REMARKS ON THE USE OF CLYSTERS IN THE HORSE. 9 
no practice which is not in direct accordance with sound 
medical and surgical principles, and which cannot stand the 
test of close thinking. 
A clyster may be defined the introduction of a fluid into the 
rectum to lubricate, distend, and thus excite contraction to 
unload the gut; the faeces moving back, and the whole intes- 
tinal canal sympathising with the rectum, an enema is more 
extended in its operation than is mostly suspected. 
The limited means at our command to evacuate the stomach 
and intestines of the horse, our scanty list of cathartic medi- 
cines, and the length of time the best take to operate, render 
clysters indispensable at the onset of almost every acute 
disease. Unlike us, the practitioner in human medicine may 
choose from a long list of purgatives, and in an hour or two 
obtain results, with little disturbance to his patient, such as 
we cannot realise even in twelve hours, by the administration 
of any known medicine ; hence the more frequently and 
urgently do we require simple warm water clysters in horses. 
I strongly condemn back-raking or emptying the gut by 
the hand. Such practice is never needed to remove the 
faeces, unless no apparatus or means to give an injection be 
obtainable, when the hand may be a temporary though poor 
substitute for a clyster. It was not without back-raking 
for some time, seeing that it was at best a useless pro- 
cedure, not always innocent, and never scientific, that I dis- 
carded it as a rule. Physical exploration of the rectum as a 
means of diagnosis is a very different thing, and a rare 
requirement; never do we wish to recur to it to ascertain 
whether the rectum be full, inasmuch as, if an injection be 
given, while the operator might be pulling off his coat and 
oiling his arm, the contents of the bowel would most likely 
be expelled. 
The quantity of fluid which I inject at each time does not 
exceed two or three pints. Large quantities of fluid passed 
up, and the enemata too frequently repeated, often give rise 
to much inconvenience. The first clyster, consisting of three 
pints of warm water, and a little olive or other bland oil, will 
be retained from three to eight minutes, when it will be 
expelled with most or all the faeces the rectum contains. In 
all urgent cases, I repeat the injections two or three times at 
intervals of about a quarter of an hour ; after that, the intes- 
tine being relieved, the favourable influence on the nervous 
system secured, and other treatment having been duly 
regarded, the clysters will be advantageously repeated at 
intervals of an hour, and after a time, even once in two 
hours. My rule is to favour the expulsion of faeces as often 
xxix. 2 
