718 ENEMATA 



the body food and medicines, in sore-throat, gastritis, 

 tetanus, apoplexy, and other conditions, in which adminis- 

 tration by the mouth is contra-indicated or impracticable. 



For maintaining the regular action of the bowels, no 

 remedies are so safe and effectual, and when properly used 

 they sometimes supersede the necessity for purgatives. 

 In constipation and torpidity, after hardened, impacted, 

 obstructing faecal masses have been broken down and 

 removed, laxative enemata are advantageously injected, 

 intermitting the operation whenever straining occurs, 

 raising the hind parts, and by external pressure from 

 behind increasing the retaining capacity of the sphincter. 

 A gallon and a half to five gallons of tepid water may thus 

 be slowly introduced into the rectum of a draught horse ; 

 half a pint to a pint into the rectum of a dog 40 Ibs. weight. 

 When the posterior gut is thus distended, not only is 

 mechanical facility given for the outward movement of the 

 contents of the canal, but by reflex action peristalsis is 

 encouraged far beyond the surface reached by the injection. 

 The effects of tepid water are increased by the addition of 

 soap, bland oil, glycerin, salines, oil of turpentine, or solu- 

 tion of aloes. These copious injections, and the administra- 

 tion of full doses of opium, Indian hemp or atr opine, relieve 

 intestinal spasm, and sometimes prove beneficial in cases 

 of suspected invagination and strangulation of the intes- 

 tines in horses and dogs. 



Obstinate torpidity of the bowels in horses, depending 

 on impaction of ingesta, or obstruction from earthy deposits 

 in the colon, may frequently be relieved or removed by the 

 free use of enemata introduced into the large intestine by a 

 special apparatus, an adaptation of O'Beirne's tube. It 

 consists of six feet of one-inch rubber hose, attached to a 

 Read's pump, and provided with a round nozzle, with side 

 perforations. This tube can be passed into the single colon 

 of the horse. Any difficulty in introducing it is overcome, 

 not by force, but by injection of a gallon of water, which, 

 dilating the bowel in advance, facilitates further passage 

 of the tube. Five to fifteen gallons of cold water are in- 

 jected ; and the injection may be repeated at intervals of 

 three or four hours. Unlike ordinary enemata discharged 



