Galvanismus.
Galvanism. (“Z” signifies zinc, “s” silver, and
“c” the copper pole.) Attenuations are made by triturating sugar of milk which has
been subjected to the influence of either pole.Clinical.─
Asthma. Brain-fag. Diarrhœa. Epilepsy.
Fever. Hæmorrhoids. Hydrocephalus. Paralysis. Rheumatism. Salivation. Tetanus. Tongue,
affections of. Toothache. Vision, illusions of.
Characteristics.─
Caspari is the authority for
this medicine. The most prominent symptoms are muscular contractions; shuddering, shivering,
cold-water sensations on skin or else burning. Disorders of sight and hearing with confusion
of the head and headache. There is also putrid smell before nose. Many sensations appear in
the tongue, and there is salivation. Catamenia copious. Farrington gives “benumbed
feeling at the back of the head in brain-fag, the positive pole being applied to the
cervical region, the negative to the vertex.”
Relations.─
Compare:
Kali bro., Gels., Electricitas, Magnet. p. arct., Magnet. p. aust.
SYMPTOMS.
1. Mind.─
Sobbing; peevishness.─Inquietude;
oppression.─Anxiety.─Anguish, with oppression of the
chest, and rattling respiration.─Ill-humour; vexation; obstinacy.─Dulness
of mind; incapacity for labour.─Rambling thoughts.─Zoomagnetic
symptoms.─Unusual vivacity and activity of mind, without force of will,
with loss of command, almost entire, over the motions of the limbs.
2. Head.─
Head confused to an excessive and
painful degree; perplexity and giddiness in the head.─Vertigo: with
confusion of the head, and lights before the eyes; with deafness; with alternation of heat
and cold.─Cephalalgia; violent pains in the direction of the ears.─Sensation
as in coryza, in the head and nose.─Pressive headache.─Congestion
in the head.─Noise in the head, like bellowing, or boiling.─Chronic
hydrocephalus.
3. Eyes.─
Sharp pains in the eyes.─Aching
of the eyes.─Pulsation in the eyes.─Jerking of the
eyelids.─Inflammation of the eyes.─Redness of the
eyes, esp. of the conjunctiva.─Swelling of the eyes.─Stye.─Lachrymation.─Difficulty
in moving the eyelids (ameliorated).─Convulsions of the eyes.─Pupils
contracted.─Weakness of sight.─Amaurosis.─Objects
appear to be twisted.─Objects seem enlarged.─Objects
appear: to quiver; more clear; brighter; bluish, or of a deep blue (z).─Blue
colour seems to be greenish, yellow, or red.─Red, to be green, blue, or
slightly reddish, according to the pole which is used.─The earth and air
appear to be white as snow.─Before the eyes, lightnings; a globe of
light; scintillations; reddish light.
4. Ears.─
Violent pains in the ears.─Pulsations.─Sensation
as if little balls circulated in them.─Incisive pains, as if galvanic
rays were passing through them (s).─Redness of the galvanised ear.─Inflammation
and suppuration of the exterior of the ear.─Absence of ear wax;
discharge, at first serous, afterwards like pus, by the ear which is deaf (s.).─Ulcers
in the ears, sometimes with sanious discharge.─Discharge of blood.─Deafness;
whistling in the ears, sometimes with tinkling; noise as in swallowing (s).─Sound
of bells; sound of wind instruments; murmuring; uproar; detonation, like the report of a
pistol.
5. Nose.─
Severe aching in the nose (s).─Incisive
and darting pains.─Tickling (s).─Sensation of
coldness.─Excoriation of the mucous membrane.─Epistaxis.─Putrid
smell before the nose (s).─Great inclination to sneeze (s).─Coryza.
6, 7. Face and Teeth.─
Redness of the face, as in
erysipelas.─Swelling of the face.─Swelled cheek,
with toothache.─Convulsions of the lips and of the muscles of the face.─Burning
on the skin, under the eyes.─Lancination in a rheumatic swelling of the
cheek, as in a wound.─Toothache, sometimes with swelling of the cheek.─Pain
in a hollow tooth, with salivation.
8. Mouth.─
Augmented secretion of saliva;
salivation during the toothache; the saliva has an alkaline taste (c); abundant secretion of
clear saliva, which leaves an acid taste in the mouth; saliva flows from the throat in a
stream.─Caustic sensation on the tongue (c); coldness (s); heat (z);
painful lancinations; pulsation; sensation as if coal were on the tongue, a tumour, or a
boil, or else as though a hole had been pierced in it; blunted sensitiveness of the tongue;
heaviness, with difficult speech; convulsive contractions.
9. Throat.─
Pains in the throat; heat; swelling of
the amygdalæ.─Painful sensation in swallowing.─Abundant
expectoration of mucus.─Cramp of the gullet.
11. Stomach.─
Acidulated taste in the mouth; acid
(z); metallic (z).─Frequently, diminution of appetite, much thirst;
sometimes with burning heat of the body.─Risings, with cutting and
pinching pains in the abdomen; nausea; vomiting, sometimes of a grass-green liquid (c);
violent vomiting.
12. Abdomen.─
Tension in the pit of the stomach.─Colic
(bellyache).─Dull colic.─Pinching and cutting pains
in the abdomen, as from flatus, with risings, emission of wind, and diarrhœa.─Borborygmi
in the abdomen.
13. Stool and Anus.─
Urgent inclination to
evacuate, with sensation of increased peristaltic movement, and evacuation of abnormal
stools (z, on the tongue; s, in the anus).─Stool promoted, in
constipation.─Copious evacuation, at an unusual time.─Two
evacuations during the night; diarrhœa, sometimes with violent vomiting.─After
the diarrhœa, lassitude like that caused by bodily fatigue, and profound sleep.─In
the rectum, pulsation and movement (z).─In the anus, contractions.─Hæmorrhoidal
symptoms; increase of hæmorrhoidal flux.
14. Urinary Organs.─
Great heat in the bladder
(z).─Violent pains in the neck of the bladder.─Augmented
secretion of urine.─Turbid urine, with thick and reddish sediment;
increased emission in gonorrhœa.
15. Male Sexual Organs.─
Erections, sometimes very
strong, and without lascivious ideas.
16. Female Sexual Organs.─
Catamenia copious; the
menses appear each time the patient is galvanised.─Suppressed catamenia
quickly reappear, but nevertheless fail to appear at the following period.
17. Respiratory Organs.─
Spasmodic movements in
the larynx, which ascend and descend.─Painful irritation in the throat.─Cough,
dry; humid; with patients who have tubercles the nodosites speedily soften and break, and
the fatiguing cough disappears.─Difficult respiration; asthma (c)
respiration deep, slow, rattling.─Respiration impeded by each shock.
18. Chest.─
Great oppression of the chest, with
great anguish, and palpitation of the heart.─Pulse accelerated,
intermittent, or rather full.─Accumulation of saliva.─Tightness
in the pit of the stomach, and abundant secretion of a red and hot urine.─Violent
pains in the chest.─Pressure in the chest.─Palpitations
of the heart.
20, 21. Neck, Back, and Limbs.─
Nape and neck
stiff, as from rheumatism.─In the shoulder, stiffness and difficulty of
movement.─Burning and pulsation, with dragging pains extending to the
fingers.─In the arm, draggings and tension (c); heat (z); coldness (c);
tetanic stiffness, with difficulty of movement and lassitude.─In the
hand, itching, sometimes in a swelling on the hand, which soon becomes painful and
suppurates.─Burning, as from hot coals.─Fingers,
almost always benumbed.─Heat in the fingers (z); coldness (s); incisive
and piercing pains (s).─Sensation as though the finger were wrapped up,
as when inflamed and swollen; itching eruption in the articulations.─On
the legs, re-appearance of an itch-like re-percussed eruption.─Trembling
of the muscles in the thighs, and the calves of the legs, during sleep (c).─Painful
sensation commencing in the toes, and extending into the abdomen.
24. Generalities.─
Painful tension throughout the
body; many electric shocks in the body during the night; slight shocks like shivering.─Tetanus;
recurrence of epilepsy cured a long time previously.─The epileptic
attacks, which occurred at night, now take place in the daytime.─Contraction
of the flexor muscles (z), of the extensor muscles (c), starting of the tendons.─Disposition
to tremble.─Valetudinary condition; lassitude, sometimes with
drowsiness, or else following diarrhœa; fainting; asphyxia.─Great
sensibility of the galvanised part.─Congestion of the parts touched.
25. Skin.─
Scarlet redness of the legs, of the
arms, of the chest, and of the neck, with miliary eruption (c).─Inflammation
and swelling of the galvanised part.─Miliary scarlatina, over the whole
body, except the face; the margins of the ulcers become more inflamed; the parts
(galvanised) where have been blisters, become painful, brown, swelled, or else discharge
much corrosive serum.
26. Sleep.─
Drowsiness.─Sleeplessness,
sometimes complete; disturbed sleep.─During sleep frequent smiling.─Uneasy
awakening.─Dreams of chewing something which seems to have an agreeable
flavour; vivid dreams; dreams in which the sleeper appears to fly.
27. Fever.─
Sensation of coldness in the body (c);
coldness of the arm (c); sudden sensation as of being sprinkled with cold water.─Shuddering,
with febrile shivering, in hysterical patients; quaking shivering.─Febrile
movements; alternation of heat and shivering; sometimes with shivering, headache, burning in
the throat, and difficult respiration (c).─Heat augmented: in the arm;
along the nerve of a paralysed part; throughout the body; flying heat, or else as intense
and burning throughout the body (c).─Burning on the skin (under the
eyes, or else in the shoulder and the hand) as if from contact with live coals (c).─Pulse:
full, hard, and strong (z); rapid, and full; rapid, small, contracted (c); irregular (c).─General
perspiration.─Copious sweat, which is acidulated (c).® 2000
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