I 
THE ADMINISTKATION OF MEDICINE. 745 
It is a physiological fact, which is possibly not so widely 
known as it should be, that when an animal is suffering from 
acute pain, absorption from the alimentary canal beyond the 
fauces will take place very sparingly, if at all. When we are 
called to see a patient suffering from acute indigestion or colic, 
which has been affected for any length of time, it is conse¬ 
quently almost useless to administer a draught or, much more, 
a ball. If the case is not too far advanced we may administer 
a limited quantity of medicine through the medium of the 
buccal mucous membrane. If too far advanced, however, we 
will fail to get action from this mode, and must then resort 
to hypodermic or intravenous injections. The case may 
be so far advanced, that is, suffering such acute pain for so 
long a time, that absorption will not take place even by hypo¬ 
dermic, and we must then resort to intravenous medication, 
from which process, if our drug is pure, we will always get 
prompt results. It is always the safest and best plan, there¬ 
fore, in such acute troubles to resort to this mode of adminis¬ 
tration from the start. All the precaution which is necessary 
is to prepare a solution, which, if administered hypodermi¬ 
cally, will not cause an abscess to form and this solution can 
safely be administered intravenously by means of a thor¬ 
oughly clean aseptic needle. Nearly all drugs which are ad¬ 
missible hypodermically, can safely be used for intravenous 
injections. The best and easiest mode of administration in 
the ordinary run of cases is to prepare the medicine in a 
concentrated form, that is, so that the dose shall not exceed 
from four to eight drachms, and this thrown into the 
fauces by means of a hard rubber syringe. Precaution is 
necessary, however, that the medicine is not strong enough to 
destroy the sensitive mucous membranes with which it comes 
in contact, or very serious trouble may result. If the dose 
must be larger, the easiest method of administration is to 
loop an ordinary strap over the upper incisor teeth and under 
the lip, pass it through a pulley or over a beam, and one man 
can easily administer any draught by himself. 
Enemas of warm water or soapsuds are very frequently re¬ 
sorted to in many forms of trouble, but most frequently in diges- 
