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40 DENTAL MEDICINE.

sodium seven ounces, tincture of ergot, one ounce. The treat-
ment of blind abscesses requires a stronger battery power in order
to obtain the full effect of the electrolysis. Dr. Weeks
has used this method successfully in the painless removal of
pulps. (See Cataphoresis.)
• Galvano-Cautery.— For surgical operations, as a substitute for
the knife or ecraseur, a platinum wire is placed between the poles
of a powerful battery, the wire being adjusted in a handle, which
in a few minutes becomes red hot, and is especially serviceable
for operations in deep cavities where it would be impossible to
use the knife, the application of such a galvanic cautery being un-
attended by pain or hemorrhage. The Galvano-Cautery consists
of a platinum wire loop heated by passing a current of electricity
through it, the heat being maintained as long as the current
passes. Such an appliance will cut through the tissue to which
it is applied without causing much hemorrhage.
Electric portable mouth lamps are also employed for illuminat-
ing the mouth and examining the teeth, and carious cavities in
them.
Strong currents of electricity should not be applied to the
head, nor its use be persevered in for more than fifteen minutes
at a time.
Electro-magnetism has been employed for relieving pain dur-
ing the extraction of teeth, one pole of an ordinary battery being
attached to the forceps and the other to a handle which is grasped
by the patient. The susceptibility to the current is first as-
certained by the patient holding both the forceps and the handle
in his hands, and a feeble shock applied, which is gradually in-
creased until the sensation is felt at or just beyond the elbows,
when the current is somewhat reduced in power. After the
gum has been lanced, the connection is made as before de-
scribed, by the patient holding the handle and the operator
the forceps in contact with the tooth to be removed, the
handles of the instrument being isolated, when the operation is
at once completed. Great diversity of opinion, however, exists
as to the efficiency of this method, which has its advocates and
opponents.