Account Experiments Application Electrical Enodsmose by Edison Thomas (1 results)

Telegraphic Journal, 27 (August 22, 1890). - Berlin, Printed by L. Schumacher, 1 (1890), 8°, 3, (1) pp., orig. Broschur. Rare offprint of the International Congress of the "An Account of Some Experiments upon the Application of Electrical Endosmose to the Treatment of Gouty Concretion" presented to the International Medical Congress in Berlin, Germany. Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) was a pioneer in his ideas of how drugs should be administered. In 1890 he published "An Account of Sonic Experiments upon the Applica-tion of Electrical Endosmose to the Treatment of Gout" This paper illustrates Edison's genius in tackling a problem physicians had failed to solve. It concerned the therapy for gouty arthritis, which had been attempted by oral administration of lithium salts. The results were not satisfactory because-as Edison reasoned-the therapeutic agent did not reached the inflamed area in sufficiently high concentrations. By applying the laws of electricity and chemistry to medicine, he introduced the modern principle of iontophoresis. When a solution of the negatively charged lithium salt was applied to the skin, the ions would be forced to penetrate the skin by connecting a positive electrode of an electric Circuit to the lesion." Olav Thulesius, Edison in Florida: The Green Laboratory (1997), pp.106-107.