric fluid is almost a specific in all cases of violent pains, like obstinate headache, the toothache, sciatica, etc., but that it has not succeeded so well in rheumatic affections. He states that electricity properly administered has never caused injury, and he alludes to equally successful cures made by the Rev. John Wesley and by Dr. Wetzel, of Upsal. ”

“ It had been known for a long time that a body charged with electricity slowly lost its charge even when insulated with the greatest care, and though long ago some physicists believed that part of the leak of electricity took place through the air, the general view seems to have been that it was due to almost unavoidable defects in the insulation or to dust in the air, which after striking the charged body was repelled from it and went off with some of the charge. ”

“ Upon What the Kind of Electricity Excited Depends.—It depends on what a substance is rubbed with whether vitreous or resinous electricity is excited in it. Thus smooth glass rubbed with woolen cloth or silk will be positively electrified; while if it be rubbed upon the back of a cat it will exhibit negative or resinous electricity. So, also, if a resin, as gumlac or sealing-wax, [290] be rubbed with silk or woolen cloth, it will be charged with resinous electricity, but it will be charged with vitreous or positive if it be rubbed with sulphur. ”

“ The fact that the conductivity of the gas is removed by filtering shows that it is due to something mixed with the gas which is removed from it by filtration, and since the conductivity is also removed by an electric field, the cause of the conductivity must be charged with electricity so as to be driven to the sides of the tube by the electric force. ”

“ Radcliffe believes that an administration of positive Voltaic electricity, somewhat analogous to the charge of Franklinic electricity, is frequently beneficial. He insulates the patient and the accessories, and having connected the negative pole with the earth by a wire which he calls a “ground-wire,” he allows the current to pass. With careful insulation the negative electricity passes away by the wire, and while the current circulates the patient continues “charged” with positive electricity. ”

“ As little are we authorised to suppose, that the contractions were produced in consequence of the metals attracting the electrical fluid from the leg: for, since the leg was insulated, it is impossible that it should have received a new supply of electricity, after having been deprived by the metals of what it naturally possessed ”

“ After such strong spark, neither of them discover any electricity.
These appearances we attempt to account for thus: We suppose, as aforesaid, that electrical fire is a common element, of which every one of the three persons abovementioned has his equal share, before any operation is begun with the tube. A, who stands on wax and rubs the tube, collects the electrical fire from himself into the glass; and his communication with the common stock being cut off by the wax, his body is not again immediately supplied. ”