580 A1TECTIONS OF THE INTESTINAL CANAL. 



the catarrhul inflammation of the colon, which we have designated as 

 catarrhal dysentery. In such cases, one rather large dose of oil often 

 suffices to entirely remove, in a few hours, the abdominal pain, tenes- 

 mus, and even the mucous and bloody appearance of the passages. 

 This result is the more striking when the patient has been for days 

 taking mucilaginous soups and opiates, and when, under this treatment, 

 the disease has gradually been growing worse. We can only partly 

 fulfil the causal indications in those cases, also, where twisting and 

 distortion of the intestines, or constrictions, which will be spoken 

 of in the next chapter, lead to habitual constipation, and this again to 

 intestinal catarrh ; for, although we can remove the constipation, we 

 cannot get rid of its cause. Such patients only feel well, and can only 

 feel well, while constantly using purgatives, and we have to exercise 

 great care in the choice and composition of the laxatives prescribed. 

 The rule of giving as simple a prescription as possible does not answer 

 in those cases where we wish to prescribe a purgative that will act 

 well for months. Compositions of rhubarb, jalap, aloes, and colocynth 

 answer better than either of these remedies alone ; but, as patients 

 often have copious stools, which are, at most, pulpy, not watery, we 

 are often obliged to try for a long while before we find the proper 

 remedy and the suitable dose. Practitioners can obtain at Berlin 

 several packages of StrahTs domestic pills, No. II. and ILL ; then the 

 patient can try for himself how many of each he must take to produce 

 the desired result. By careful attention to keeping the bowels regular, 

 wonderful results are sometimes attained in this disease. Enemata 

 alone, particularly of cold water, rarely answer the purpose, at least 

 for a length of time, but they may be used as adjuvants. The action 

 of laxatives is greatly facilitated by certain dietetic rules, which, how- 

 ever, are not always explicable. Some patients find it advantageous 

 to drink a few glasses of water, or to smoke before breakfast ; others 

 to eat bread and butter with their coffee, and most persons are bene- 

 fited by stewed vegetables, particularly stewed prunes, with their 

 dinner. Regular exercise, on foot or horseback, and other bodily move- 

 ments, aid the treatment, but we should not over-estimate their value. 

 Finally, we should constantly urge the patient to at least attempt to 

 have a stool at a regular hour every day. 



JSretonneau and Trousseau praise belladonna as the most efficient 

 remedy in habitual constipation, and " dyspepsia accompanied by slug* 

 gishness of the large intestine." They give belladonna alone (pulv. 

 belladonna?, extract belladonnas, each gr. -J gr. J), not, as some phy- 

 sicians do, in combination with drastic purges. Although I cannot 

 agree with all the laudations which Trousseau expends on belladonna, 

 not having witnessed its " efficacit6 merveilleuse " in all patients with 



