DYSENTERY (Gr. dys, difficult, and enteron, the intestine), a form of disease attended by discharges from the bowels, and differing from diarrhoea (q.v.) chiefly in being attended by marked fever and pain, as also by the presence of blood and inflammatory products iu the discharges. Dysentery is, in fact, a disease of the mucous membrane of the eolon (q.v.) or great intestine, and when severe, it is followed by the destruction of that mucous membrane to a great extent, the intestine becoming much contracted at intervals, especially in its lower part, and the evacuations being therefore apt to be re tained, especially the solid portions. The most distinctive symptoms are excessive pain in evacuating the bowels, and frequent ineffectual attempts at evacuation (tenesmus), tenderness on pressure in the left side of the abdomen, discharges of blood mixed with mucus, and comparatively little fecal matter; these symptoms being accompanied or followed by intense fever, passing into early depression of strength. Dysentery is a disease of extreme danger in many cases, and should always be placed early under medical treatment. The best domestic plan, when medical advice cannot be at once
procured, is to give a moderate dose of castor-oil, guarded by 20 or 30 drops of laudanum. and then either Dover's powder in ten-grain doses every hour or two, or ipecacuanha i wine in two or three successive teaspoonful doses at similar intervals, each with 10 or 20 drops of laudanum, according to the effect on the system. If vomiting is repeatedly produced, the dose of ipecacuanha wine should be lessened. If the pain and irritation of the bowels are extreme, the opium had better be given by a small injection (see CLYSTER) starch, after the lower bowel has been well cleansed by a larger warm-water injection; and it will be well to repeat the simple warm-water injection at intervals throughout the treatment. Dysentery, in its most severe forms, is commonly a disease of the tropical zone. It is often found in connection with inflammation of the liver.