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PROLAPSE OF THE RECTUM. 
Six o'clock in the evening. —We homed down about three 
quarts of gruel. He appeared quite easy when I left him. 
About eleven o’clock at night I again saw him, when he seemed 
to be a little uneasy. I gave him an ounce of tinct. opii in 
half a pint of linseed oil, and passed my hand up the rectum 
as far as I could reach, and drew away some more pieces of 
hard dung, threw up an enema, and then left him. This was 
at twelve o’clock, when he seemed easy. 
Tuesday morning , six o'clock. —I found him standing up, 
still free from pain. The medicine not purging, I gave him 
four drachms of aloes in solution, and threw up an enema. His 
mouth beginning to smell offensive, I washed it out with a 
solution of nitre. He seemed easy throughout the day. 
Six o'clock in the evening. —The medicine not purging, I 
gave him three drachms more of aloes in solution, and horned 
down some more thin gruel. At ten o’clock I saw him, when 
he was lying down in apparent ease. 
Wednesday morning , six o'clock. —I again saw him : he was 
standing up, and seemed easy. No dung had passed from him; 
but from the rumbling noise there was in the intestines, I 
thought it soon would. Mouth still smelling offensive, I washed 
it out frequently with the solution of nitre. At twelve o’clock 
I saw him again; the medicine not having operated. I passed 
my hand up the rectum, and drew away a great quantity of 
hard dung, and threw up an enema. 
Four o'clock in the afternoon. —Medicine not purging, I gave 
him four drachms more of aloes in solution. He seemed toler¬ 
ably easy until nine o’clock in the evening, when he began to 
be very restless, wanting to get out. The respirations were 
quick and painful; he wandered about the box, betraying 
glassy appearance of the eyes, with anxious countenance, all 
which made me augur unfavourably for the life of my patient. 
I remained with him until twelve o’clock, and then left him. 
He died in a few hours afterwards. 
Post-mortem examination. —The double colon was crammed 
with dung as hard as stones, and was very much inflamed. 
There were also pieces of dung in various parts of the intestine 
beyond this, quite hard, resembling dung-balls without any 
moisture, notwithstanding the faeces anterior to this, in the 
caecum, were in a fluid state. There was a large rent in the 
meso-rectum, and the rectum itself was very much inflamed; 
all the rest of the viscera being healthy. 
I remain, Sir, yours truly. 
23, Whitefriar’s-street. 
