Joseph Franz Domin (1754-1819) and His Contribution to Electrotherapy.

Joseph Franz Domin (1754-1819) as the croatian theologian and philosopher is primary animist (vitalist), and in practice he has worked as physicist - mechanist, although the humoral theory at that time will be a foundation of medical philosophy more than twenty centuries from Hippocrates to the half of 19th century and Virchow's cellular theory. Besides his academic and researcher's work he has been working on electrotherapy of numerous conditions and diseases about which he has published (cephalea, neuralgia, paresis, plegias, pterigyum oculi, rheumatisms, Gicht, epilepsia, arthralgias, febres etc). The latter is undoubtedly progressive natural scientific theory which at that time have widely spread at Habsburgs Monarchy Universities and as proof between first and second Wien's medical school by integration of other scientific branches (physics and chemistry) in medicine. According to the various researchers Domin was an author of the first electrotherapy manual published in Zagreb, practitioner of electrotherapy in pregalvanic era in contemporary Austrian empire and for sure a scientist who have left a significant remark in contemporary applied physics in medicine, which continued in professional and scientific elaborations not until the end of the 19th century.

The Medical Battery in The United States (1870-1920): Electrotherapy at Home and in the Clinic.

This paper focuses on the history of a portable shock-producing electrotherapeutic device known as the medical battery (1870-1920), which provided both direct and alternating current and was thought to cure a wide variety of ailments. The product occupied a unique space at the nexus of medicine, consumerism and quackery: it was simultaneously considered a legitimate device by medical professionals who practiced electrotherapeutics, yet identical versions were sold directly to consumers, often via newspaper advertisements and with cure-all marketing language. Indeed, as I show in this paper, the line between what was considered a medical device and a consumer product was often blurred. Even though medical textbooks and journals never mentioned (much less promoted) the home use of electricity, every reputable electrotherapy instrument manufacturer sold a "family battery" for patients to use on themselves at home. While a handful of physicians spoke out against the use of electricity by the laity-as they felt it undermined the image of electrotherapy as a skilled medical procedure-existing evidence suggests that many physicians were likely recommending the home use of medical electricity to their patients. Taken together, this paper shows how the professional ideals of electrotherapeutics were not always aligned with physicians' actual practices.

The body electric: a long view of electrical therapy for functional neurological disorders.

The use of electricity in medical treatment has always been technology-driven, rather than aetiology-driven; as new techniques have appeared, clinicians have quickly looked to try them in the treatment of all sorts of conditions where existing treatment options are limited. Functional disorders--as identified anachronistically in our analysis--have been key contenders for emerging electrical treatments: with Leyden jars, with galvanic and electromagnetic machines, and more recently with TMS and TENS. Parallels can be drawn with the history of electrical treatments for migraine and headache (Koehler and Boes, 2010). Regardless of the mode of delivery of electricity, stimulating a limb to produce movement has repeatedly been found to aid and assist recovery in functional motor disorders. This may also be true of non-electrical methods: we have found benefits using both therapeutic sedation and explanatory demonstration of a positive Hoover's sign as therapeutic methods of demonstrating normal movement in functionally weak limbs (Stone et al., 2014). Each surge in enthusiasm for new electrical treatments has been followed by questions about the nature of the disorder and validity of the treatment response. Physicians have tended to attribute therapeutic success initially to powerful biological or even metaphysical effects, but with time and experience these explanations have been replaced by views that the treatment works through suggestion and placebo. Discomfort with these conclusions has in the past discouraged ongoing development of electrical treatments, even if the end result for patients has been encouraging. In Edwards's Bayesian model, functional motor and sensory symptoms are hypothesized to arise when 'pathologically precise prior beliefs' mediated by attentional processes cause experience of symptoms via a hierarchy of false inferences (Edwards, 2012). It can be argued that use of TMS or peripheral stimulation to produce movement of a functionally weak limb has the specific potential to modulate pathological expectations. To reject these treatments as no more than placebo may mean missing an unusual opportunity to manipulate key elements in the mechanism of the disorder. However, changes to these 'priors' may also be dependent upon patient expectations, and as we see through history, this may only happen if the patient believes there is an actual neuromodulatory effect. This may give rise to significant ethical issues in that the treatment may well directly benefit patients but only if they are (mis)informed that there is an underlying biological rationale. We conclude that modern trials of TMS in functional disorders are part of a repeating cycle of experimentation recurring since the mid-18th century. We suspect that emerging technology, including transcranial direct current stimulation, will follow a similar pattern of experimentation, speculation and marginalization. We suggest that considering our modern efforts in a historical context could aid our ability to further expand and maintain our use of electrical therapies that have proven helpful in the past for patients with functional disorders.

Historical and present state of neuromodulation in chronic pain.

Neuromodulation is based on the revolutionary concept that paresthesia-inducing electrical stimulation could be analgesic. Its historical basis emanates from Melzack and Wall's gate control theory of pain proposed in 1965. Neuromodulation has given us ready access to the systems of pain modulation and helped mature the understanding of the pathophysiology of pain. Physiologic studies highlight the complex ascending influence of neurostimulation on sensory processing. However, the present understanding of pain is rudimentary and evidence that neuromodulation works is modest. This paper emphasizes the historical antecedents, present state, and emerging future of 3 commonly applied neuromodulatory techniques--spinal cord stimulation, peripheral nerve and field stimulation, and deep brain stimulation--for chronic pain. It is hoped this article will enhance the understanding of neuromodulation and its role in pain management.

["Even electricity cannot work wonders!". Neglected achievements by German psychiatrists around 1880 in the treatment of depressions and psychoses]. / "Auch die Electricität leistet keine Wunder!". Die vergessenen Beiträge deutscher Psychiater um 1880 zur Therapie von Depressionen und Psychosen.

Parallel to the recent reneurobiologization of psychiatry as a subject, therapies based on electricity and elektrcomagnetism are returning to mental health care. Around 1880, the application of brain stimulating treatment on patients was particularly popular among German psychiatrists. This fact has largely been ignored in historical psychiatric research as present day practices, in particular deep brain stimulation (DBS), have frequently been seen solely within the tradition of brain surgery. Against this background the present study aims to revive the first trials of non-surgical electrical brain stimulation on depressive and psychotic patients, highlighting a 2-part study published by Wilhelm Tigges. It was Tigges along with Rudolph Gottfried Arndt and Wilhelm Erb who tried to establish clear rules on the most beneficial application methods and doses. Interestingly, Tigges's therapy was successful in cases of severe depression with chronification potential, i.e. precisely the clinical picture for which brain stimulation therapies are reserved today as a last option and ascribed an easing and even curing potential. Trigges also found that electricity produced almost no positive effect whatsoever with madly insane patients and hence anticipated the current non-application of DBS on these patients. After 1890 electrotherapeutic approaches in psychiatry were marginalized, first and foremost as no clear and reliable rules could be verified for their application, nor could their mode of action be fully explained. The success of electrotherapy in psychiatry was also restricted due to limitations of the time, namely (1) electrophysiology only emerging as a discipline, (2) the electrophysical medical apparatus industry only beginning to be established and (3) the lack of generally accepted guidelines and electrotherapy restriction to individual, barely generalizable experience (eclecticism). Present day applications of electricity, mainly DBS, have overcome these problems.

The electrified artist: Edvard Munch's demons, treatments, and sketch of an electrotherapy session (1908-1909).

In 1908-1909, Norwegian artist Edvard Munch (1863-1944), best remembered for The Scream (1893), spent eight months under Daniel Jacobson's care in a private nerve clinic in Copenhagen. Munch was suffering from alcohol abuse, and his signs and symptoms included auditory hallucinations, persecutory delusions, paresthesias, paralyses, violent mood swings, depression, loss of control, fatigue, and the loss of his basic ability to take care of himself. He was treated with rest, a fortifying diet, massages, baths, fresh air, limited exercise, and nonconvulsive electrotherapy. After he had settled in, Jacobson allowed Munch to draw, paint, and engage in photography. Munch responded with a portrait of Jacobson and a small but intriguing sketch of himself at one of his electrotherapy sessions. In this article, we examine the circumstances that brought Munch to Jacobson's clinic and his therapies, with particular attention to electrotherapies. In so doing, we hope to provide a more complete picture of Munch's crisis in 1908, his nerve doctor, the rationales for medical electricity and other treatments he endured, and Scandinavian psychiatry at this moment in time.

Neuromuscular electrostimulation techniques: historical aspects and current possibilities in treatment of pain and muscle waisting.

Application of electricity for pain treatment dates back to thousands of years BC. The Ancient Egyptians and later the Greeks and Romans recognized that electrical fishes are capable of generating electric shocks for relief of pain. In the 18th and 19th centuries these natural producers of electricity were replaced by man-made electrical devices. This happened in following phases. The first was the application of static electrical currents (called Franklinism), which was produced by a friction generator. Christian Kratzenstein was the first to apply it medically, followed shortly by Benjamin Franklin. The second phase was Galvanism. This method applied a direct electrical current to the skin by chemical means, applied a direct and pulsed electrical current to the skin. In the third phase the electrical current was induced intermittently and in alternate directions (called Faradism). The fourth stage was the use of high frequency currents (called d'Arsonvalisation). The 19th century was the "golden age" of electrotherapy. It was used for countless dental, neurological, psychiatric and gynecological disturbances. However, at beginning of the 20th century electrotherapy fell from grace. It was dismissed as lacking a scientific basis and being used also by quacks and charlatans for unserious aims. Furthermore, the development of effective analgesic drugs decreased the interest in electricity. In the second half of the 20th century electrotherapy underwent a revival. Based on animal experiments and clinical investigations, its neurophysiological mechanisms were elucidated in more details. The pain relieving action of electricity was explained in particular by two main mechanisms: first, segmental inhibition of pain signals to the brain in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord and second, activation of the descending inhibitory pathway with enhanced release of endogenous opioids and other neurochemical compounds (serotonin, noradrenaline, gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA), acetylcholine and adenosine). The modern electrotherapy of neuromusculo- skeletal pain is based in particular on the following types: transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), percutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (PENS or electro-acupuncture) and spinal cord stimulation (SCS). In mild to moderate pain, TENS and PENS are effective methods, whereas SCS is very useful for therapy of refractory neuropathic or ischemic pain. In 2005, high tone external muscle stimulation (HTEMS) was introduced. In diabetic peripheral neuropathy, its analgesic action was more pronounced than TENS application. HTEMS appeared also to have value in the therapy of symptomatic peripheral neuropathy in end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Besides its pain-relieving effect, electrical stimulation is of major importance for prevention or treatment of muscle dysfunction and sarcopenia. In controlled clinical studies electrical myostimulation (EMS) has been shown to be effective against the sarcopenia of patients with chronic congestive heart disease, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and ESRD.

The galvanic treatment of deafness and the trials at the Berlin Royal Deaf-Mute Asylum in 1802.

In 1802, the director of the Berlin Royal Deaf-Mute Asylum, Ernst Adolph Eschke, performed an experiment to investigate the possibility of curing deafness by means of galvanism. This article explores the hope for a cure for deafness that was connected to the voltaic pile, and concludes that the treatment was based on insufficient knowledge of the aetiology of deafness. Furthermore, it uncovers the competition between the medical and the pedagogic approach to deafness that resulted from the purported cure. Comparing the approaches of different directors of galvanic experiments, divergences in attitudes between the medical and pedagogic realms are revealed. This is explained with reference to the contrasting motives and experiences of educational and medical professionals: the former had reasons to resist a cure to protect their profession, whereas the latter hoped for a medical breakthrough. Since the former had personal and long-lasting relationships to deaf people, while the latter only had brief encounters with deaf patients, the physicians were also more prone to objectify their trial subjects. The report from Eschke's trials is presented as an early document of deaf reactions to attempts to restore their hearing, showing that resistance to medical interventions were prevalent among the deaf already in the early nineteenth century.

German battle casualties: the treatment of functional somatic disorders during World War I.

World War I witnessed the admission of large numbers of German soldiers with neurological symptoms for which there was no obvious organic cause. This posed a considerable challenge for the military and medical authorities and resulted in an active discussion on the etiology and treatment of these disorders. Current historiography is reliant on published physician accounts, and this represents the first study of treatment approaches based on original case notes. We analyzed patient records from two leading departments of academic psychiatry in Germany, those at Berlin and Jena, in conjunction with the contemporaneous medical literature. Treatment, which can be broadly classified into reward and punishment, suggestion, affective shock, cognitive learning, and physiological methods, was developed in the context of the emerging fields of animal learning and neurophysiology. A further innovative feature was the use of quantitative methods to assess outcomes. These measures showed good response rates, though most cured patients were not sent back to battle because of their presumed psychopathic constitution. While some treatments appear unnecessarily harsh from today's perspective and were also criticized by leading psychiatrists of the time, the concentration of effort and involvement of so many senior doctors led to the development of psychotherapeutic methods that were to influence the field of psychiatric therapy for decades to come.

William James Morton [1845-1920]: like father, like son (?).

William Thomas Green Morton, the man most commonly associated with the introduction of anesthesia in 1846, fathered William James Morton. William James Morton's contributions to society were substantial. He conducted pioneering work in radiology, radiation oncology, and therapeutic electricity. He authored numerous textbooks and articles, and he was an editor of a journal on human behavior. His expertise on diamond mining led to an error in judgment that resulted in a felony conviction. We examine his career and contributions to society, and consider his career in light of his father, William Thomas Green Morton.

Electrotherapeutic disputes: the 'Frankfurt Council' of 1891.

Since the 1980s and 1990s, vagus nerve and deep brain stimulation, transcranial magnetic stimulation and cranial electrotherapy stimulation have found their way into neurology as therapeutic approaches to epilepsy, Morbus Parkinson and other central nervous symptoms. Moreover, these methods have proven useful and provided hope in the therapy of other diseases, most of all in psychiatry. From a historic perspective, this new emphasis on somatic therapies in the case of transcranial magnetic stimulation and cranial electrotherapy stimulation represents the return of therapeutic methods widely used in the 19th century and based on very similar techniques. Against the background of a general rise in the importance of neurobiological concepts in the neurosciences, we are now in a new situation of change. Yet, as in the 1880s and 1990s, many epistemic questions remain unresolved, the methods not yet having been standardized. In particular, the inability to explain which way and precisely how electricity induces healing processes in the body continues to put the neurosciences, which have always regarded themselves as exact and scientific in nature, in a rather uncomfortable position. There was a similar situation in the 1880s and 1990s, when positivist scientific dogmas prevailed. For ideological and professional reasons, neurologists strongly rejected the notion pioneered by Leipzig neuropsychiatrist Paul Julius Möbius that curative effects of electrotherapy were based on suggestion. One should see, however, that Möbius's actual concern was not to raise opposition towards or question electrotherapy as such, but rather to sensitize his colleagues in view of the prevailing solely materialistic-somatic approach in order that they should not neglect the psychological component of all illness, both in clinical practice and in research. A singular and very special event illustrates the heated debate among German-speaking neurologists on the psychological/suggestive effects of electrotherapy in the last decade of the 19th century-namely the 'Frankfurt Council' of 1891. The statements made at the Frankfurt convention of 35 leading electrotherapists in opposition to Möbius's criticism very much resemble present-day arguments and attitudes. Yet neuroscientists of earlier generations also found very individual answers to fundamental questions in their field that might help both to understand problems from a long-term perspective and enrich present-day discussion as a beneficial corrective.

The first systematic experimentation in music therapy: the genius of James Leonard Corning.

BACKGROUND: The development of music therapy in the United States prior to 1950 has a fascinating but not well known history. The present study illuminates the music therapy research of James Leonard Corning (1855-1923), a prominent neurologist practicing during the late nineteenth-century in New York City. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to provide biographical information and description of a series of music therapy experiments conducted by Corning. His 1899 article appearing in the Medical Record: A Weekly Journal of Medicine and Surgery summarized a series of inventive experiments using music to affect emotional states in people with mild behavioral-emotional and sleep disorders. METHODS: Information was analyzed using a set of primary and secondary sources from contemporaneous books, newspapers and journals. These sources provided biographical information and insight into his experimental methods. Recent sources provided a framework to help understand his conclusions from the viewpoint of late nineteenth-century physicians and for current practitioners of music therapy. RESULTS: Findings indicate that Corning's rationale for using music, visual figures and, occasional medication in the treatment of behavioral-emotional disorders was successful in influencing feelings and emotions in a positive way. He believed that during pre-sleep and sleep, cognitive processes became dormant, allowing the penetration of "musical vibrations" into the subconscious eliminating morbid thoughts that plagued his patients. CONCLUSIONS: Understanding Corning's contributions to music therapy will assist contemporary educators and therapists to better understand the impact of early contributions to music therapy by late nineteenth-century practitioners such as Corning.

[Electrical stimulation of the heart: history, current trends and prospects].

Part 1 of this review is devoted to the history of development of temporary and continuous electric stimulation (ES) of the heart. Up-to-date concepts of bradyarrhythmia are considered along with the most important techniques for its management with the use of two-chamber and frequency-adaptive systems. Algorithms for the choice of optimal ES regimes taking account of the type of bradyarrhythmia are discussed. Current concepts of physiological ES of the heart are considered. The authors describe their own experience with the application of ES of the heart.

The role of neurasthenia in the formation of the physiotherapy profession.

Background: Neurasthenia was one of the most commonly diagnosed disorders in the later years of the 19th century. Its most widely used treatment, known as the Rest Cure, relied heavily on physical therapies, but little is known about the practitioners who administered the treatment. In this paper, I argue that the nurse-masseuses who delivered the massage and electricity so vital to the success of the Rest Cure, used the opportunity to develop approaches to treatment that would form the backbone of the physiotherapy profession in England after 1894. Methods: Extensive primary and secondary texts were drawn from a wide range of sources and critically reviewed. Findings: This study argues that the management of neurasthenic cases in the 1880s and 90s created the conditions necessary for the development of the profession's relationship with medicine and the establishment of new practice roles for women, and that these would play an important role in shaping the physiotherapy profession in Britain after 1894. Read through the critical sociological writings of Magali Sarfatti Larson and Anne Witz, I argue that the work of the nurse-masseuses can be seen as a complex gendered negotiation between the need to be deferential to the dominant male medical profession; distinct from emerging notions of the angelic, motherly nurse; obedient, technically competent and safe. The creation of a space in the clinic room for a third practitioner who could deliver a different form of care to the doctor or the nurse, established an approach to practice that physiotherapists would later adopt almost without amendment. Discussion: I argue that this approach owes much to the work done by nurse-massueses who established and tested its principles in treating cases of neurasthenia.

The winding path to sacral foramen neural modulation: a historic chronology.

In the decade of the 1970's, the NIH was captivated by the dream of harnessing electrical stimulation for widespread therapeutic goals. After the success of pacemakers in the 1960's hopes were high that a number of compromised body functions could be helped. These included hearing loss, seizure disorders, scoliosis, pain control, and in spinal cord injury patients: the restoration of lost limb function, walking and breathing, and bladder control. It was a comprehensive program involving numerous research centers and included a wide variety of talent, from chemical and electrical engineers to PhDs and MDs from a variety of disciplines. The University of California in San Francisco was invited to be part of the program, largely because of its leadership status in the field of urodynamics at the time. Research was carried out throughout the decade in the successful attempt to make neural stimulation an everyday therapy for compromised bladder function. The program was carried out in phases. Initial efforts were directed at direct stimulation of the bladder wall, then the spinal cord directly, and finally the sacral roots. The goal was to achieve synergic voiding. While that didn't happen, intermittent voiding was achieved and a whole new meaning to the term modulation therapy opened up. The following paper discusses the research path into the development of sacral nerve stimulation from the lab through clinical trials to FDA approval. Critical observations linking the human situation to the lab experimental observations are underscored. The pitfalls in transition from the university environment to commercial application are depicted, along with all the human roadblocks that arose. It was a 25-year program that influenced the careers of many "fellows" worldwide. It culminated in successful patient therapy because of the generous collaborative efforts of many academic centers in Europe and North America. It was an era where all the necessary elements were in place-the NIH leadership, the combination of research talent and lab animal availability, adequate funding, and a high level of subject interest. The research environment prior to and after this time period was not nearly as friendly, either politically nor fiscally, to this sort of research program. Had it not been for this mix of forces the therapy may never have evolved.