Electricity is one of the great powers of Nature, pervading all matter, existing in all mineral, vegetable, and animal bodies, not only acting in the combinations of the elements and molecules, but also serving as a means for their separation from each other.  This imponderable fluid or power, whatever it may be, whether one or two, or a polarization of one force into the states + and -, is one of the most active agencies known to man, and although not capable of being weighed in the balance, is not found wanting anywhere in Nature.  It courses in great currents beneath our feet, in the solid rocks of the earth, penetrating to the very interior of the globe, while it also rushes through our atmosphere in lurid flashes, and startles us with the crash and roar of heaven’s artillery.  It gives magnetic polarity to the earth, and directs the needle by its influence; for magnetic attraction is only an effect of the earth’s thermo-electricity, excited by the sun’s rays acting in a continuous course.  Both animal and vegetable life are dependent on electric forces for their development; and many of their functions, directly or indirectly, result from their agency.

If this force controls to a great degree the living functions of our organs in their healthy action, it must be that it is concerned in those derangements and lesions which constitute disease and abnormal actions or disorders.  It must have a remedial and the opposite effect, according as it is applied.

Is such a gigantic power to be left in the hands of charlatans, or shall it be reserved for application by scientific physicians?  This is a question we must meet and answer practically.

It may be asked why a force of this nature has been so long neglected by practising physicians.  The answer is very simple, and will be recognized as true by all middle-aged physicians in this country.

For the past fifty years it has been customary to state in lectures in our medical colleges, that “chemistry has nothing to do with medicine”; and since our teachers knew nothing of the subject themselves, they denounced such knowledge as unnecessary to the physician.  Electricity, the great moving power in all chemical actions, shared the fate of chemistry in general, and met with condemnation without trial.  A young physician did not dare to meddle with chemicals or with any branch of natural or experimental science for fear of losing his chance of medical employment by sinking the doctor among his gallipots.

Electricity, thus neglected, fell into the hands of irregular practitioners, and was as often used injuriously as beneficially, and more frequently without any effect.  The absurd pretensions of galvanic baths for the extraction of mercury from the system will be remembered by most of our citizens, and the shocking practice of others is not forgotten.