[Auguste De la Rive and electrotherapy]

After a survey of the state of electrotherapy at the beginning of the 19th century, the author studies the pertinent work of Auguste De la Rive (1801-1873), mainly exposed in the three volumes of his Traité d'électricité théorique et pratique (1854-1858). He mentions "direct" and "indirect" therapeutic effects of electricity as well as methods and apparatus applied and concludes by pointing at the reserved attitude towards the medical use of electricity that still prevailed at the close of the century.