Note on the Quenching of Thirst after Abdominal Operations

The thirst from which patients suffer after abdominal operations is so well known that I need not enlarge upon it. The cause of it, too, is sufficiently obvious. In such cases, fluids by the mouth are for a variable number of days contra-indicated, in order to obviate or minimize chloroform sickness, lest the consequent retching might strain the recent abdominal wound, and also in many cases to keep down peristalsis of the intestines. The nutrition of the patient during this period is maintained partly by small supplies from without, given as nutrient suppositories or enemata, and partly by drafts upon the reserves of fat stored up in the patient's body. Water, however, as is well known, is not stored up like fat, and the extra juiciness which may sometimes exist in the connective tissues will soon be exhausted. There-