EPSOM SALT 215 



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slight peristalsis. There is a tendency to cause griping, 

 which is relieved by conjoining carminatives ; while effectual 

 removal of the intestinal fluids is attained by using with the 

 saline some aloes, oil, or calomel. Meanwhile, a certain 

 amount of the salt undergoes slow and gradual absorption ; 

 but this is checked when purgation occurs. After several 

 hours the absorbed salt is excreted by the kidneys, but not 

 before it has produced some amount of hydraemia by draining 

 water from the tissues ; thus more or less diuresis ensues. 



Free outpouring of fluid from the intestinal walls, and the 

 subsequent more limited excretion from the kidneys, neces- 

 sarily remove both fluid and saline matters from the blood, 

 and within a few hours this loss is in great part made good by 

 absorption of fluid from the tissues. Mainly in this manner 

 result the febrifuge and alterative effects of salines, in reduc- 

 ing abnormal temperature, and removing dropsical effusions. 



Sir Lauder Brunton demonstrated, experimentally, the 

 effect of Epsom salt in causing outpouring of mucous fluid 

 from the intestinal walls. He placed four ligatures round 

 the intestines of a cat, so as to make three separate closed 

 sacs from five to seven inches long. Into the two outside 

 sacs water alone was introduced ; into the central one were 

 injected seven grains Epsom salt, dissolved in 105 minims 

 of water. The cat was killed four hours later, and although 

 the two outside sacs were quite empty, the middle one, into 

 which the purgative had been injected, contained 320 minims 

 of pale amber fluid, of the nature of a secretion rather than 

 an albuminous exudation. In two similar experiments, 425 

 and 250 minims of fluid were found, four and five hours after 

 injection of 85 and 90 minims of saturated solution of Epsom 

 salt. No congestion or inflammation was noticed. The loops 

 on either side, which had been filled with the same quantity 

 of water, were empty. Croton oil, elaterium, and gamboge, 

 tested by like experiment, all caused an effusion of liquid, 

 but none so abundant as Epsom salt, which yielded 42 to 56 

 minims per square inch of intestine acted on by the purgative. 

 Again, in the case of the vegetable purgatives the fluid was 

 more of an inflammatory nature, and the mucous membrane 

 was congested and inflamed. 



W. Rutherford's experiments on dogs demonstrate that 



