THE USE of a prolonged electric current applied to the brain to produce a narcosis-like state, as a form of psychiatric treatment, was introduced by Frostig and associates1 in 1944. That a unidirectional pulse current could produce such a narcotized condition was first shown by Leduc in 1902, with rabbits and dogs and in experiments on himself.2 His observation was confirmed by others, and this form of narcosis was tried as a means of anesthesia, with some success.3
In 1942, van Harreveld and associates4 experimented with various types of current capable of inducing electronarcosis and concluded that the state could be produced with a variety of frequencies of both pulsating and alternating currents. They stated that the narcosis is due to the stimulating properties of the current applied and added confirmatory evidence in a later paper.5 Frostig made this a point of fundamental differentiation between