CONVULSIVE PHENOMENA PRODUCED BY A NEW METHOD OF REMOTE EXCITATION

Abstract

This report is based on a series of 125 experiments on 50 dogs in which electrical stimulation was carried out by remote excitation. In each case the stimulating electrode was placed below the cortex. The subject in each case was intact, unanesthetized and, except when experimental conditions demanded certain alterations, normal. The object of the experiments was to observe convulsions thus produced. METHOD Remote electrical excitation—that is, stimulation of selected portions of the central and peripheral nervous system in an animal that is conscious, free to move about and in normal condition—has now been in use for six years. The method appears to me to have certain advantages. Probably it has not received the attention it deserves. The forerunner of the method was described in 1932 by Hess.¹ This investigator implanted electrodes in the brain of experimental animals with leads that were accessible for electrical connection after operation. He