384 THE NATURE AND TREATMENT OF 



absorption, are only met with an hour after the administration 

 of the clyster, and even then the elimination is usually short — 

 two or three days at the utmost. 7. The greater or less dilution, 

 within certain limits, the more or less viscous nature of the 

 liquid, or the addition of the salts of morphine to the chinchona 

 alkaloids, do not exert any sensible modification of the absorp- 

 tioiv. 8. Absorption takes place more readily in the young 

 than in the adult, and is performed with difficulty in the aged 

 of either sex. 



" 9. The salts of quinine, administered in clysters, in doses 

 of less than 15 grains, exert the same effect as when given in 

 moderate doses by the mouth, and may be very well substi- 

 tuted for these. 10. But this is not the case with large doses, 

 which are never absorbed in sufficient quantities to produce 

 energetic effects. 11. The large intestine will rarely tolerate 

 a larger dose than 30 grains of the sulphate. 



" 12. These conclusions more or less exactly apply to the 

 various substances administered by clysters. 13. The apyre- 

 tic is notably more favorable to the absorption of medicinal 

 substances than the pyretic condition. 14. The typhoid 

 condition favors such absorption less than other states of 

 phlegmasia. Nevertheless, it is more energetic than hitherto 

 supposed, being only about a tenth inferior to the absorption 

 taking place in the pyretic condition. 15. In diabetes, the 

 absorption of medicinal substances appears to be very feeble in 

 the intestine. 16. In certain diseases, the tolerance or intol- 

 erance of medicinal substances may depend upon a special 

 susceptibility rather than upon variations in absorption. Thus, 

 in hysteria, the tolerance of opium nowise depends upon an 

 absence of absorption, but results from a special susceptibility. 

 17. The rapidity with which medicinal substances, such as 

 salts of quinine, are eliminated, is in a direct ratio with the 

 quantity of urine passed. This rapidity is the exact measure 

 of time which the economy takes to rid itself of the greater 

 part of fixed substances taken medicinally. 18. The absorp- 

 tion of medicinal substances, analogous to the salts of quinine, 

 is far more rapid in the young. 19. It is less active in females 



