taken four times daily often affords great relief, but
these cases demand careful study by a physician to determine their
cause, and often local treatment. Avoidance of all source of
irritation is also essential in these cases, as sexual excitement and
the use of alcohol and spices. The diet should consist chiefly of
cereals and vegetables, with an abundance of milk and water. The
bowels should be kept loose by means of hot rectal injections in acute
cystitis.

=RETENTION, STOPPAGE, OR SUPPRESSION OF URINE.=--Retention refers to
that condition where the urine has been accumulating in the bladder
for a considerable time--over twelve hours--and cannot be passed. It
may follow an obstruction from disease, to which is added temporary
swelling and nervous contraction of some part of the urinary passage;
or it may be due to spasm and closure of the outlet from nervous
irritation, as in the cases of injuries and surgical operations in the
vicinity of the sexual organs, the rectum, or in other parts of the
body. Overdistention of the bladder from failure to pass water for a
long time may lead to a condition where urination becomes an
impossibility. Various general diseases, as severe fevers, and
conditions of unconsciousness, and other disorders of the nervous
system, are frequently accompanied by retention of urine. In retention
of urine there is often an escape of a little urine from time to time,
and not necessarily entire absence of outflow.

=Treatment.=--Retention of urine is a serious condition. If not
relieved, it may end in death from toxaemia, caused by back pressure on
the kidneys, or from rupture of the bladder. Therefore surgical
assistance is demanded as soon as it can be obtained. Failing this,
begin with the simpler methods. A hot sitz bath, or, if the patient
cannot move, hot applications, as a hot poultice or hot cloths
applied over the lower part of the belly, may afford relief.
Injections of hot water into the bowel are often more efficient still.
A single full dose of opium in some form, as fifteen drops of
laudanum[10] or two teaspoonfuls of paregoric[10] or one-quarter grain
of morphine,[10] will frequently allow of a free passage of urine. The
introduction of a suppository into the bowel, containing one-quarter
grain each of morphine sulphate,[10] and belladonna extract, is often
preferable to giving the drug by the mouth. These measures proving of
no avail, the next endeavor should be to pass a cat