Kodak Ltd.
RÖNTGEN RAY PHOTOGRAPH OF BRITISH AND FOREIGN FOUNTAIN PENS. TAKEN ON WRATTEN X-RAY PLATE.
CHAPTER XXV
ELECTRICITY IN MEDICINE
One of the most remarkable things about electricity is the immense number of different purposes for which it may be used. We have already seen it driving trams and trains, lighting and heating our houses, and carrying our messages thousands of miles over land and sea, and now we come to its use in medical work. In the minds of many people medical electricity is associated with absolute quackery. Advertisements of electric belts, rings, and other similar appliances have appeared regularly for many years in our newspapers and magazines, and constant exposures of the utter worthlessness of almost all these appliances have produced the impression that medical electricity is nothing but a bare-faced fraud, while the disgusting exhibitions of so-called electric healing which have been given on the music-hall stage have greatly deepened this impression. 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. On this account nervously-sensitive people shrink from the idea of any kind of electrical treatment. As a matter of fact electric shocks have no healing value, but on the contrary they are frequently harmful, and a very severe shock to a sensitive person may cause permanent injury. No shocks whatever are given in electric treatment by medical men, and indeed in the majority of cases the treatment is unaccompanied by unpleasant sensations of any kind.
In the previous chapter we spoke of the use of the Röntgen or X-rays in examining the various bones of the body. By means of the fluorescent screen it is quite easy to find and examine fractures and dislocations, and many of the diseases of the bones and joints can be seen and recognized. Metals are opaque to the X-rays, and so the screen shows plainly such objects as needles or bullets embedded in the flesh. Sometimes people, especially young children, swallow coins and other small metal articles, and here again the X-rays will show the exact position of the intruder. A particularly valuable application of the rays is in the discovering and locating of tiny fragments of metal in the eye, for very often it is quite impossible to do this by ordinary observation. Most of these fragments are of steel or iron, and they are most easily removed by means of an electro-magnet. If the fragment is very small a powerful magnet is used, one capable of supporting 500 or 600 lb.; but if it is fairly large a weaker magnet, supporting perhaps 30 lb., must be employed, because the forceful and rapid dragging out of a large body might seriously damage the eye.
If the chest is examined by the Röntgen rays the lungs are seen as light spaces between the clearly marked ribs, and any spot of congestion appears as a darker patch. In this way the early stages of consumption may be revealed, and in pneumonia and other similar complaints valuable information regarding the condition of the lungs can be obtained. It is possible also to follow to a considerable extent the processes of digestion. X-rays easily pass through ordinary food, but if bismuth oxychloride, which is quite harmless, is mixed with the food, the mixture becomes opaque to the rays, and so its course may be followed on the screen. The normal movements of the food are well known, and an abnormal halt is probably caused by an obstruction of some kind, and thus the X-rays enable the physician to locate the obstruction, and to form an opinion of its nature.
In our chapter on wireless telegraphy we saw that the discharge of a Leyden jar takes the form of a number of rapid oscillations backwards and forwards. These oscillations take place at a rate of more than half a million per second, but by the use of an apparatus called a “high frequency transformer” the rate is increased to more than a million per second. Electricity in this state of rapid oscillation is known as high frequency electricity, and high frequency currents are very valuable for some kinds of medical work. The application of these currents is quite painless, and but for the strange-looking apparatus the patient probably would not know that anything unusual was taking place. To some extent the effect maybe said to be not unlike that of a powerful tonic. Insomnia and other troubles due to disordered nerves are quickly relieved, and even such obstinate complaints as neuritis and crippling rheumatism have been cured. The treatment is also of great value in certain forms of heart trouble. By increasing the strength of the high frequency currents the tissues actually may be destroyed, and this power is utilized for exterminating malignant growths, such as lupus or cancer.
The heat produced by a current of electricity is made use of in cauterizing. The burner is a loop of platinum wire, shaped according to the purpose for which it is intended, and it is used at a dull red heat. Very tiny electric incandescent lamps, fitted in long holders of special shape, are largely used for examining the throat and the various cavities of the body.
In the Finsen light treatment electric light is used for a very different purpose. The spectrum of white light consists of the colours red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Just beyond the violet end of the spectrum are the ultra-violet rays. Ultra-violet light consists of waves of light which are so short as to be quite invisible to the eye, and Dr. N. R. Finsen, a Danish physician, made the discovery that this light is capable of destroying bacterial germs. In the application of ultra-violet rays to medical work, artificial light is used in preference to sunlight; for though the latter contains ultra-violet light, a great deal of it is absorbed in passing through the atmosphere. Besides this, the sun sends out an immense amount of radiant heat, and this has to be filtered out before the light can be used. The usual source of light is the electric arc, and the arc is much richer in ultra-violet rays if it is formed between electrodes of iron, instead of the usual carbon rods. The light, which, in addition to the ultra-violet rays, includes the blue, indigo, and violet parts of the spectrum, is passed along a tube something like that of a telescope, and is focused by means of a double lens, consisting of two separate plates of quartz. Glass cannot be used for the lens, because it is opaque to the extreme ultra-violet rays. A constant stream of water is passed between the two plates forming the lens, and this filters out the heat rays, which are not wanted. In some forms of Finsen lamp an electric spark is used as the source of light, in place of the arc.
The most important application of the Finsen light is in the cure of the terribly disfiguring disease called lupus. This is a form of tuberculosis of the skin, and it is produced by the same deadly microbe which, when it attacks the lungs, causes consumption. In all but extreme cases the Finsen light effects a remarkable cure. A number of applications are necessary, each of half an hour or more; and after a time the disease begins to disappear, leaving soft, normal skin. The exact action of the light rays is a disputed point. Finsen himself believed that the ultra-violet rays attacked and exterminated the microbe, but a later theory is that the rays stimulate the tissues to such an extent that they are enabled to cure themselves. As early as the year 1899 Finsen had employed his light treatment in 350 cases of lupus, and out of this number only five cases were unsuccessful.