Rules and directions for the employment of injections in various diseasesLewis, Thomas
Science
Rules and directions for the employment of injections in various diseases
Lewis, Thomas
Enema; Irrigation (Medicine)
Dr. Thompson, also of London, speaks "favorably of the effects of cold
water introduced into the vagina, in uterine hæmorrhage."
Dr. Copland, the editor of the Medical Dictionary, says, that in cases
of intestinal spasm or colic, "the spirit of turpentine thus employed
is an efficacious remedy, especially when much flatulent distention is
associated with spasm."
Dr. Copland also says: "In some cases of lead colic, I have found the
colon so enormously distended, from flatus and loss of contractile
power, that I could distinguish its form and course, in the different
abdominal regions, by the eye, when standing at a considerable distance
from the patient; and yet the bowel has been restored to its healthy
state by repeated injections containing turpentine, castor oil, &c.,
aided by stimulating friction on the spine."
In the colic of the young and plethoric, Dr. Charles A. Lee, of New
York, says: "A very successful mode of treatment in these cases, is
that of gradually forcing up, by injection, a large quantity of some
bland fluid until it reaches the seat of obstruction or of spasm, when
a speedy evacuation and relief will generally follow. In many instances
it will be required to repeat it, before this result takes place; but,
in all curable cases, if reasonably applied, more speedy relief may be
expected from this means than almost any other."
The following extract from "an oration delivered by Dr. Burne, before
the London Medical Society," will show the importance and extensive
utility of injections as a means of restoring the alimentary system to
its natural state of activity.
"An undue retention of the intestinal excretions is another source of
disorder and of disease arising out of civilized life. It is produced
by affections of the mind, by indigestion, by inattention to the calls
of nature, and mechanical obstruction from organic disease, which last
is frequently excited by the retained excretions themselves.
"The undue retention of the excretions takes place in the larger (or
lower) intestines, for until the excrementitious matter arrives here,
there is no reason to believe that its propulsion is arrested, although
it may be less at one time than at another.
"The undue retention of the excrementitious matter allows of the
absorption of its more liquid parts, which is a source of great
impurity to the blood; and the excretions, thus rendered hard and
knotty, act more or less as extraneous substances, and by their
irritation induce a determination of blood to the intestines and to the
neighboring viscera, which ultimately ends in inflammation and organic
change of the bowels.
"It has also a great effect on the whole system; it causes a
determination of blood to the head, which oppresses the brain and
dejects the mind; it deranges the functions of the stomach, causes
flatulency, and produces a general state of discomfort.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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