Page 426 - My FlipBook

422 ANESTHETICS.

closely observed. Where there is acute periostitis,
an electric current, even though feeble, would produce
intense pain, and should not be applied ; though, in
such cases, it has been suggested that an application
of the charged sponge to the gums will produce insen-

sibility.

APPLICATION.

The method of application is very simple. Any
ordinary battery, of convenient form, may be em-
ployed for this purpose. It should be uniform in its
action, and the vibration as short as possible. The
common zinc-and-copper battery, with the sulphate-
of-iron solution, is perhaps the most convenient and
safe. One pole of the battery—no matter which—is
attached to the forceps, and the other to a handle of

size and form convenient for the patient to grasp. -To
ascertain his susceptibility, the current should always

first be tested on the patient, by placing the handle
and the forceps one in each of his hands, and letting
it on first feebly, and then gradually increasing it till
he experiences the sensation just beyond the elbows;
when, finally, it is to be slightly weakened. The
gum having been separated, the forceps, with its ap-
pendages, is adjusted to the tooth, the connection
made by placing the handle in the patient's hand, and
the tooth at that moment removed. It has been re-