A text-book of practical therapeutics : with especial reference to the application of remedial measures to disease and their employment upon a rational basis / by Hobart Amory Hare.
- Hare, H. A. (Hobart Amory), 1862-1931.
- Date:
- 1890
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A text-book of practical therapeutics : with especial reference to the application of remedial measures to disease and their employment upon a rational basis / by Hobart Amory Hare. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.
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![influence is that result which comes as a sequence of its primary effect. As an ilhistration of this we may take the ]o(!al use of can- tharides. The local, near or direct effect of this is a blister, the re- mote or indirect effect is the absorption of exudations or the influ- encing of inflammatory processes. If pilocarpin is used its direct effect is the sweating which ensues, while its indirect effect is the relief of dropsy. MODES OF ADMINISTERING DRUGS. Drugs may be used to affect the general system in many ways, but practically we only employ six methods, as follows : J. By the mouth or stomach. 2. By the rectum. 3. By inhalation. 4. By hypodermic injection. 5. By inunction. 6. By the endermic method. By far the most usual manner of administering drugs is by way of the mouth, which is the most natural means of entrance into the body for foreign substances. Whenever medicines are used in this way, the physician should clearly bear in mind what the medicine is to do after it is swallowed. Thus, if the drug is intended to act directly upon the stomach it should not be given after meals, but a little while before, since the food and gastric juice may afterward so cover the gastric mucous membrane that the medicament cannot act. Thus, in the case of chronic gastric catarrh or gastric ulcer the nitrate of silver which is used should always be given half an hour before meals. On the other hand, if an ulcer or other trouble exist in the small intestine, the pill should be given some time after meals, and if a heavy meal is taken, three or four hours after, since under these circumstances the medicine is swept out into the intestine almost at once, without remaining any time in the stomach where it may be chemically altered. Very often it is necessary to give a medicine after food is taken, in order that it may not act in too powerful or concentrated a manner upon the viscus which receives it. The general rule, however, may be laid down that all medicines are to be taken after rather than before meals unless a local gastric effect or very rapid absorption is desired. When drugs are given by the rectum, we employ them for three purposes. l!^amely, to influence the general system by their absorp- tion, to act locally upon any disease which may be present in this particular locality, and, finally, to dislodge substances or parasites which it is desired to bring away. The word enema is loosely used to denote all these injections, be their purpose what they may, and](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2105695x_0021.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
