ENEMA LESIONS.
“Dr. Achilles Nordmann, of Basle,” says the Lancet, “has published a description of twenty-five bowel lesions due to the operation of administering enemata. They include three complete perforations and ulcers, and wounds of various depths and sizes. The causes of these lesions seem to have been the use of defective instruments, ignorance of the direction of the rectum, catching of the transverse fold on the tube, extreme irritation of the mucous membrane of the bowel, and obstructions caused by certain conditions of the uterus, the fœtal head, or an enlarged prostate. As a rule, these lesions are to be found on the anterior wall of the rectum, from one to seven centimetres from the anus. They are not always easy to diagnose, as other foreign bodies or caustics may produce similar appearances. Tubercular and hæmorrhoidal ulcers may be mistaken for them; these are, however, generally higher up. A perforating wound gives rise to paraproctitis, but this is not necessarily fatal, though a stricture generally results.”—N. Y. Medical Journal.