occasion weakness in the patient, an additional objection advanced against the use of the injection. Less than three quarts should never be administered at any one time. It may be added that in weakened cases the effort of ejecting the water and the contents of the bowel may be lessened by the insertion of a colon-tube to a depth of approximately six inches into the rectum ; through this tube the fluid waste and small particles of fecal matter can pass without difficulty. Hence no matter how weak or depressed the patient may be, the enema is possible of administration without undue physical depletion, while the utmost relief always follows the removal of body filth.
Erroneous teaching is responsible for the assertion that the continual use of the enema during a fast or in health will occasion weakness in a patient and lack of function of the colon, and that natural movements of the bowels will not again occur. In other words, that the patient will thereafter be compelled to resort perforce to the internal bath for bowel evacuation. Natural movements of the bowels, as has been said, are directly dependent upon normal digestion, and in a system organically perfect and naturally correct
