52 STUDIES IN DIGESTION 



movements for three hours or more. The condition 

 might be described as " intestinal shock." It is of 

 great surgical importance. Arrest of peristalsis, quite 

 apart from peritonitis, occasionally follows strangu- 

 lated hernia, even after successful operation ; it may 

 accompany gall-stone colic, and it may even occur as 

 a neurosis or in association with organic nervous 

 disease. Some interesting cases are reported by 

 Walton in a discussion of the subject. Fortunately, 

 he is able to direct us to promising lines of treatment. 

 The milder degrees of the condition will yield to 

 turpentine enemata and to saline purges, but there 

 are instances in which all drugs are vomited and the 

 block seems to be too high for enemata to act. Here 

 we may try the effect of physostigmine (eserine) 

 salicylate, in T ^tr~g r - doses, given hypodermically 

 every four hours for six doses. Walton shows by a 

 chart that the evacuations when this drug is given 

 after abdominal operations are much more frequent 

 than without it. It is scarcely at all aperient in health, 

 working best when the local nerve ganglia in the 

 intestine are thrown out of action. It is of course an 

 old and well-known remedy, acting like pilocarpine 

 by stimulating the nerve endings in unstriped 

 muscle. 



Absorption in the Large Intestine. We may 

 sum up the ordinary functions of the various parts 

 of the bowel with regard to absorption thus : 



Drugs, salts, and sugars are absorbed in the stomach. 



Proteins (as aminoacids), carbohydrates (as sugar), 

 and fats (as soap and glycerin) are absorbed in the 

 small intestine. 



