A handbook of intestinal surgery / by Leonard A. Bidwell.

  • Bidwell, Leonard A.
Date:
1905
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A handbook of intestinal surgery / by Leonard A. Bidwell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    usually made of peptonized beef, a chocolate-coloured paste, which is prepared by digesting beef with acidified fresh gastric juice, and then concentrating the solution. Each suppository contains 30 grains of this, and is stiffened with cacao butter. These suppositories are made by most wholesale chemists, and keep for only a short time after the box is opened. It is best to use them as freshly prepared as possible. Lastly, Sansom has recommended the use of blood as an enema. Ox blood is usually employed, and must be defibrinated first ; this can be got from a butcher by asking for whipped blood. It must be fresh, and will not keep more than one day. By the addition of grains of chloral to i ounce of blood all offensive odour is prevented. It is usual to inject 2 or 3 ounces of blood every two or three hours. Personally, I have had no experience of the method, but its introducer reports favourably of it. In cases where rectal feeding has to be continued for any length of time it is well to change the composition of the enemata, since the rectum does not appear to retain any one kind of enema after a time. If, too, the rectum be irritable, 2 or 3 minims of tinct. opii should be added to each enema. Some surgeons also add some disinfectant to each enema, either beta-naphthol or salol; from 2 to 5 grains of either can be given. Alcohol also acts as a disinfectant as well as a stimulant, which is an additional reason for adding either brandy or red wine. Lavagfe.—If vomiting and eructation continue after the second day, and especially if at the same time the temperature be elevated, the mouth dry, and the tongue sticky and coated, it is almost certain that there is some decomposition of the stomach contents. If these contents