Medical Coil

NOT YET LOCATED.

The effects of electricity on the body can be traced back to 1745 when Pieter van Musschenbroek, testing out the one of the first Leiden jars, stated that "I felt myself struck in my arms, shoulders, and breast. I lost my breath, and it was two days before I recovered from the effects of the blow and terror." Early treatment with electricity used shocks delivered by Leiden jars or condensers, but after the discovery of electromagnetic induction by Michael Faraday in 1831 it was possible to deliver shocks using specialized Magneto-Electric Machines. In both cases bobbins wound with many turns of fine wire revolved in the magnetic field of a U-magnet. The patient grasped the electrodes, and took the shock to relieve all sorts of ills: paralysis, palsies, rheumatism, tumors, sprains, chilblains, inflammations, incontinence... Presumably the placebo effect caused a certain number of cures. For diseases of the lower extremities, an iron slipper was used as one electrode, and the second electrode applied to the knee.