Materia medica, pharmacy, pharmacology and therapeutics / by W. Hale White.

  • Hale-White, William, Sir, 1857-1949.
Date:
1898
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Materia medica, pharmacy, pharmacology and therapeutics / by W. Hale White. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    106/680 (page 84)
    fully on the secretion. We will first consider intestinal purgatives, and then intestinal astringents. Purgatives are divided into the following classes. Laxatives.—These are substances which slightly increase the action of the bowels chiefly by stimu- lating their muscular coat. They are- (1) Whole meal bread. (2) Honey. (3) Treacle. (4) Most fruits, esp cially— (5) Tamarinds, (6) rigs, (7) Prunes, and (8) Stewed apples. (9) Manna. (10) Cassia. (11) Sulphur. (12) Magnesia. (13) Olive oil. (14) Castor oil (small doses). These are all of them domestic remedies em- ployed for slight cases of constipation, especially in children ; some, as brown bread, fruits, honey, form articles of diet with persons who are liable to con- stipation. (15) ergot, (16) physostigma, (17) nux vomica, (18) belladonna, (19) hyoscyamus, and (20) stramonium are also laxatives, but are not used except under medical orders. Nux vomica is most valuable ; it is probably a direct stimulant to the muscular coat, hardly influencing secretion. It is largely used in cases of chronic constipation, espe- cially when occurring in anaemic persons, or in those in whom, for any reason, it is likely that the intestinal peristalsis is feeble. Belladonna in small doses increases peristaltic movements because it paralyses the inhibitory fibres of the splanchnics, but in moderate doses it com- pletely arrests peristaltic movements. It is chiefly employed for this latter purpose, especially in combination with opium. Hyoscyamus acts on the intestines in the same way, and small doses of it are often given with other purgatives to prevent griping, for it gives an orderly rhythm to the irregular con- tractions the stronger purgatives produce.