ENEMA.
Fecal accumulations in the lower bowel are more quickly and easily removed by an enema of warm water than by any purgative, laxative, or cathartic ever discovered or invented; and the use of this remedy is never accompanied by the unpleasant and painful griping and tenesmus which often accompany the use of cathartics. The administration is a trifle more troublesome, but the results are enough superior to more than repay the inconvenience. The fountain syringe is far preferable to any other for administering injections. Water about blood-warm should be used when the purpose is to relieve constipation, and a considerable quantity—one to three pints, or more—may be used. The water should be retained for a few minutes, while the bowels are kneaded and shaken. In hemorrhage and inflammation of the lower bowel, cool or cold clysters should be employed, and should be retained as long as possible. The copious cool enema is a valuable antiphlogistic remedy used in conjunction with the cool bath in cases of violent febrile excitement, as typhoid fever, when the temperature rises above 103° F.
The enema is a most perfect substitute for purgatives in general. Cases are very rare in which a cathartic drug will be found necessary if the enema is properly used. But the enema may become a source of mischief if abused. If habitually relied upon to secure a movement of the bowels for a long time, the bowels lose their activity, and the most obstinate constipation sometimes results, precisely as from the prolonged use of purgatives.