positive pole in the mouth, we would not
wish to run the current further than to the back of the neck; or, if
treating externally, we would not wish to carry the negative electrode
further from the positive than from side to side. Here the _long cord_,
with the negative electrode, would be a special advantage in subduing
the inflammation. We would not care to _increase_ the inflammatory
action, as we should necessarily do on the positive side of the central
point, by using cords of _equal_ length.

Again, if treating a case of acute _enteritis_--inflammation of the
intestines--we would not wish, while treating the abdomen with the
positive pole, to increase the inflammation in the lower parts, by using
equal cords and placing the negative pole at the sacrum or the coccyx.
Neither would we wish to reduce the strength of the lower limbs by
carrying the negative pole to the feet. Nor, yet again, would we care to
endanger the thoracic viscera by running the current from the abdomen up
to the dorsal or cervical vertebrae. The true way, in such a case, would
be to connect the negative electrode with a _long cord_, and then to run
the current through the inflamed parts, and _out_ somewhere from the
lumbar vertebrae to the coccyx, by treating over the abdomen with the
positive pole, and placing the negative pole on the lower parts of the
spine.

As the cords that accompany the machine from the manufacturer are
usually cut about two yards in length, every practitioner should supply
himself with an extra cord, of at least three yards, to be used as the
_long cord_.

THE INWARD AND THE OUTWARD CURRENT.

I have already said that when the conducting-cords are of equal length,
as for the most part they should be, the central point of the circuit
will be in the person of the patient, about midway between the two
electrodes. Now, since the current always runs from the positive to the
negative pole, and makes its whole circuit in that direction, it will be
readily seen that, from the place on the patient where the positive pole
is applied, inward as far as to the central point, the direction of the
current may properly be said to be _inward_; and that, from the central
point to the place of the negative electrode, where the current comes
out, its direction may be said to be _outward_. When, therefore, a part
is treated with the positive pole, or when the part under treatment
appears anywhere between the positive pole and the cent