Golding Bird: Life and Contributions to Electrotherapeutics
Dr Golding Bird was a medical pioneer who used electricity as a therapeutic principle. He was one of the earliest clinicians to use electricity for a selected population of patients advocating that it may have various other uses as well. Electrotherapeutics is increasingly being recognised as an important tool for the success of the treatment of pain in the last two decades.
Golding Bird was born in Norfolk, England on 9 December 1814 [1] and had an unremarkable upbringing although he suffered from rheumatic fever and endocarditis as a child, which affected his long-term health. He was privately educated with a focus on classical education instead of the sciences, although he grew an interest in both botany and chemistry and quickly displayed a great ability in these fields, volunteering to give lectures and tutorials to his classmates outside of official lessons [2].
Golding Bird was always interested in medical sciences. He became a student at Guy’s Hospital in 1832. Guy’s hospital was founded in 1721 by Thomas Guy and had a tradition of studying physics and chemical applications to medicine. Thomas Addison, Thomas Hodgkin, Sir Ashley Cooper, Sir Alexander Fleming, and John Braxton Hicks were among the Physicians who worked at Guys Hospital. By 1836, Bird was in charge of the department for the treatment of patients by electricity and galvanism at the medical school of Guy’s under the supervision of Dr Thomas Addison. During this period, Guy’s had become notable amongst the public for his use of electricity for the management of various pain and medical conditions. Dr Bird was likely chosen to be in charge of the department because of his prior experience with electrical therapy. In the 1830s, there were great strides being made in the area of electrotherapeutics, however it was still very limited in its use. The treasurer of Guy’s Hospital, who felt that the hospital could treat more patients with electrotherapeutics, approved the development of an electrical room with a senior clinician supervising Golding Bird. Bird received lots of experience in electrotherapeutics as a medical student and was introduced to the use of many advanced pieces of equipment including the galvanic cell, the faradic coil, and static electricity moxa [2].
The ‘electrifying room’ at Guy’s was then placed under the general direction of Dr Bird when he became the head of the department, where he used devices eliciting electrical treatments. The electrolytic effects produced long-continued currents at low tension interested Golding Bird, since they appeared to be analogous to the nervous currents in the body. Golding Bird discovered the ‘electric moxa’, to treat movement disorders and more notably treated pelvic pain and paralysed bladders through the application of a strong electric current between the sacrum and the pubis. Bird used both electrochemical and electrostatic machines [2] for electrotherapy. Treatment modalities included peripheral nerve stimulation and muscle stimulation.
Bird was ahead of this time and his work was perceived controversial and debated extensively, especially during dissemination knowledge by way of lectures [1]. These lectures [1] combined with the transformative knowledge basis to conceptualising the advancement of neuromodulation; Bird’s work was revived in the modern era to exploit electrotherapy. Additionally, Bird is more known for being the inventor of the flexible stethoscope [3]. Golding Bird encouraged electrotherapy to be used only when all the traditional methods had failed. It has become clear now that patient selection is vital to the success of neuromodulation. Golding Bird died from a urinary tract infection on 27 October 1854 [4]. His frail health and overwork have been attributed to his death at an age of 39.