GASTRIC TYMPANY 67 



perties preferred — e.g., terebene, ol. tereb., or water 

 strongly impregnated with ol. menth. pip. Either of 

 these will tend to stay the fermentation going on in the 

 stomach, and render the evolving of further gas from the 

 mass unlikely. 



It is usual with most practitioners to combine with the 

 ammonia a carminative and sedative ; also to administer 

 at the same time an aloetic purgative. As fair samples 

 of the man}' drenches so given, I select the following : 



These two drenches are both open to serious objection. 

 No. I more so than No. 2. In No. i the only medicine 

 at all calculated to act on the stomachic gases is the spt. 

 ammon. ar. The amount of free ammonia in that pre- 

 paration, however, is not enough to work any beneficial 

 result unless given in far greater doses than there laid 

 down, while, if given in large doses, its greater proportion 

 of contained ammonium carbonate will act adversely, as 

 before described. 



Drench No. 2 offers us a useful antiseptic in the form 

 of terebene. This, in all probability, will prevent the 

 formation of any further gas than that already in the 

 stomach. That it will effectually dispose of the volume 

 already there, and so relieve the distended stomach, is, to 

 say the least of it, highly problematical. 



In these draughts the ingredients to which I take 

 serious exception are the opium and the chlorodyne with 

 its contained morphia and mixture of other and various 

 sedatives. I most strongly advise all and everyone to 

 avoid, as they would avoid poison, giving sedatives to the 



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