Some of the Limitations of 
Galvanism in Gynecology. 
BY 
WILLIS E. FORD, M.D., 
UTICA. 
REPRINT FROM VOL. XIV. 
(Sijttecofogtcaf Iransacftons. 
-1889. SOME OF THE 
LIMITATIONS OF GALVANISM 
IN 
GYNECOLOGY. 
BY 
WILLIS E. FORD, M.D., 
UTICA. 
REPRINTED FROM THE 
Transactions of the American Gynecological Society, 
SEPTEMBER, 1889. 
PHILADELPHIA : 
WM. J. DORNAN, PRINTER. 
1 889. SOME OF THE LIMITATIONS OF GALVANISM 
IN GYNECOLOGY. 
By Willis E. Ford, M.D., 
Utica. 
Actual results, attained with much labor and experience, 
are hardly ever equal to the hopes and expectations so com- 
monly indulged in when a new invention or brilliant discovery 
is made in science, and yet it is this very enthusiasm that 
keeps alive the spirit of investigation which is always adding 
to our knowledge. When Apostoli first wrote of the modern 
use of the stronger currents of galvanism, the expectations of 
many, perhaps most of us, outran the natural limits of this 
agent. It may be profitable now to examine some of the facts 
which were at first stated, and to see what the actual results 
of galvanism may reasonably lead us to hope for its future. 
It is unquestionably true that, under the most favorable cir- 
cumstances, fibroid tumors of the uterus have been success- 
fully treated, but there is still a reasonable doubt whether 
subserous or large interstitial growths have ever been made to 
disappear entirely by this agent. Certain submucous growths 
have sloughed and come away when the negative electrode 
from a very powerful battery has been applied directly to 
them. Whether this latter process can fairly be called elec- 
trolysis of tumors, is very doubtful. It more nearly resem- 
bles electro-cautery. Pelvic exudates and even old indurated 
masses fixing the uterus in malpositions have been made to 
disappear also by these stronger currents of electricity. 
I was the first to call the attention of the profession to the 4 
LIMITATIONS OF GALVANISM IN GYNECOLOGY. 
fact that peritoneal adhesions were permanently removed by 
galvanism.1 
Just what change is produced in living tissues by galvanism 
has hitherto been largely a matter of speculation. Certain 
experiments recently made by me upon living animal tissues 
seem to point to some definite conclusions, not hitherto 
reached, and to intimate why the field of usefulness of gal- 
vanism is limited. I will refer to some of these experiments 
before reporting my clinical facts. It requires some care to 
obtain accurate measurements of electrical currents. The 
milliamperemeters I have seen all differ somewhat from each 
other, though the one I have (made by Gaiffe) is nearly correct, 
and two others by Liier vary but slightly. A Wheatstone's 
bridge of full size and Deprez deadbeat galvanometer, both 
instruments standardized, were used in these experiments, and 
the electrical facts, so far as given, can therefore be relied 
upon as being exact. The first point investigated was whether 
electrolysis produces any change in the interpolar space, or 
whether the clinical facts observed are due to changes that 
take place only at the electrodes. 
Fresh egg albumen in a watch-glass, under a microscope 
having a large field and about 150 diameters magnifying 
power, was subjected ten minutes to a current of 100 milli- 
amperes, with pressure or potential of 21 volts and resistance 
of 210 ohms. The electrodes were one inch apart. A white 
puffy mass was formed at each electrode, composed of coagu- 
lated albumen entangling minute bubbles of gas. The volume 
of gas eliminated at the negative pole was to that at the posi- 
tive as two to one, and proved to be oxygen and hydrogen 
gases. Across the interpolar space there was a slow move- 
ment of translucent fluid with wavy motion from the positive 
toward the negative electrode, alkaline near the latter and acid 
toward the former. On repeating the experiment under the 
same conditions, with magnifying power increased to 250 diam- 
1 Medical Press of Western New York, April, 1888. WILLIS E. FORD. 
5 
eters, extremely fine filaments were seen extending into the 
interpolar space a little distance, and arranged in a curved 
form analogous to the curves which iron filings assume when 
placed between the poles of a magnet. Therefore, electrolytic 
and electrophoric action both seemed to be present in this 
interpolar space. 
The second experiment consisted of the dissection of the 
muscle of the thigh and leg of a rabbit under ether, and a 
current of 105 milliamperes, with a pressure of 9 volts and 
a resistance of 857 ohms, was passed through four inches 
in length of the muscle for five minutes, the wound dressed 
antiseptically, and the rabbit turned loose for a week. At the 
end of this time he was again etherized; the muscle was found 
to be shrunken, and though the wound had healed perfectly, 
there was at the point where the negative electrode had been 
placed, a cyst containing about a drachm of alkaline, straw- 
colored serum. The pathologist, Theodore Deecke, who ex- 
amined the muscle, reported that the muscular tissue was 
unchanged excepting for a short distance near each pole, 
where there was tonic contraction of the fibres that persisted 
several days in the fresh specimens that were kept on ice. 
No degeneration was found. The dried and therefore shrunken 
appearance of the muscle as compared with the corresponding 
muscle removed from the same rabbit at the same time, 
through which no electricity had been passed, was all that 
could be discovered. 
Another experiment of the same nature through three 
inches of a muscle of the live rabbit with a current of 15 
volts, 22 milliamperes, and 681 ohms, was most carefully 
conducted, and the wound dressed and the rabbit turned 
loose. No new facts were elicited when the animal was 
taken up and the muscle dissected and examined, and fur- 
ther experiments on muscular fibres gave uniformly these 
results, viz.: Where, as in these experiments, the live muscles 
alone were used, care being taken to avoid large nerves and 
bloodvessels, the resistance to the current was considerable. 6 
LIMITATIONS OF GALVANISM IN GYNECOLOGY. 
The results found in such muscles removed a week after the 
electrolysis are, a general appearance of dryness, slight shrink- 
ing in bulk, and microscopically no change in the muscular 
fibre excepting a condition of permanent contraction near the 
place of contact of the poles. No degenerative change could 
be found. The passage of a current of 15 milliamperes, with 
a pressure of 19 volts and a resistance of 1266 ohms, using 
salt sponge electrodes five minutes, directly through the ear of 
a rabbit, including the large bloodvessel which can be dis- 
tinctly seen in this animal when the hair is sheared, produced 
some atrophy and thinning of the tissues at the point of con- 
tact ; but after a week the artery was found not to be obliter- 
ated, though it was much smaller and contained less blood. 
On the other hand, a current passed through a space of four 
inches lengthwise of the ear, the platina tips actually piercing 
the bloodvessel, showed the following results : Using a current 
of 30 milliamperes, with a pressure of 9 volts and a resist- 
ance of 300 ohms, for five minutes, the artery was totally ob- 
literated, and when the animal was examined a week later 
collateral circulation had been partially established. In all 
the experiments, which were too numerous to relate here, 
the collection of an acid liquid at the positive pole, and an 
alkaline at the negative pole, was seen whenever they touched 
exposed tissues, and the bubbles in the fluids were similar in 
physical appearance to those observed in the experiments with 
albumen. 
From these and others in the same line, the conclusion 
seems inevitable that the changes produced in living tissues 
are mainly chemical, and due to the separation of the fluids 
of the body into more simple compounds, or into their ulti- 
mate constituent elements, and that this change is not con- 
fined to the point of contact of the electrodes, but takes 
place with more or less energy through the entire interpolar 
space. The fact so commonly observed of the bubbling of 
the alkaline, watery exudate in the vagina when the negative 
electrode is in contact with the projecting fibroid mass, is con- 
firmatory in part of the above conclusions. WILLIS E. FORD. 
7 
Some of this fluid was carefully collected, free from extra- 
neous matter, at the negative electrode. The patient had an 
intramural fibroid filling the brim of the pelvis and extending 
to the umbilicus. The current ufeed had 90 milliamperes, 16 
volts pressure, 178 ohms resistance, and was passed for fifteen 
minutes. About half a drachm of transparent straw-colored 
fluid was obtained. Its chemical composition was chlorine, 
phosphoric acid, ammonia, sodium, iron, and albumen. It is 
probable that the combination was sodium chloride, acid phos- 
phate of soda, ammonium chloride combined with the iron as 
a ferri ammonium chloride. Under the microscope there were 
found little lumps of sediment consisting of spindle-cells and 
round cells with two to four nuclei, leucocytes, shrivelled 
blood corpuscles, and large bundles of broad connective tissue 
fibres, also bundles of fine fibrillae and small capillary blood- 
vessels. Some of these small capillaries were provided with 
an adventitious sheath, some of them contained shrivelled 
blood corpuscles and leucocytes, while others contained a solid 
fibrinous clot. There was no muscular tissue found, even sur- 
rounding these capillary vessels. There were also some irreg- 
ular-shaped epithelial cells and fat globules. This exudation 
of fluid, as is well known, is very abundant for the first forty- 
eight hours after the application of galvanism, and continues 
for several days, not unfrequently excoriating the vagina and 
vulva. 
If, then, it is true that the changes produced in the tumor 
are due to chemical changes in the fluids of the inter- 
polar space, it is useless to expect that a true muscular ele- 
ment will disappear rapidly under galvanism, or otherwise 
than as a result of the altered nutrition of the parts, and that 
complete disappearance is improbable unless the mass can be 
sloughed by the actual contact of electrodes. I have elsewhere 
stated the fact observed by me, that during the time galvanism 
has been applied at stated intervals, all patients suffer more or 
less systemic disturbance, and this would be quite expected if 
certain disorganized fluids had to be removed by the emunc- 8 
LIMITATIONS OF GALVANISM IN GYNECOLOGY. 
tories of the body.1 The other fact, also noted in the same 
article, that some weeks after the discontinuance of galvanism, 
tumors so treated were found to shrink slowly, can only bo 
explained on the hypothesis that the nutrition of these neo- 
plasms had been permanently interfered with, and that atrophy 
was the slow result. The examination of the urine of patients 
under treatment showed great fluctuations in the amount of 
sediment, this uniformly being markedly greater a few hours 
after galvanism had been given than at any time between the 
applications. This sediment consisted mainly of an increase 
in the sediment that was found before using the galvanism. 
There were present in both cases amorphous urates, epithelial 
cells, and mucus; the acid reaction of the urine remained 
and the specific gravity was increased, from which I could 
draw no conclusion, though perhaps it might be considered 
confirmatory of the facts stated above. As to the effect of a 
current of electricity on the blood, experiments with rabbits 
showed that the current of 19 volts and 1266 ohms of resist- 
ance passed through the ear directly across a large bloodvessel, 
including cartilage and skin, did not permanently obliterate 
it, and the current was stopped only when the needles pierced 
the bloodvessel, when the resistance was very slight and the 
blood coagulated, permanently obliterating the vessel. A 
frog's tongue under a three-fourths inch objective shows arte- 
rial circulation to perfection, and without piercing the tissues 
but with blunt platina electrodes three-fourths of an inch apart, 
a current of 8 volts was passed, the resistance being 40 ohms, 
and the millamperemeter therefore marking 200. At the first 
contact of the electrodes a distinct spasmodic contraction of 
the bloodvessel was observed and a stopping of the current of 
blood. This was but momentary, and the blood slowly re- 
sumed its former rapid pace. After two minutes the current 
was markedly sluggish and seemed slower at the walls of the 
artery than at the centre, and finally came to a standstill. On 
1 Translations of the Medical Society of the State of New York, 1889. WILLIS E. FORD. 
9 
removing the electrodes the blood slowly resumed its course, 
but after the current had passed four minutes the artery was 
blocked by thickly packed blood globules, and the sides of the 
vessel showed a slight milkiness due to coagulation of the 
albumen. On removing the electrodes the artery was found 
to be blocked. Here, again, the change due to electrolysis 
was of a chemical nature and the tissues were found not to be 
injured. From these experiments on the bloodvessels of 
living animals it would seem improbable that a current could 
be applied of sufficient strength to a fibroid tumor to produce 
any marked changes in the bloodvessels, unless the volume of 
the current was large enough actually to cauterize at the poles. 
The electrodes must get into the blood-current in order to 
change the bloodvessels. 
As to the effect of the current on peritoneal adhesions, the 
following experiment was most satisfactory. A large rabbit 
was etherized, the abdomen opened and closed again after 
the ordinary method of laparotomy. A week later the 
same rabbit was taken up and found to be in perfect health 
and vigorous. He was again etherized and the abdomen 
opened on the side and the flap thrown back, showing the 
site of the former incision. Here was found a firm adhe- 
sion of the small intestine to the abdominal wall, three- 
quarters of an inch in width and two lines in thickness. A 
current of electricity was now' passed through this from side 
to side by means of blunt electrodes, the current strength being 
42 ma., 9 volts, and resistance 214 ohms. After about four 
minutes the band became soft and elastic, and after five 
minutes parted without any appearance of cautery. The wall 
of the intestine was uninjured and scarcely congested. The 
shrivelled stump of the adhesion remained attached to the ab- 
dominal wall. Further on, a similar band of adhesion of equal 
firmness attached a portion of the omentum to the abdominal 
wall. The negative electrode was placed near its omental 
attachment, and the positive current was dispersed on the ab- 
dominal wall at some distance, and a current of 40 ma., 15 10 
LIMITATIONS OF GALVANISM IN GYNECOLOGY. 
volts, resistance 375 ohms, was passed. The adhesion readily 
parted at the end of three minutes without injury to the omen- 
tum and without any cautery effect. In both instances an 
alkaline fluid was plainly seen to collect at the negative pole 
and a less amount of acid fluid at the positive pole. Further 
experiments on adhesions did not offer anything new. 
It is difficult to escape the conviction that new-formed 
tissues, the result of serous exudates, having but few blood- 
vessels, if any, show the destructive effects of a current of 
galvanism, though a higher resistance to the current than the 
adjacent tissues in which there is a normal circulation of blood, 
which are left comparatively unharmed by the same current. 
By careful measurements, I have found the normal resistance 
of the tissues between the vaginal electrode pushed firmly into 
the vagina in front of the cervix, and the large abdominal 
dispersion plate in a healthy, well-nourished woman to be 44 
ma., 15 volts, 340 ohms. In Douglas's cul-de-sac, behind the 
cervix to be 46 ma., 15 volts, and 326 ohms. In a thin sub- 
ject about one-third less. Using the blunt end of Apostoli's 
platina needle introduced well up to the fundus of the normal 
uterus, the resistance was 288 ohms. Of course, these resist- 
ances differ greatly in different individuals, and I have only 
introduced the readings of the current in these two healthy 
women, in order to be able roughly to distinguish between 
normal and abnormal tissues in their resistance to the electri- 
cal current. A fibroid (interstitial) which had been under 
treatment for a month, and was, therefore, somewhat lessened 
in size, but was still as large as a cocoanut and nearly sym- 
metrically round, at this time being movable and free from 
adhesions, and with the negative oval-shaped platina electrode 
an inch in diameter against the vaginal protuberance, the posi- 
tive current being dispersed over the abdomen on a one foot 
square surface, the current measured 52 ma., 15 volts pressure, 
and showed a resistance of 288 ohms. The intra-uterine 
electrode 78 ma., with pressure 15 volts, showed a resistance 
of 192 ohms. WILLIS E. FORD. 
11 
A much larger interstitial fibroid, too broad at its base to 
get into the pelvis, and extending two inches above the um- 
bilicus, also free from adhesions, showed with intra-uterine 
electrode (current in all cases dispersed as before) 50 ma., 
volts pressure, and 333 ohms resistance. The intra-vaginal 
electrode showed 100 ma., with a current of 16j% volts and 
166 ohms resistance. 
A fibro-cyst, with solid part the size of a large orange, and 
with perhaps three pints of fluid above, adherent, but with no 
free fluid in the abdomen, showed with intra-vaginal elec- 
trode against the solid portion, 80 ma., with a current of 16 
volts pressure, 208 ohms. 
An ovarian tumor of three years' growth, with small appre- 
ciable amount of solid material, springing from the left side, 
and fairly filling the abdomen to an extent at least as great 
as the eighth month of pregnancy would do, showed with 
intra-vaginal electrode 50 ma., with a current of 16T volts 
pressure a resistance of 333 ohms. 
Here the resistance was so considerable that the vagina was 
thoroughly cauterized by the negative electrode, though there 
was little inconvenience from the burning of the dispersion - 
plate on the abdomen. It would, therefore, be impossible to 
force much of a current through this cyst without danger of 
injury at the negative electrode. The following experiments 
were now made with a view of throwing some light on the 
behavior of ovarian cysts under electrolysis. 
An artificial cyst wTas made of a small India-rubber balloon 
three inches in diameter filled with pure egg albumen. Plati- 
num foil electrodes, of one square inch surface each, were intro- 
duced within the cyst, and a current of 33 ma., with pressure 
of 9 volts and 272 ohms resistance, was used. A white clot 
filled with minute bubbles, and giving a decided acid test, was 
formed at the positive pole, while a tumid mass with larger 
bubbles, of alkaline reaction, and about twice the size of the 
other clot, was formed at the negative electrode. 
A second cyst of identical size and under the same condi- 12 
LIMITATIONS OF GALVANISM IN GYNECOLOGY. 
tions was then filled with an intimate mixture of egg albumen 
and saturated sodium chloride solution, equal parts. A cur- 
rent from the same battery and connections as before gave 
22 ma., 9 volts, and 409 ohms. The resistance was unex- 
pectedly large. The experiment was repeated with the same 
results. 
These experiments repeated and varied somewhat, gave the 
one significant fact that pure albumen, a high chemical com- 
pound, has a resistance not differing materially from that of 
a fibroid tumor. Where an alkaline solution of albumen 
is made, the resistance is nearly doubled. 
The resistance of live muscle is nearly twice as great as 
that of a fibroid tumor, about -the samezas that of an ovarian 
cyst, and the same as the solution of ajburaen in salt-water. 
When dead animal tissue was 'examinedlthe most astonishing 
results were obtained, which showed how little analogy there 
is between the action of electricity in living and in dead tissue. 
An intercostal muscle of a lamb was taken five hours after 
death, cold, and platina • electrodes one inch and a quarter 
apart, time five minutespcurrent 21 volts, the resistance was 
11,000 ohms. Some kidney fat from the same animal, undis- 
turbed, the electrodes one ihch apart, a current of 21 volts 
showed a resistance of 3070 ohms. 
I regret that I had but one ovarian tumor available while 
preparing this paper, and that I did not on former occasions 
measure the resistance of such growths. 'But I never enter- 
tained the idea that galvanism would benefit ovarian tumors, 
and until I got into this subject it did not occur to me to find 
out why it would not benefit them. 
From the facts and experiments detailed above, it seems 
probable that the fluid within these growths offers very 
unusual resistance, and that from this fact galvanism fails. I 
see no physiological reason, however, that should deter from 
further experiments, and, in cases that refuse operation, gal- 
vanism should be tried with a view to ascertain whether the 
growth may not at least be checked in such cysts. 
I have had under actual treatment by galvanism during WILLIS E. FORD. 
13 
the year from July 1, 1889, to July 1, 1889, seven cases of 
sub-serous fibroids, eleven of interstitial, three of submucous, 
and three of fibro-cysts. 
Very few' applied for treatment because of the presence of 
the tumor alone, but usually because of pain or of difficulty 
of locomotion from the pressure and fixation of the growths. 
The submucous fibroids have disappeared partly by sloughing 
and partly by absorption. The others have not disappeared, 
but have been reduced in size from one-quarter to one-half, 
and in all cases the pain and the adhesions have disappeared, 
and the general health of the patients been restored. Too little 
time has elapsed to show' the permanency of these results, 
though in two years and a half of this work there has been 
no instance of a return of the grow'th, excepting in submucous 
fibroids, and the uniform testimony has been that improve- 
ment continues. 
Case I.-The largest fibroid I have ever seen was treated two 
and a half years ago, the measurement about the body below 
the umbilicus being fifty-seven inches. The patient was an 
unmarried woman, forty years of age, who had observed the 
growth about seven years. Before coming under my observation 
she had had two sharp attacks of peritonitis, producing in each in- 
stance a long sickness, and resulting in such extensive adhesions 
as to prevent her doing any work for the last year or more. 
Her figure was that of a woman in the last month of pregnancy. 
The current used was from a small cup battery, and, therefore, of 
higher tension than I now use. After twenty applications of 
eight minutes each, at intervals of three days, she was able to 
move about easily without pain, and the tumor was free from 
adhesions. She returned home, and afterward wrote me that for 
the succeeding three months she was in bad health; was weak, 
and had a poor digestion. Subsequently she resumed work, and 
after two years wrote me she had worked steadily without sick- 
ness, and that the tumor was twelve inches less in its measure- 
ment than when she discontinued treatment. The measurements 
of course may be inaccurate, but the fact that she is a well woman 
two years after treatment remains. 14 
LIMITATIONS OF GALVANISM IN GYNECOLOGY. 
Case II.-A woman, aged thirty-six, married, three children, 
the last one thirteen years old, was operated on by me four years 
ago for lacerated perineum with rectocele. She had at the time 
a sub-serous fibroid the size of an orange growing from the pos- 
terior wall of the uterus, causing much discomfort from pressure. 
It caused almost complete retroversion uteri. I hoped that with 
good vaginal support a pessary would remove the disability. 
The improvement was slight and temporary, for the fibroid in- 
creased in size and no support held for a long time. A slight 
laceration of the cervix justified, perhaps, an operation here, and 
I made the incisions deep and removed the cicatricial tissue up 
to the vaginal junction. Some improvement followed, but about 
this time Apostoli's paper appeared, and I at once began galvan- 
ism. The relief of symptoms was speedy, so that I did not have 
to urge the continuance of this treatment. After four months of 
treatment at intervals of a week to ten days, the patient reported 
herself comfortable. Since beginning this article, I have exam- 
ined this case, and find the general health restored, the uterus 
small and in position, menstruation normal, and it is difficult to 
detect the thickening of the posterior wall of the uterus where the 
fibroid was attached. 
Case III.-A woman, forty years of age, married, nulliparous, 
was brought to me in May last. I found a uniform enlargement, 
peaked perhaps a little at the umbilicus, filling to distention the 
abdomen, with the uterus drawn high up out of the pelvis. It 
had a history of four years' slow growth, springing from the left 
side, and for six weeks proceeding her admission to the hospital 
a rapid and alarming increase in size, apparently upward, so that 
the dyspncea had become very great. I opened the abdomen 
and found I had mistaken a large fibro-cyst for an ovarian tumor. 
The cyst was at the apex, contained not a large amount of fluid, 
enclosed in a sac that was richly studded with bloodvessels, and 
that looked like an ovarian cyst. I closed the abdomen, and in 
twenty days began the use of galvanism. After twenty applica- 
tions the top of the hard mass was on a level with the umbilicus, 
and seemed reduced nearly one-half in all its dimensions; was 
freely movable in all directions; caused no inconvenience in 
walking, and the woman went home in comfortable health. The WILLIS E. FORD. 
15 
fluid in the cyst is certainly gone. The current used was one- 
third ampere, with sixteen to twenty-four volts to push it, and 
the milliamperemeter marked from sixty to ninety during the 
sitting. 
Case IV. was also a fibro-cyst, springing from the left cornua, 
having a solid base the size of an orange, and a sac that was 
estimated to hold three pints. On the right side was a well- 
defined ovarian cyst that extended to the short ribs, and must 
have had a capacity of sixteen pints. Treatment was begun with 
the vaginal electrode, and after the mass became more movable, 
so that the intra-uterine electrode could be used, this was alter- 
nated, because of the sloughing caused by the negative pole. 
The abdominal plate was two feet long and one foot broad, and 
a current of eighteen volts pressure caused the milliamperemeter 
to mark from 80 to 110. The patient complained bitterly of the 
burning on the left side of the abdomen, but declared she felt 
almost nothing over the ovarian tumor. Indeed, if the abdominal 
plate was applied to a small surface over the fibro-cyst, the mil- 
liamperemeter marking 110, and then the plate moved gradually 
so as to cover only the ovarian tumor, the milliamperemeter 
would at once run down to 60 or 80. The treatment has been 
continued up to this time, sixteen applications having been made, 
with the result that the fibro-cyst is one-half its former size, allow- 
ing the ovarian tumor to roll up into the median line, while the 
abdomen is no longer tense, but quite flaccid ; locomotion is easy, 
and the two growths can be made out with the greatest ease. 
The patient thinks the ovarian growth is not so tense nor so 
large, but it seems to me this is due rather to the relief from out- 
side pressue and change of position than to any appreciable 
lessening of its contents. Indeed, the important fact that the 
resistance is markedly greater through this growth than through 
other tissues, makes it certain that an electrical current will find its 
way about the mass, and not through it, unless the electrodes be 
placed inside the cyst walls, an obvious impossibility. 
The limits of this paper will not permit me to speak at 
length of other conditions in which I have found galvanism 
useful, to which I can only briefly refer in this place. Fif- 16 
LIMITATIONS OF GALVANISM IN GYNECOLOGY. 
teen cases of fixation of the uterus in malpositions, the results 
of various peri-uterine inflammations, were satisfactorily re- 
lieved by galvanism. Here the current proved most useful 
which had large volume and but comparatively small pressure, 
and from twelve to twenty applications at intervals of three 
days were sufficient. A rather large vaginal electrode tipped 
with platina is pushed up against the resisting point and the 
positive current dispersed over the abdomen in the ordinary 
manner. The same transudation of an alkaline fluid takes 
place into the vagina as has been described before, and the 
adhesions certainly disappear. As shown by actual experi- 
ment, these peritoneal adhesions have high resistance, much 
higher, for instance, than fibroid tumors, and yet they are 
small in bulk and can be brought so immediately into the 
current and the distance to be traversed is so small that their 
electrolysis is comparatively easy. 
I am convinced that danger lies in the use of these currents 
while inflammatory action is still present, and once in my ex- 
perience the serious result of an abscess occurred, lighted up, 
as I believe, by the current. 
In the light of these experiments, it seems reasonable that 
the chemical degradation of the fluids in a congested or in- 
flamed mass, by the passage of the current, directly favors the 
formation of pus. In view of these facts also, one would 
hardly think of plunging a needle electrode into any sort of 
tumor within the abdomen unless the passage of the needle 
also made a drainage for the disorganized fluids caused by the 
electrolysis. Abdominal puncture can never be justified in the 
light of our present knowledge of the actions of the stronger 
currents of electricity upon the fluids of the body- 
Chronic metritis, of which I have notes of fourteen cases 
under treatment during the year, seemed to do as well by 
passing the current directly through the whole uterus from a 
vaginal electrode as when the intra-uterine electrode was used, 
and, curiously enough, the resistance to the current in the in- 
stances in which it was accurately measured, was not mate- WILLIS E. FORD. 
17 
rially greater. The shrinking of the uterus is marked and 
the change in the nutrition of the organ and restoration of 
normal circulation are easily accounted for by the intense 
chemical activity between the poles. 
Watery exudates, such as hydrosalpinx and fluid free in the 
abdominal cavity, due to chronic peritonitis or to pressure, 
disappeared readily, though the current required high voltage. 
This subject must be left to some future time as it is too im- 
portant to be briefly treated, and the same must be said of pus 
cavities and the behavior of pus and of blood under a current 
of electricity. 
As to apparatus, it is apparent from the foregoing remarks 
that a generator of electricity to be of the greatest service in 
gynecology, must deliver a current in which the amperage 
and voltage may be changed at will. This is not possible 
with a stationary two-fluid battery, unless the coupling of the 
cells be changed frequently, which is quite out of the question. 
So, too, in a current from a dynamo the relative proportion 
between the amperage and voltage of the current cannot be 
changed. A rheostat is simply a resistance which impedes 
the flow of both elements of any current. The simplest form 
of battery, namely, the zinc-carbon, with bichromate fluid is 
best. The cups or cells must, however, be large, holding at 
least a quart each, in order that the current may have per- 
manency and also that it may have amperage. A number of 
cells coupled together in series will not give greater amperage 
than will one cell of the series, and a quart cell, with zinc 
eight inches by three, immersed, will give, roughly speaking, 
a third of an ampere. Such a cup gives from 1 to 2 volts. 
Now, lowering the zincs and carbons to different depths, will, 
of course, change the amperage, while the voltage depends 
upon the number of such cups used. Such a battery main- 
tains its strength for a considerable time, is easily renewed, 
and requires but little attention. 
It has been my intention to present facts simply and to 
avoid theories in this paper, and I have, therefore, omitted 18 
LIMITATIONS OF GALVANISM IN GYNECOLOGY 
any reference to the literature of this subject. A patient search 
in current literature, however, has not been rewarded by as 
accurate and as definite statements regarding galvanism as I 
expected. As a basis for further observations, I think the 
following conclusions can be accepted : 
First. There is a change in animal living tissue wrought by 
galvanism, in the entire interpolar space. 
Second. This change is a chemical disintegration, mainly of 
the fluids. 
Third. The tendency of this chemical change is to convert 
the higher and more complex combinations of matter into 
simpler compounds. 
Fourth. Electrolysis of recent inflammatory products, or by 
introducing electrodes into inclosed fluid masses, is likely to 
produce pus, and is therefore dangerous. 
Fifth. The resistance to the electrical current varies greatly 
in different animal tissues, and may be so .great in a large 
mass, as, for instance, in an ovarian tumor, as to make it 
probable that galvanism will not affect it. 
Sixth. The bloodvessels and muscular fibres are not easily 
affected by galvanism unless the electrodes pierce them. 
Seventh. Electrolysis, to be successful, requires a battery of 
special adaptation.