Apparatus.—1. A flexible catheter; Nos. 8 or 9 are convenient sizes; but a smaller one can be employed.
2. A caoutchouc bottle, holding six ounces, and fitted with a tapering nozzle and stop-cock. (Fig. 89.)
Fig. 89.—Elastic india-rubber bottle for injecting.
During the operation the patient should stand, if possible, as the mucus is thus more easily cleared from the bladder. The surgeon first fills his bottle completely with tepid water, that no air may remain; then directing his patient to stand against a wall or some firm object, passes the catheter and draws off the urine. He next inserts the nozzle into the catheter, and, turning the cock, compresses the bottle slowly until two or three ounces of water have run into the bladder; this he lets escape by removing the bottle for a minute, and then repeats his operation till the water returns clear, without exhausting the patient’s strength. Three or four small injections wash the sediment and mucus from the bladder as quickly, and with far less fatigue or risk of spasm than a prolonged flow of water through a stiff double current catheter. In this way the bladder may be washed twice or thrice daily to the great comfort of the patient.
Injections of solutions of nitrate of silver, carbolic acid, alum, &c., in the proportion of 1 part to 100, or to 50 of water, can be used instead of water for this purpose.
To Tie in a Silver Catheter.
Apparatus.—1. A few yards of tape ¼ inch wide.
2. A roller.
3. A spigot of wood; or,