Page 14 - Pharmacy History 29 July 2006

etc, may be added to the solution; enemas of chamomile tea are used as well.
Dr William Lieberman, one of
the foremost American experts on enemas, pleads strongly for simplicity and calls the best ingredients of
an average enema: plain lukewarm water, or, perhaps, just a trace of bicarbonate of soda or ordinary salt. As for the widely-used soap enemas, Dr Lieberman warns: ‘Soap is a very popular ingredient now, unjustly so, because in most cases it is unnecessary and irritating.’
Enemas are used for replenishing the body with water, after a bleeding,
or perspiration due to a heat stroke. Frequently a weak solution of salt is used for this purpose.
Colonic irrigation (or enteroclysis) was first discovered by Professor Ismar of Berlin, a century ago. It is used to stimulate bowel movements as well as the activity of the kidneys
and to supply fluids for a longer duration. The treatment was always controversial. Dr Lieberman dismisses it as very rarely necessary, and he sees it on the wane at the present time. Medicines, such as digitalis, suprarenin (adrenaline), etc., were some-times added to an enema
when administration by mouth was ineffective or contraindicated, or when a local effort upon the mucous membranes of colon or rectum was desired. Recently ether solutions have been given by rectum to induce rectal anaesthesia. According to Friedenwald and Morrison, it may be safely said that, within prescribed limitations and for certain indications, the rectum is an ideal, as well as a resourceful, channel through which medications may be administered. Rectal feeding is used to get some food into the system when there is no possibility of feeding by mouth. However, very little food can be
utilised by the mucous membranes
of the bowels besides water, common salt, glucose, wine and predigested protein solutions.
The clyster syringe in past centuries was the physician’s most popular instrument, just as today it is the syringe for subcutaneous injections. Folk medicine has never forgotten how valuable enemas can be in the treatment of disease, not even in times when scientific medicine had little use for them.
Today we are witnessing a resurgence of colonic irrigation based on little
less than the old bogus claims and the impressive power of vested interests. Even today’s experts on colonic irrigation can only provide theories and anecdotes in its support. It seems, therefore, that ignorance is celebrating a triumph over science.
This article was taken from the Australasian Journal of Pharmacy.
July 30, 1947;609.
Dispensary and dispensing bottles
When we think of pharmacy bottles we think of the beautiful flint glass containers with their mirrored glass labels that have been synonymous with Australian and New Zealand pharma- cies since around 1905, when the American glass manufacturer Whitall Tatum, established an agent in Sydney to supply a growing market in this part of the world.
This article by David Bruce traces the history of dispensing bottles manufactured by Whitall Tatum and will be a useful aid to identifying these bottles and the date they were imported.
As is well known by collectors the early history of glass bottles in Australia is dominated by imports. Most of course came from Britain with plenty of European bottles also finding their way to the colonies.
Although there had been some small attempts, it wasn’t until Ross (Sydney) and Felton & Grimwade (Melbourne) began producing glass bottles in the 1870s that any locally made product had any noticeable impact on the market.
These locally produced bottles however, tended to be cruder
with more variable colour and less precise finishing then their overseas counterparts.
14 ■ Pharmacy History Australia
volume 3 ■ no 30 ■ NOVEMBER 2006