For my thesis I am looking for available online resources from the period around 1900. Does someone have an extensive overview of available newspapers. I for instance found Austrian newspapers online.  Now I am looking for an ad in the Neuer Zürcher Zeitung about an elektromagnetic therapeutic machine.  It appeared between 1899 and 1900. But I am also interested in other online resources with information around 1900.  It would be great if all the information would be available online.

Dr Shock speculates that I am busy with Twitter. But that is not the case. I am busy with my historical research on electrotherapy with a focus on magnetic stimulation and psychiatry. Now I am working on the period around 1900.  I found a lot of documents about German magnetotherapy. An electrotechnical engineer Eugen Konrad Müller produced a apparatus that produced an alternating magnetic field with an alternating current.  He claims he saw phosphenes in 1883 when he placed his head near an alternating magnetic field. Around 1900, he founded an institute in Zürich to investigate the effects of the magnetic waves produced by his apparatus. Physicians also got involved. They claimed that the apparatus was able to heal 70% of all conditions caused by an irritated nervous system (for instance neurasthenia) and  vasomotoric problems.  But Müller was not the only one who made an electromagnetic apparatus. The firm Trüb also produced an electromagnetic therapeutic machine. This machine worked with a rotating simple magnet. There was a lot of debate which machine worked and if the machines worked at all.

This is a just a little insight in the research I am doing right now. I want to extend the period to  nowadays and investigate how it came about that magnetic brain stimulation is al around.  I am still looking for interesting articles about magnetotherapy in the UK, France and US around 1900. So if someone has some clues or some interesting links please let me know. The research is not confined the scientific articles. Everything (photos, populair articles, newspaper articles) is interesting.

I would love to go to the exhibition about mental illness and visual arts in Vienna 1900. This would be a nice addition to the things I allready know about this period.

For my thesis on TMS I am looking for a list of  publications of the french scientist d’Arsonval. The most famous publication on TMS by d’Arsonval in 1896¹ I already have in my possession. If someone has a list, please send me an e-mail or leave the list in the comment. Or if someone has an easy way to obtain the list, let me know!

1) d’Arsonval, J. A. (1896). “Dispotifs pour la mesure des courants alternatifs de toutes fréquences.” Comptes rendus des séances et mémoires de la Société de biologie et de ses filiales et associés: 450-451.

As promised I will explain how I am strugling to keep an overview of all the references I collect during my historical research about brain stimulation in psychiatry. Ideally, with a web application I should be able to do all the things I want. But none does exactly what I want. Web applications as Mendeley or Labmeeting are great for sharing your pdf with other people and tagging your pdfs. So let’s start how I work.

*) I start using Endnote. I use the online search option in Endnote to find articles about for instance transcranial magnetic stimulation. The interesting ones I add to my Endnote library. I can use them later to create references in Word.

*) Next I export my references to a text file. This text file is imported in an Access database. I created this database especially for this research. I for instance want to know the last time I opened a pdf. I also want to store quotes from the original article together with the meta information.

*) I use Adobe Pro to annnotate the pdfs. You can highlight or underline text with Abobe Pro.The underlined or highlighted text can then be copied into my Access database. I do not have to retype all the text.

*) Another thing that annoyed me was the many mouse clicks I needed to arrive at the pdf. First I click on the link in my database. Then at home I have to login to the library. Then the Pubmed page opens and I have to click the logo of the journal (if it is electronically available). After clicking that logo I have to click again on a different page and then finally I have my pdf. This takes at least 6 clicks. To overcome this I use Greasemonkey. This is an add-on for Firefox. This add-on uses javascript and can automate things. I created several scripts and now if a pdf is available it will open automatically if I click on a Pubmed link.

*) I store my information on an external harddisk to be able to work at different places.

If you want more information about how I work or if you have ideas how I can improve my process please let me know in the comments.

Updated
An example of the Adobe Online Sharing Service.

Links:

Adobe Online Sharing Acrobat.com is a set of online services — file sharing and storage, PDF converter, online word processor, and web conferencing — you can use to create and share documents, communicate in real time, and simplify working with others. It’s free, so sign up now.

Abobe Pro Pdf reader and manipulation tool

Endnote Reference management software

Greasemonkey Firefox add-on

Labmeeting Online sharing of pdfs

Mendeley Online sharing of pdfs

As some of you might know I am conducting a historical research about the use of electricity and magnetism in psychiatry. For now I am focussing on Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation.  This morning I was looking at some videos on TED. This made me wonder if and what kind of videos are online available about TMS. I was hoping to find an old video no one ever heard that I could use for my reseach but unfortunatelly that did not happen. I tried Youtube with the search “transcranial magnetic stimulation” and only a handful of interesting modern videos were the result. No old videos about guinea pigs in a magnetic stimulator came up. Nevertheless I will present the videos below. So if you might come across interesting videos or other information about TMS please let me know in the comments.

Talking and TMS, what happens?

TMS a possible solution for migraine?

TMS apparatus, what is for sale?

TMS by a Dutch psychologist (thanks to Dr Shock) 

Ik geef trainingen aan artsen hoe ze elektronisch geneesmiddelen kunnen voorschrijven. Dit helpt medische fouten voorkomen. Dat dit geen nieuw idee is kun je zien in onderstaande video.

Met dank aan: Medgadget.com

I need some help. I am writing an article about epilepsy in the 19th century. In the article I want to focus on the relation between animal experimentation, epilepsy and electricity during the 19th century. I allready have collected some interesting articles and books.

During my search for information I found the following interesting things: The First Reported Case of Electrical Stimulation of the Human Brain, MORGAN, J Hist Med Allied Sci. 1982; XXXVII: 51-64, The history of Modern Epilepsy: The beginning 1865-1914, and The falling Sickness: A History of Epilepsy from the Greeks to the Beginnings of Modern Neurology.

But I am sure there is more information on this topic. So if you know where I can find this information please let me know. You can leave it in the comments or send me an e-mail at jan @ medblog.nl.