Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Lientery

LIENTERY, or Lienteria, is a species of diarrhœa, in which the food passes through the intestines, almost without having undergone any change: it is not attended with pain, but the patient is frequently affected with an intolerable hunger.

This disorder is occasioned by the relaxed state of the stomach, and is sometimes the consequence of dysentery, though it generally occurs during the earlier periods of life.

Considerable benefit may be derived by administering rhubarb, combined with magnesia; but, if the patient be an adult, it will be necessary to resort to stomachics and tonics, especially the Peruvian bark.

The lientery is seldom a very dangerous disease, unless the patient be of an advanced age; or the constitution be broken by excess, or acute diseases: in either case, the diet and treatment must be the same as in the Dysentery, to which we refer.