Dr. J. G. Gunn, in his interesting medical work, entitled "Gunn's Domestic Medicine," published in 1850, for the benefit of the people, speaking of injections as a domestic remedy, says:
"Language almost fails to express the great value of this innocent and powerful remedy in very many of the diseases to which mankind are daily and even hourly subject; and I most seriously regret to say that it is a remedy not only too little known but too seldom used, both by physicians and in families. This disregard for the great virtues of injections must either arise from the supposition that the operation is too troublesome, or from a false and foolish delicacy, which forbids the use of an instrument by which the lives of thousands have been preserved in extremely critical circumstances, and with which every mistress of a family should be perfectly acquainted, so as to be able to use when required in sickness. And I do here most positively assert, and that, too, from my own experience, that hundreds to whom I have been called in cases of cholic must have died had it not been for the immediate relief given by injections. I will mention one strong instance to prove the correctness of my assertion. While practising in the State of Virginia, I was called on, at midnight, to attend a stranger, who had arrived but a few moments before in the mail stage. This gentleman was one of the judges of the supreme court in the State of New York. He stated to me that the cholic had been coming on him for a considerable time before the stage stopped. By the time I arrived his misery was so extreme that he repeatedly exclaimed, "I must die unless immediate relief is given me." After administering all the remedies which are usually given in such cases, without any relief, I commenced administering injections of water, pleasantly warm. On the first being thrown up the bowels he experienced more relief than had been produced by all the other remedies I had tried. He felt an immediate exemption from pain, and after two or three more had been given, a copious discharge by the stool followed, and he was entirely restored.
"Injections principally act by exciting the lower portion of the intestinal tube, and sometimes from the effects of sympathy. In the latter case the discharges are generally copious, or in other words, of large quantity; and to produce these full discharges by stool, the injections of warm water, tempered so as to be pleasant to the feelings of the patient, may be frequently administered, and in such quantities as the bowels will bear. I have continued to give these injections of warm water for an hour or more, in many instances, before I could overcome or subdue spasm or cholic, and in cases of great constipation. In fevers and inflammations, injections made of slippery elm bark, which I have frequently directed and administered, tend to cool the whole system, allay the heat and irritation of the bowels, and gently assist the operation of the medicine which has been given. They will also produce a determination to the skin, which means a gentle moisture or sweat. Tepid or warm water always opens the bowels, but the very reverse of this practice is sometimes resorted to in desperate circumstances and with great advantages by some of the most distinguished physicians. In cases of very obstinate constipation relief has frequently been obtained when all other remedies had failed, by an injection of the coldest water, even of iced water. There are many persons who are constitutionally subject to costiveness. This costiveness arises from a variety of causes, such as diseased liver, indigestion, torpor of the bowels, and from improper food being taken into the stomach and bowels, which will generally produce spasms or cholic pains, depression of spirits, &c. All these can be easily remedied by a simple injection of water thrown up the bowels, which relieves them of their load, and the mind and feelings soon experience an agreeable change. You who are always taking medicines to keep your bowels open and whose stomachs are becoming exhausted and worn out by medical drugs, let me entreat you, as a friend and physician, who has witnessed throughout France the great and surprising benefits arising from this simple operation, to abandon the idea of constantly taking medicines for the purpose. In France there is scarcely a family unprovided with an injecting apparatus, which is always used when there is the slightest obstruction or costiveness of the bowels. These people mostly use a simple clyster of milk and water, and sometimes water alone; in summer they use cold water, and in winter, water pleasantly warm. It is to the warm bath and the common use of injections that are to be attributed, in a great degree, the cheerful dispositions, the uniform health, and the practical philosophy with which these people bear the hardships and misfortunes of life. In fact, if you take from a French physician the warm bath and the injecting pipe, he cannot practise medicine with any kind of success. The importance of injections, both in the hands of physicians and families, has become so well known, and is now so highly valued, as to call forth the commendations of the most eminent physicians of both Europe and America. Injections constitute one of the most powerful, innocent, mild, and beneficial remedies known in the science and practice of medicine."
VIEW OF
LEWIS'S IMPROVED PORTABLE SYRINGE,
OR
DOMESTIC INJECTING APPARATUS.
