DRUGS WHICH ACT ON THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM 



465 



REMEDIES WHICH ACT ON THE BOWELS AND LIVER 



Eemedies for Constipation 



Bran and Linseed Mashes, Olive Oil, 



Eemedies for Flatulence 



The Alkaline Bicarbonates, as, 

 Potash, Soda, Magnesia. 



Essential Oils, as. 



Mint, 



Peppei'mint, 



Cloves, 



Aniseed, 



Cassia, 



Carraway. 



The Ethers and Spirituous Liquors, Am- 

 monia, &c. 



Purgatives which Increase the Flow of Bile 

 Calomel, Euonymin, 



Podophyllin, Aloes. 



Eemedies for Diarrhoea 



Opium, Rhatany, Alum, 



Catechu, Bael Fruit, Bismuth, 



Kino, Oak Bark, Soda, 



Iron. 



A consideration of the structure of the stomach and the process of 

 digestion as carried on in it by means of the gastric juice and its con- 

 stituents, aided by the mechanical movements and temperature of the 

 viscus, controlled by nervous forces, will enable the reader to understand 

 that drugs may be administered which, by their stimulating, or slightly 

 irritating, effect upon the lining membrane, cause a determination of blood 

 to the part, and consequently increase the production of gastric fluid, or 

 cause an increase in the strength of the muscular contractions of the walls 

 of the stomach, and a more active movement of the food contained in it. 

 There may be sufficient, nay excessive, c[uantity of gastric juice produced, 

 Ijut it may be deficient either in pepsin or hydrochloric acid. If a general 

 state of debility indicates such deficiency as the cause of indigestion, medi- 

 cines are given with the object of supplying the want of the one or the 

 other, until Nature again succeeds in secreting the desired quality or 

 quantity. Stomachic stimulants are agents which have been found by 

 experience to rouse the stomach from a state of torpor to greater activity, 

 enabling it to perform its functions more rapidly and completely. The 

 opposite condition of morbid irritability may be the cause of trouble, when 

 the horse refuses to eat and eructations are observed; animals like the 

 dog, in whom vomition is easily excited and performed, return the food 

 almost immediately. In such irritable states of the stomach, gastric seda- 



VOL. II. 



64 



