galvanism

Etymology

From French galvanisme, after physiologist Luigi Alyisio Galvani (1737–1798) + -isme.

noun

1. The chemical generation of electricity.
2. The (therapeutic) use of electricity directly applied to the body.
   The sudden application of galvanism to bands of savages may fairly rank as a new sensation, and they, thinking the wire held this strange and mysterious power, wisely left it alone. 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 101
   Erb and Remak in Germany, Beard and Rockwell and Althans in America, have used it with advantage, in the forms of galvanisms and faradisms, in the treatment of joint troubles. 1892, Journal of Electrotherapeutics: Volume 10