4-74? PRACTK'i: OF PHYSIC. 



avoiding them is, that they do not operate without exciting very 

 considerable spasmodic constrictions ; hence the violent gripings 

 which they occasion."" Upon this account it is usual, and in- 

 deed proper, at least in the first place, to employ the milder 

 and less inflammatory purgatives. None have succeeded with 

 me better than the crystals of tartar, because this medicine may 

 be conveniently given in small but repeated doses to a consider- 

 able quantity ; and under this management it is the purgative 

 least ready to be rejected by vomiting, and much less so than 

 the other neutral salts. If a stronger purgative be required, 

 jalap, properly prepared, is less offensive to the palate, and sits 

 better upon the stomach than most other powerful purgatives. 

 On many occasions of colic, nothing is more effectually purga- 

 tive than a large dose of calomel. Some practitioners have at- 

 tempted to remove the obstruction of the intestines by antimo- 

 nial emetics exhibited in small doses, repeated at proper inter- 

 vals ; and when these doses are not entirely rejected by vomit- 

 ing, they often prove effectual purgatives. 



When every purgative has failed, the action of the intestines 

 has been effectually excited by throwing cold water on the lower 

 extremities. 



" ( 1 old water applied to the lower extremities, is a purgative : we 

 have seen innumerable instances of colics, and of more or less of 

 diarrhoea, induced by cold water applied to the lower extremities. 

 I cannot say by what accident it was thought of as a remedy : 

 but it was not a far-fetched analogy. A physician of this place 

 tried it in a very obstinate colic, which had resisted a variety 

 of purgatives for a great length of time : of which case you 

 have an account in the Edinburgh Medical Essays. The 

 patient was set with his naked feet on the floor, and water was 

 tin-own upon his feet and legs, and even on the lower belly 

 itself. This was found effectual in the above case, and in two or 

 three others ; and it is very likely to prove useful in the case 

 which I have considered of spasmodic constriction of the intes- 

 tines ; but there are certain cases when the obstructions of the 

 intestinal canal arc owing to an Angii^tutio, and there I have 

 seen the cold water of no effect : but it is remarkable, that even 

 in the case where the resistance, as we learned afterwards by 



