47

The History of Bioelectromagnetism

ozone, nitrogen oxides, and charged dust generated by corona discharge also afect growth. Tese efects

need to be considered before the growth-promoting efect of air ions can be put into practice. Te rapid

need for electricity is expanding. Further, studies on the biological and health efects of power genera­

tion and transmission are needed. Tis need drives researcher to investigate the biological and health

efects of the combination of air ions and DC electric felds.

2.4.2 Electric and Electromagnetic Stimulations

2.4.2.1 Electric Stimulation

Judging from the historical work, there have been three eras in the medical application of electricity

(Rowbottom and Susskind, 1984). As we mentioned previously, the Romans were already using the elec­

tric discharge of the electric fsh, torpedo, to treat headache and gout as electrotherapy. Te mysterious

power of magnets was also used in the treatment of diseases. Tese are referred to as the frst era. As for

the next era in electrotherapy, the medical application of electricity was developed with the discovery

of the Leyden jar. It began with the discovery of animal electricity by Galvani and the invention of the

Voltaic pile by Volta. Luigi Galvani and his nephew, Giovanni Aldini used electric stimulation to cure

melancholy in patients. Aldini treated Luigi Lanzarini, a 27-year-old farmer sufering from melancholy

madness (Fitzgerald, 2014). Lanzarini had been committed to Santo Orsola Hospital, in Bologna, on

May 17, 1801. Afer the frst application of direct current on his head, the mood of the patient improved

progressively. Lanzarini was considered completely cured several weeks afer the beginning of the treat­

ment (Cambiaghi and Parent, 2018). In January and February 1802, Aldini applied Galvani stimulation

on the bodies of three criminals executed by decapitation close to Bologna’s of Justice (Cambiaghi and

Parent, 2018). Marked muscular contractions of various types resulted from the application of electric

arc on diferent parts of these corpses were observed, and Aldini noted that such efects were still elic­

itable up to 3 hours afer death (Cambiaghi and Parent, 2018). From Aldini’s study, the use of electric

stimulation in the form of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) was derived.

Te most recent era started afer the discovery of Faraday’s induction law. In 1831, Faraday discovered

the induction coil. Te induction coil became the tool for the stimulation of excitable tissue. It deliv­

ered shocks in humans. Afer Aldini’s experiments, in 1835, Guillaume Benjamin Armand Duchenne

(1806–1875), a French scientist, suddenly decided to try the efects of electropuncture while attending

patients sufering from neuralgia. Ten, he observed, using electricity, not just for the treatment but

also for diagnosing the causes of muscle weakness that afected many of his patients on the wards of the

Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris (McComas, 2011).

In 1870, Gustav Teodor Fritsch (1838–1927), a German physiologist, and Julius Eduard Hitzig (1838–

1907), a German neurophysiologist, applied constant galvanic electric stimulation to locate the primary

cerebral cortex of dog and reported fve punctate “centers” that could be distinguished in the anterior

cortex of the dog, stimulation which led to contractions of the contralateral muscles in the neck, legs,

and face (Millett, 1998). Investigators in Britain, France, and America realized signifcant cortical excit­

ability and they sought the confrmation of the observations of Fritsch and Hitzig. Tree years later, Sir

David Ferrier (1843–1928), a British neurologist, professor at the King’s College Hospital, conducted a

series of experiments, using Faradic electric (or induction) current, to stimulate movements from vari­

ous cerebral “centers” in cats, fogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, and birds. Ten, he moved on to conduct at least

13 experiments on the macaque monkey brain with Faradic electric current.

In 1874, Roberts Bartholow (1831–1904), an American physician, was the frst to report the efects of

the Faradic electric current stimulation to the cortex in conscious humans. He elucidated functional

and anatomical localization of human motor areas (Cambiagihi and Sandrone, 2014). In nonhuman

primates, Stamm and Rosen tested the efect of electric stimulation on delayed response tasks. Tey pro­

vided evidence that prefrontal and inferotemporal cortices are crucial for short-term memory (Stamm

and Rosen, 1969). Te abovementioned original studies gave further research on electric stimulation.