Robert Bartholow

Robert Bartholow or Roberts Bartholow (November 28, 1831 - 1904} was an American physician from New Windsor, Maryland. He earned his degree in medicine from the University of Maryland in 1852. From 1855-1864 he was a surgeon in the U.S. Army. From 1864-1879 he was a professor at the Medical College of Ohio in Cincinnati. Afterwards he was a professor at the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia.

He is known for his application of Faradic electrical currents to the exposed dura of a patient. In 1874, Bartholow was presented with a 30-year old patient named Mary Rafferty who had a 2" inch diameter hole in her skull caused by a cancerous ulcer. Inspired by the localized testing of animals' brains done by neurologist David Ferrier, Bartholow applied a small electrical current to different sections of Ms. Rafferty's exposed brain and noticed that it caused movements in various parts of her body. Also, the low electrical current he applied to the brain did not seem to cause her any pain. However, when Bartholow applied a larger amount of current, Mary Rafferty became distressed, experienced convulsions and went into a coma. She revived from the coma three days later, but unfortunately the following day she had a major seizure and died.

Although Dr. Bartholow was criticized for his experimentation by the American Medical Association, he did not suffer professionally; in 1893 he attained the title of Professor Emeritus at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia.

Bibliography

* "Hypodermic Medication"
* "Treatise on Therapeutics and Materia Medica"
* "Practice of Medicine"
* "Experimental Investigations into the Functions of the Human Brain"

Sources

* [http://butler.cc.tut.fi/~malmivuo/bem/bembook/01/01.htm The Concept of Bioelectromagnetism]
* Mind as Mosaic {The Robot in the Machine} pp. 113-114; Bruce H. Hinrichs