A NEW BAXTER MOTOR.

WE illustrate on this page a new motor that has recently been designed by Mr. W. Baxter, of Baltimore, in which, according to the Electrical World,, the inventor adopts a novel form and dispenses with exterior regulating devices.

In the new motor, as will be noticed, there are three brushes on the commutator, all of which are located on the upper side. The regulation is effected by moving the last brush automatically by the governor. The movement of this brush maintains the speed constant by varying the counter electromotive force of the armature. The regulation is very close, owing to the fact that a movement of the brush of less than one-fourth of an inch will vary the counter E.M.F., or what is the same thing, the mechanical output, from zero up to the full capacity of the motor.

The governor is of a decidedly novel construction, by which it is possible to obtain a very great centrifugal force or governing power in a very small and compact form, and with a degree of mechanical simplicity not heretofore obtained in such devices. There is no fixed connection between the governor and the regulating brush, nevertheless the latter is moved automatically by the governor, its centrifugal force being resisted by the tension of two springs provided with means of adjustment, whereby the normal speed of the motor may be controlled at will. These springs, as well as the arrangement by which the governor controls the movement of the regulating brush, are not shown, as they are located partly inside the commutator and partly back of it.

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The regulating brush is carried on a very light frame, which swings in almost frictionless trunnions. therefore requires a very small effort to move it, and, as the governor is of such a design as to be very compact, it can be made small enough to be located inside the commutator, where it is not only entirely out of the way, but is thoroughly protected from accidental injury.

One of the advantages of this motor, in addition to those already enumerated, is that it will reverse the direction of its torque if the speed is increased very slightly above the normal velocity, and with a still further increase, the negative torque will rise very fast. The effect of this on the regulator is to prevent racing. If the belt runs off and the armature begins to accelerate its motion, the governor at once moves the regulating brus ind, if necessary, back from the zero point

REVIEW.

By this movement the torque becomes zero and, if necessary, negative, and tends to bring the motor to a standstill.

The governor is so proportioned that a variation of about 2 per cent. in the velocity from the normal speed will cause it to move the regulating brush from the point of maximum to the point of minimum output and a further increase in speed of 2 per cent. will move it beyond the zero line a distance equal to that at which it stands in front when doing the maximum work Therefore, an increase in speed of 4 per cent. will cause the armature to resist rotation with a force as great s its maximum torque. Under such conditions it i evident that racing is not possible, as the action is equivalent to applying a brake to the pulley with the full power of the motor.

One of the fundamental principles of close regula tion with centrifugal governors is that all the moving parts, except the governor weights or balls, shall be a light as possible, so that their inertia may be reduced to a minimum, and thus avoid the use of an unneces sarily large governor, and consequently large e penditure of power for the purpose of effecting the regulation. This principle is thoroughly carried out in the motor. The moving parts of the governing mechanism are not only as light as it is possible to make them, consistent with the requisite strength, but the distance through which they have to move is ex ceedingly small; thus in a 10 horse-power motor the total movement of the regulating brush to vary the load from zero to the full capacity of the machine is less than one-fourth of an inch.

The property of this motor, whereby it reverses its torque when the speed rises above the normal very slightly, is of very great importance in motors used to run spur-gear elevator machines. Motors regulated by cutting out the field cannot be used for this purpose unless specially wound. Mr. Baxter patented a method of winding to adapt his old motor to this class of work, but the regular wound or standard machine, although wound partly in this way, will not give a negative torque of sufficient force to hold back a spur-gear elevator when the car descends with a heavy load, s the reverse torque is only enough to insure close regu lation and prevent racing.

To understand the necessity of making a motor that will hold back with a force nearly as great as its maximum capacity, in order that it may operate a spur gear elevator successfully, it must be borne in mind that when the elevator descends with a full load it requires about two-thirds as much effort to hold it back as it does to raise the same load, and, therefore, unless the descent is resisted by a force nearly equal to this, the velocity of the car would become very great, while the armature would attain such a high velocity as to throw itself to pieces.

The advantages of having a motor of such a character that it will operate perfectly under all the various conditions to which it may be subjected without having to be specially constructed to be adapted to particular cases, is certainly very great and so self-evident as to require no further elucidation.

Mr. Baxter has for a long time believed that by arranging the magnetic field in a certain way, and using a particular method of commutation, the output of machine could be very greatly increased. As a conse quence of this belief he has been working hard for some time past making investigations in the principles of these machines in a new and almost unexplored field. Thes investigations have resulted in convincing him of the correctness of his conclusions, that by designing elec trical machinery in accordance with certain principles a very great reduction can be made in the weight of the machine as well as in the velocity.

The reduction in weight in most cases is principally a benefit to the manufacturer, but a reduction in the speed is a decided benefit to the machine. It not only reduces the amount of counter-shafting required to transmit the motion but reduces the liability to get out of order and prolongs the life of the motor.

It is well known by those who have had experience

NOVEMBER 1, 1889.]

n the management of electric machinery, that most of he "diseases of the dynamo" are due to high speed. It is high speed that causes the journals to heat and cut. It is high speed that makes the brushes dance and lash on the commutator, and this flashing, besides ourning up and cutting the brushes and commutator, often short-circuits the sections, and in this way destroys he armature coils.

In the new Baxter motor the speed is very low. The 0 H.P. motor runs at a velocity of only 600 revolutions per minute. Notwithstanding this great reduction in speed, the weight is only 800 pounds. The dimensions re:-22 inches wide, 28 inches long, and 25 inches high; the total weight, 83 lbs. The internal resistance of a 10-ampère motor is 34 ohms, therefore the energy absorbed by the internal resistance is 3 × 102 = 325 watts, which is less than 4 per cent. of the total energy of the machine. The frictional loss in this machine is very small, owing to the low speed. The commercial efficiency is between 91 and 92 per cent.

If the new motor were run at the ordinary speed of 1,800 revolutions per minute it would give 30 horsepower, which would be an output at the rate of 1 horsepower for about every 27 pounds of machine. At the actual running speed the output is 1 horse-power for every 80 pounds of weight in the machine.

Mr. Baxter has applied the same principles of construction to electric generators, and in the large sizes gets an output of 1 horse-power for every 25 pounds of machine, and at the very low velocity of 500 revolutions per minute. By a slight modification of the same principles he has succeeded in designing a motor for street car propulsion which, he informs us, gives such an enormous torque that it can be applied directly to the car-wheel axle.

This motor not only does away with all the gearing and its connections now used, but reduces the weight of the electrical part of the car about 60 per cent.

The mechanical features of the new motor are excellent. The shaft runs in bearings that are held by one and the same casting, therefore they cannot get out of line by the loosening of a bolt or in any other way. The armature is held by a brass spider attached to the shaft, and is so secured that it cannot possibly shift or get out of balance. There is a shield that covers the armature so as to protect it from accidental injury. This shield also serves as a support for all the brushholders, the governor connections, and the starting switch. The design is artistic and symmetrical, and while an abundance of room is given to every part, the outside dimensions are small.

ELECTRICITY IN GYNECOLOGY.*

By J. E. BURTON, M.A., L.R.C.P.Lond., M.R.C.S.Eng., Surgeon to the Hospital for Women, Liverpool.

LONG before the time of Apostoli electricity in one or more of its forms was used in gynecology, and nearly all who used it in former times, empirically, without a definite aim, and without dosage, in the vain hope that it would " do something," were disappointed. This was not to be wondered at. It was something like trying a new medicine, when they knew neither its action nor its strength. It is due to Dr. Apostoli, of Paris, to acknowledge that he has furbished up an old and castaway weapon; he has instructed us to the mode of its intelligent and safe employment, and we, or at least many of us, find that it was just the very thing needed to bring about certain results that we knew could be brought about in some cases, and what nature herself sometimes accomplished without the aid of art, i.e., the reduction of uterine fibromata. It is

The Medical Press and Circular.

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not so many years ago that I heard a distinguished professor of gynæcology speaking very deprecatingly of any attempts to treat fibroid tumours of the uterus. Such cases were sent to him not unfrequently, he said, accompanied by the request that he should do something to relieve them. Practitioners had some strange ideas, he went on, to imagine that he should interfere with such growths. They little knew the danger that would be encountered. Omitting to speak of Hildebrand's treatment by interstitial injections of ergotine, and which had a certain amount of success, and of Byford's, by the long-continued administration of ergot by the mouth, and which he claims to have been very successful, we come to the next stage of castration or removal of the ovaries. This has been undoubtedly successful in a large proportion of cases. In some patients the operation is exceedingly easy and simple, in others it is well nigh impossible, and the doubt as to the practicability of the operation before the abdomen is opened, constitutes a material drawback. It has to be borne in mind, also, that the operation renders the patient operated on a female eunuch. But the operation is not always successful. In some of the very worst cases, those of submucous fibroids, that are attended often with frightful hæmorrhage, the operation fails completely. It may neither arrest the bleeding nor the growth of the tumour; in other words, the operation is unreliable as well as occasionlly extremely difficult, if not impossible of performance, and in even the most accomplished hands it is to some extent dangerous to life. The operation of hysterectomy, again, is notoriously dangerous to life, and no gynecologist would lightly counsel his unfortunate patient to submit to its risks. It must be confessed, however, that there is a brilliancy about operative treatment that is very attractive to the surgeon. To do something bold, that shall at a stroke, as it were, free his patient from all her troubles, and put her in a state of health and capacity to enjoy life, has a fascination about it that it requires some strength of mind to resist. The consciousness of strength possessed by some surgeons, of the ability within them to carry a patient through a dangerous crisis, is a something that renders them at least not averse from making an essay, when there are reasonable grounds for anticipating success. Probably it is this feeling that is to some extent responsible for the hostile spirit with which the electrical treatment of uterine tumours has been met. The treatment is slow, not heroic, has nothing brilliant about it (but the result), and the surgeon who employs it misses an opportunity of playing for applause; in fact, he puts all such opportunities from him by the selection of electrical treatment. Another hindrance to its rapid general introduction into gynecology is the fact that it was not introduced by a recognised gynecologist. Dr. Apostoli is more of an electrician than a gynecologist, or, it would be better to say, he was an electrician first and a gynecologist afterwards. But a moment's consideration will show that the treatment introduced by him could not have been introduced by a mere gynecologist. It requires a more intimate acquaintance with electricity than any gynecologist who is a gynæcologist only is likely to possess. If he, as an accomplished electrician, has shown us how to apply electricity to gynecology, we ought to be thankful, or, if gratitude is not in our nature, we might at least, like shrewd practical men, take a hint when we have an opportunity.

Now, what are the facts? The electrical treatment of uterine fibroids, as introduced by Dr. Apostoli, will certainly reduce them to insignificance, if it will not entirely remove them. Along with the reduction in size which it effects, it checks hæmorrhages and relieves pain, so that with some trouble and perseverance on the part of the attendant and patience on that of the patient she is placed in as good a condition practically as if the tumour were removed, and this without lying up, with little pain and but little danger to life. There is sufficient evidence of this now before us as to place it beyond doubt. Dr. Thomas Keith, by far the most successful hysterectomist we possess, is so well satisfied

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with the electrical treatment that he states that since he began to use it he has never seen a case on which he had found it necessary to perform hysterectomy; that it is no longer a question of importance as to the best way of performing hysterectomy or treating the stump, as since the introduction of Apostoli's method the operation with its risks is no longer called for. Prof. Simpson, of Edinburgh, who is employing it, is also, I am informed, getting excellent results. Dr. A. S. Playfair is also using it extensively, and is quite satisfied of its capabilities. I have been using it steadily for a year and a half, and with almost invariable success. During this period I have treated over 20 cases of uterine fibroma or myoma. In most of them the tumour has diminished very much in size, and symptoms have been relieved-i.e., the patients have been symptomatically cured. In one, at least, whom I examined recently no trace of tumour could be discovered, although when she began treatment on January 18th, 1888, it was the size of a small cocoa-nut, and reached to within an inch of the umbilicus. This patient has had no treatment since June, 1888, so that it is one instance in which the disease has not returned. In another case kindly placed under my care for electrical treatment by Dr. Briggs this year, which has had at least 25 applications, there is no improvement so far. The tumour is, I think, larger, and the pain and hæmorrhage are no better. The subject has been up for public discussion on several occasions. The chief thing remarkable about these discussions has been the fact that those who have given electrical treatment a fair trial have been, on the whole, pleased with it, whilst those who have not done so have with remarkable unanimity condemned it, or pooh-poohed it, and called the battery a toy.

Although Apostoli has reported no death during the course of treatment by high currents, several of his cases are reported in his writings to have passed through more or less severe inflammatory crises. This has been a point touched upon at the societies, and several cases of septicemia are reported to have occurred, from which, however, the patients ultimately recovered, after passing through a condition that threatened to prove fatal. This fortunate termination of a grave disease is not always to be expected, as, if the septicama is subsiding, some intercurrent mischief may weigh down the balance on the unfavourable side. This occurred in a case under treatment by me. A lady suffering from a myoma that gave rise to profuse hæmorrhage had been under the Apostoli treatment several weeks. She bore the current remarkably well, and strengths of 250 and even 300 milliampères were not in the least complained of. I should say, parenthetically, that the battery used is a Gaiffe's sulphate of mercury battery of 24 cells, and that the galvanometer is his horizontal one, of which the resistance is known, and which approximates towards accuracy within 2 per cent. As part of the tumour occupied the posterior wall of the cervix, and the canal of this part was in consequence flattened out and stretched, the platinum electrode used could only touch a small portion of the surface at one time, and although the tumour was manifestly reduced in size I could not say that the hæmorrhage was much, if any, better. The reason of this is evident now, but was not by any means so at the time. In order to get more effect I applied the point of the electrode to the mucous membrane just within the cervix, but did not penetrate through it, and the last time I did it was June 5th, 1888. On June 9th I was asked to see her, and found some abdominal tenderness and high temperature. I saw her almost daily after this to the 15th, when the symptoms so far subsided that I went out of town till the 18th. On the evening of the 18th I saw her; the temperature was high, 105 6°, and the pulse rapid. There was an offensive vaginal discharge, and a slough could be felt near the seat of puncture. By careful attention everything soon became sweet, and the slough came away. This condition continued till June 26th, when the temperature became practically normal. Shortly after, however, coma, which resembled that of uræmia, and which

[NOVEMBER 1, 1889.

was declared by Dr. Carter to be uræmia, came on, and the patient died on July 3rd, exactly four weeks after the last application. In this case, as in those reporte to the societies, the septicemia subsided, but after the there was another enemy to contend with, and this proved too much.

In another case, in which 17 applications of various strengths have been given, I confess I do not find mac improvement, and this introduces the question, Apostoli's method as perfect as it can be made? or is capable of improvement? It would be very singur if a new method of treatment sprang into existenc perfect at all points. It would be quite differe from anything with which we have been hitherto quainted, different, for instance, from the operations lithotomy, ovariotomy, hysterectomy, or any other "tomy." It is quite possible then that cases that resis cure on the method now general, will yield when more perfect appliances and methods are employed. Ir. Apostoli himself has in fact anticipated this question, and furnished an answer to it. At the meeting of the Britis Medical Association at Glasgow last year he discussed some of the imperfections of his method, and suggeste a remedy for them. The question of intensity has be calculated, at least it is well that it should be, w things otherwise unintelligible will thereby become plain. We will suppose, for instance, that to produc a certain effect a current of 250 milliampères is neces sary, and that the ordinary platinum sound is being used. Gaiffe's platinum sound has an area, roughly speaking, of 675 millimetres, and 200 milliamperes given off from an area of 657 millimetres give 1 milli ampère to every 3.375 square millimetres of surface But if you have an electrode twice the length of this and the current is given off from the whole of it, you have an intensity of only one-half, or 1 milliampère to every 7.50 square millimetres, and possibly altogether too weak to do the work required. To remedy this defect Dr. Apostoli has had electrodes of carbon costructed, by means of which the dosage can be accorately ascertained; the area of each being known, the intensity is a matter of easy calculation. These elec trodes are all 25 millimetres in length, and vary in diameter from 5 to 11 millimetres. An electrode, ? millimetres in diameter and 25 long, has an area practically equal to that of his platinum sound as far as the notch, and the dosage must of course be increased or diminished just as a larger or smaller electrode is made use of. Where irregularities of surface on the interio of the uterus are numerous, he employs a preparation called gelosine, which is a good conductor, and which is at the same time so soft that it can be moulded to al the irregularities of surface. By one or other of these means, the graduated carbon electrodes, or the gelosine, the caustic action can be applied with certainty and precision to every part of the uterine cavity, so that the whole of the mucous membrane is acted on alike. It is expected that by means of the new and improved elec trodes cases will be cured more quickly, and that such rare cases as have, up to the present, proved refractory, will be brought within the general rule, and gradually melt away.

There is still no definite opinion regarding the modu operandi of electricity in tumour cases. Some talk of the electrolysis of tumours, whilst others deny that any great electrolytic action can be produced, and as they know of no other mode of action, they deny that any can take place at all, just as it was proved ind's putably in Liverpool many years ago that steamers could not cross the Atlantic. Said the objectors-and it was then difficult to deny any of the premisses-If you have fine weather and the sea continues smooth, well and good, but if the sea happens to get the leas bit rough, it will present an uneven irregular surface. The moment this takes place one paddle wheel will sink lower down in the water than its fellow. As so

* Since writing the above I have steadily persevered with the use of Apostoli's new carbon electrodes. There is now, July 18th. a decided improvement as to size, in some of the tumours, but they are not much smaller.

as it sinks to a certain point the force of its revolutions will completely drag it under, the vessel will be drawn over to its side, whilst the opposite paddle wheel will be revolving in mid air, and the vessel must to a certainty sink. This was not a bad argument in its time, but we now smile at it. The similar argument that electricity cannot act by electrolysis, and it cannot have any interpolar action, therefore it cannot act at all, is equally amusing. One would think the first thing critics would do would be to ascertain whether it does act. Then, when they have satisfied themselves on that point, they may properly search for an explanation of what they see. The effect produced cannot possibly be from electrolysis (in my opinion); whatever of this takes place, it must be so inconsiderable as to be of no account. We are told that no interpolar action can take place, but we are also told by physicists that osmosis takes place through animal membranes, whatever the density of the fluids, in the direction of the current, i.e., from the positive to the negative pole. Although this may be positively true, it cannot solve the riddle, otherwise, whatever change takes place in a tumour would do so during the time the current was actually passing, and no more. would be smaller at the close than at the commencement of a sitting, and would undergo no further diminution in size until the next. We know that this is not so, and that diminution in size takes place sometimes weeks after a sitting, and not to any appreciable extent during one. Dr. Apostoli himself appears to attribute the undeniable effect that is produced to cauterisation of the uterine mucous membrane, and I am inclined to think it acts in this way, i.e., by damaging the blood vessels that supply the nourishment. We know that uterine fibromata are more erratic than any other class of tumours, increasing in size, diminishing in size, disappearing in the most unaccountable way. All this irregularity points to a precarious existence enjoyed by them, and it would appear that little is required to disturb the equilibrium between growth and retrograde metamorphosis, and to cause them actually to diminish in size. Perhaps this is not the correct explanation; if not, the right one will no doubt be forthcoming in due time; at present the need for one is not pressing.

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Mode of Application.-It is well known that Dr. Apostoli uses a powerful continuous current battery of 24 to 36 cells, a large external electrode measuring 20 by 30 centimetres, composed of moist potters' or sculptors' clay, and a horizontal galvanometer registering up to 250 milliampères for measuring the intensity of the current. The patient is placed on her back, with the buttocks slightly projecting over the end of the couch, and the knees are separated, the feet resting on projected foot rests. The wet clay electrode is then placed over the lower part of the abdomen and connected to the battery, the vagina is then washed out with an antiseptic solution, and the internal electrode— platinum, steel, or carbon-after disinfection, is inserted into the uterus and joined up to the battery. The current is then turned on as high as the patient can bear it, or as the case requires, or is thought to be safe. In tumours, where a high tension is required, 200 may generally be given, and sometimes as high as 250 and 300, and continued from 3 to 5 minutes.

The continuous current is also used successfully for pelvic exudations (inflammatory); but in these cases the dosage need not be so high-50 to 80 milliampères, and continued 7 to 8 minutes. I have said nothing about puncturing, for the reason that I have not attempted it since June, nor have I seen a case that appeared to me to require it. It appears to me to multiply the dangers manifold; and, although I would do it if necessary, I confess I shrink somewhat from it. I have introduced one or two modifications that others may or may not think worthy of notice. First, regarding the clay electrode: It is dirty, soiling everything it comes into contact with, and necessitating a considerable loss of time from cleaning up; it is very cold for the patient, especially in the winter time, and it was that more than anything that led me to look out for a substitute. I finally hit upon one in the shape of a piece

of thick chamois leather, the size of the clay electrode, 20 by 30 cm., and soaked in warm salt and water. This is cleanly, and comfortably warm. The flat tin electrode is placed upon this. Another point is the position: As the action is only on the mucous membrane, and this is cauterised wherever the external electrode is placed, and as it is not the rule to examine women in England on their backs, however necessary it may be occasionally, I have lately made the application many times with the patient on the left side, placing the external electrode over the right buttock. When applied in this way, however, the current must pass through bony parts, and bone presents great resistance to the passage of the electrical current. If only a weak current is required this does not much matter, but if a powerful current is to be used, it is better to place the external electrode over the abdomen where only soft parts have to be traversed by the electricity. It is a useful precaution to examine the washleather each time to see if any hole has been burnt into it at the previous sittings; a good thick wash leather will, however, last for a large number of applications. My mode of procedure is then as follows :— After the patient is placed on the back or in the usual gynæcological position, on the left side, with the knees drawn up, the part of the buttock over which the wash leather is to be placed is sponged over with hot water to take off any grease from the skin; the chamois leather, then wrung out of warm salt and water, is spread out carefully, the flat tin electrode adjusted, and the rheophore joined up. The internal electrode is then inserted, after passing it through a flame, or otherwise disinfecting it. If I intend to use the position pole, I employ Gaiffe's platinum electrode, or one of his new carbon ones if the negative, I not unfrequently use my ordinary uterine sound, over which a piece of Indiarubber tubing has been slipped, and through the handle of which I have bored a hole to receive the point of the rheophore. This is then joined on to the battery, and the circuit is complete.

Dr. Apostoli not only uses the continuous current for fibromata, but also for endometritis, parametritis, and perimetritis. For these effections, when I make use of the current, I content myself with currents of 50 to 80 milliampères, using the negative pole internally. There is one other condition in which I have found moderate negative currents useful, and that is anteflexion with dysmenorrhoea. This form of dysmenorrhoea is often called obstructive, but it is nothing of the sort. This is a point on which I have repeatedly satisfied myself by introducing a sound at the exact time the pain has been severe. This is the condition for which Bantock, in his little work on "The Use and Abuse of Pessaries," recommends Meadow's compound stem pessary. It is indeed a useful appliance, and answers the purpose very well, but not so well as the plan I have now followed for the last nine months, that is, to pass a current of moderate intensity, of 50 to 70 milliampères, about three times between two periods, using the negative pole in utero The negative pole is the best, as it does not leave the uterus in such an indurated condition as the positive does. As far as my experience goes, the flexure is permanently cured, although of course, no effect is produced on the anteversion that takes its place. It is also safer to use than the compound stem pessary, as cases have repeatedly occurred, in which these have been used, in which para or perimetritis has been set up.

THE CONSTANT CURRENT IN NEURASTHENIA. The power of the constant, as well as of the induced, current to relieve pain is known to many, and it success is very striking. It has also proved useful in my hands in one or two cases of neurasthenia. The first case was that of a young girl, æt. 20, who had suffered for four years from menorrhagia, dysmenorrhoea, almost constant pain in the abdomen a little above the umbilicus, and fits of grave hystero-epilepsy, and she had even bitten. her tongue in them. Thinking that the menorrhagia might be of uterine or ovarian orign, the patient was put under an anesthetic and thoroughly examined, and those who examined her with me were satisfied, I believe,

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that the uterus and neigbouring organs were not at fault. The case then appeared to be a neurosis, and it was treated accordingly. The principal treatment consisted in the application of the constant current every second day. The amount used was 200 to 250 milliampères, passed by means of large electrodes, wash-leather pads, measuring at least 30 by 20 c., very moist, placed over the seat of pain in front and opposite to it behind. This was continued every second day for some weeks, and the patient eventually left the hospital relieved of her pain, her fits, and with menstruation normal. I should say that I had tried rest in bed thoroughly, and also ineffectually, before having recourse to electricity.

The second case was one in which great pain was located principally over the ovarian region, and in which menstruation was a positive torment, and perhaps not always patiently borne. Nothing abnormal was discoverable locally either in the uterus or ovaries. The continuous current applied as in the preceding case with the negative pole over the seat of pain gave almost instant relief. The constant current applied with one pole in utero sometimes causes a pain that lasts for some hours. It was so in this case, the pain after its application in this way was described as excruciating, the patient writhing on the couch. On placing one pole over the sacrum and the other over the abdomen the pain disappeared at once. The third was a lady who had for months walked bent forwards like an old woman from pain in the abdomen for which I could discover no cause. The constant current applied as in the preceding cases also gave instant relief; and although the pain did return later on it never became severe again. This patient compared the sensation produced by the current to the burning of a mustard plaster. It may be worth mentioning that a mustard plaster over the chest or abdomen not unfrequently produces a sleepy feeling, and sometimes actual sleep. This patient remarked that the feeling had a soothing effect, and that she was sure it would send her to sleep if continued long.

THE INDUCED CURRENT.

During the last 18 months I have been gradually drawn to a more extended employment of the induced current in gynecology. It has long been known to be capable in many cases of relieving neuralgic pain, and Dr. Apostoli has pointed out its value in relieving and eventually curing so-called ovarian neuralgia. 1 have had the opportunity of seeing in his clinique patients whose ovarian region were so painful and tender that they could not bear the slightest pressure, after a few minutes' application of the induced current submit to firm pressure without any indication of pain, and declaring that both pain and tenderness had entirely disappeared. This effect seems to be produced by the rapidity with which the shocks succeed one another, and which produce a numbed, deadened feeling. The induced current has another effect in addition to this of relieving pain. Every making and breaking of contact produces the well-known muscular contractions. All muscles in the circuit take part in these contractions, whether of intestines, arteries, uterus, fallopian tubes, or broad or round ligaments. The effect produced on the uterus is well known, and may be easily demonstrated either during labour or when much uterine discharge is present. It this way it acts almost in the same way as massage, and we know this is very useful in inflammatory exudations after the acute stage has passed. The interrupted current is very properly applied, therefore, in subinvolution, in pelvic inflammatory exudations affecting the uterus, tubes, ovaries, broad and round ligaments, and also in cases of pelvic hæmatoma situated in structures surrounded wholly or in part by muscular tissues. I do not see that it can promote the absorption of intra-peritoneal hæmatoceles, unless it may do so by assisting to restore the absorbent surfaces to a normal condition through the influence of the blood vessels. So far as inflammation is set up in the peritoneum by sanguineous extravasation, the induced current might be useful, and in this way it would act indirectly on the effused blood itself. For

[NOVEMBER 1, 1889,

nearly 12 months I have made a routine practice of having the induced current applied, as a rule, daily all such cases as I have mentioned, and I have reason to be satisfied with the result. It need not cause any pain, for applications should stop short of this. It can be given by a nurse, and this removes one of the greatest difficulties to its general employment. The usual method of using it is for the nurse to apply rather large and wet electrodes over the seat of pain, or over the uterus in front and the sacrum behind, to join up the primary coil and continue the application for about 10 minutes daily. There is no need to dis continue either the douche or the electricity during the periods. The douche especially is generally spoken of as being very comforting during the period.

COMMUNICATIONS FROM AUSTRO

HUNGARY.

[FROM A CORRESPONDENT.]

THE telephonic communication between Vienna and Buda-Pest will probably not be open until about the end of November. The delay is owing to unforeseen difficulties in the construction of the telephone line which, as is known, is erected with the three leads. Such a telephonic line, of such an extent on a single line of supports, does not as yet exist anywhere. In order to obviate the serious inconvenience of sound being transmitted from one lead to another (which constantly occurs in multiple leads), a new system is being employed in the Buda-Pest and Vienna line by means of which this difficulty is removed. The Austrian por tion of the line is almost complete, but the Hungarian portion-by far the longer-will not be ready before the end of October. Not until then can the trials begin, which will require at least a fortnight.

That the telephone line of Vienna-Prague is already in operation, and that telephonic communication exists between Prague and Dresden, and again between Dresden and Berlin, is known. By connecting the lines just mentioned, a telephone net will be completed from Buda-Pest to Vienna, Prague, Dresden to Berlin.

The International Electric Company has already begun the construction of its Vienna works. It will be erected on the banks of the Danube (in the Engerthor Road), and in the first place there will be about 2,000 horse-power arranged for. The installation will be carried out on the alternating transformer system, and is to serve both for supplying light and motive power. As the above-mentioned system admits of an extension of the net of cables at pleasure, it will be possible for the International Electric Company to supply light and power from their central station, also in those districts in which the firm Siemens and Halske have constructed a central station on their "five-leads" system, so that here also there will occur an interesting competition.

On the other hand, the firm Siemens and Halske propose to offer a serious rivalry to the Buda-Pest Tramway Company. A few days after the presentation of the application in which the above company applied for a concession for the construction of an electric tram line on their new system, with a vertical track-of which I have recently given you an account -the Siemens's tramways undertaking handed in an application requesting a concession for the same line and some additional lines. The competition for the electrical tramway in Buda-Pest promises to become very interesting, as the municipality will be guided in their choice by the merits of the respective systems. There has been of late a report widely circulated that Mr. Edison in passing through Frankfort-on-the-Main was interviewed by a newspaper reporter accompanied by a representative of the firm Siemens and Halske, and that he expressed himself in favour of the continuous, and against the alternating, current system. The Neue Wiener Tagblatt in its issue of October 17th, makes on this subject the following interesting comments:-"An interesting duel is about to come off in