The Uses of Injections.

Injections, or Clysters, are liquid substances or medicines injected into the lower intestines by mechanical means, for the purpose of promoting alvine discharges, relieving costiveness and cleansing the bowels. They are also sometimes administered to nourish and support patients who cannot swallow aliment, to evacuate the bowels without purging, to affect the system through the intestines, to remove worms from the rectum, to cure other disorders of the rectum, to lessen diarrhœa or dysentery, to alleviate spasms in the stomach and intestines, to produce other medicinal effects in the stomach, when all other curative means are too irritating. Prompt in operation, they are very useful in inflammatory affections of the bladder, womb, liver, kidneys, and lungs; and for the relief of hysterics, croup, determination of blood to the head, and convulsions; also in urethral strictures, urinal retention, flooding after child-birth, and in removing the after-birth, when nature fails to do so. When warm, they are of the greatest service in cases of suspended animation; and for the purpose of nutrition they alone have prolonged life for over ten weeks. Carefully administered, they are always safe.