362 DISEASES OF THE INTESTINES. 



would without hesitation have recourse to an injection of the 

 Infusum Tabacij for the formation for which turn to page 323. 

 Seeds of the Frondosa — an Indian plant has recently 

 been brought under my notice by Mr. Western, V.S., 

 Madras Horse Artillery^ as a potent anthelmintic, in doses of 

 .^ij. for three successive days, and a fourth like dose on the 

 fourth morning, in combination with a dose of physic. 



DIARRHCEA. 



DiARRHffiA AND Dysentery are the technical and special 

 appellations for what we commonly call looseness^ purginyy 

 scouring, ^c, meaning thereby a frequent discharge of liquid 

 excrement, which in the worst cases is dark-coloured and 

 offensive. The former, the mild kind of disorder, may exist 

 either as an 



Idiopathic or a Symptomatic Affection : i. e., the 

 purging may be either a spontaneous effort of the intestines 

 themselves to throw out something proving obnoxious to 

 them, or it may be the effect of hurried action of the canal, 

 or of a degree of relaxation in its tone ; or else the diarrhoea 

 may be dependent upon a morbid or inflammatory condition of 

 the intestinal canal, or of some organ immediately connected 

 with it. 



Any Isind of food or water, or any medicinal substance 

 which proves offensive or irritative to the. mucous lining 

 of the intestines, is likely to be productive of purga- 

 tion; which, in the first instance, is nothing more than an 

 effort of Nature to get rid of the offender. Green food of 

 all sorts, as well from the water it has in its composition as 

 from its acidulous properties, has this tendency; the horse 

 is said to be " soiled'^ by it, and in consequence — according 

 to tlie groom^s notion — to be cleansed of all that is impure 

 and " humouiy '' in his blood : an old-fashioned doctrine, in 

 which there is a great deal of practical truth, though it be 

 somewhat ^^ humorously ^^ expressed. This "green doctor," 

 a vulgar appellation such green regimen sometimes goes by, 

 may be pursued to an injurious extent. Cold, wet, rank 



