Popular Science Monthly/Volume 17/May 1880/The Electrical Polyscope
| THE ELECTRICAL. POLYSCOPE. |
THE electrical polyscope is a simple and ingenious apparatus for giving light in the cavities of the human body, the invention of M. Trouve, who has distinguished himself by the contrivance of several other instruments useful to physicians and involving curious applications of electricity. It consists of an energetic and constant battery, of a reservoir or secondary battery, and of parabolic reflectors adapted to the different uses to which it may be applied, which are furnished with additional mirrors or used without them. A minute platinum thread, connected with the conducting wires of the battery, is placed in the middle of each reflector. When the battery is put in action, the wire becomes incandescent. A special rheostat is provided to regulate the flow of the electricity, which plays a part similar to that of the faucet of a water-reservoir, and controls the flow of the fluid with such exactness as to permit the finest threads of platinum
| Fig. 1. | Fig. 2. | Fig. 3. |
to approach the point of fusion without passing it. The melting-point of the wires used having been determined in the beginning, can always afterward be avoided without trouble. A galvanometer with two circuits, in which the electro-motive force of the reservoir and that of the battery are in opposition, enables the operator to observe the condition of the apparatus at every moment. Figs. 1 and 3 represent two of the reflectors. That shown in Fig. 1 is used to light up the mouth, and is of such power as to render the teeth transparent, and make them show every detail of their condition. Placed on the extremity of a probe inserted in the œsophagus, it makes it possible to observe the condition of the stomach. Fig. 3 shows the reflector with mirrors for use in laryngoscopy and rhinoscopy. This adaptation of the instrument may be used by dentists to show the back part of the teeth, without compelling the patient to assume a disagreeable position, as in Fig. 2. The polyscopes are superior to every other device for introducing light to all parts of the human body. With them the source of light may be placed at as minute a distance as is desired from the part to be examined without inconvenience to the operator. With a slight modification the polyscope may be employed as the instrument for performing the very different operation of cauterization. It is of service in other fields than those of medicine and surgery. Captain Manceron, at St. Thomas of Aquinas, has used it to examine the interior of shells and cannon. It is employed likewise in powder magazines, and is a similar apparatus to that used by divers and gatherers of oysters, corals, and pearls, to light up the bottom of the sea.
