ATenesmsis an irregularRetentionofNature, and nothing else but a continualDesireorInclinationof going toSTOOL; attended withPain, without voiding any thing butSlime, or an indigestedMucosity: And this is in theAnus, what aStranguryis in theBladder; beingBotha violentContractionof theFibres, orDisorderof theSphincter-Muscles.
WHICHtenaciousSymptomproceeds from a great Variety ofCauses, occasionally provoking theexpulsive Facultyof thestrait Gut, call’d theRectum, without aPowerto expel; such as may happen to be an unusualExulceration, orConstrictionof, or anAcid-Salt-Humourin the sameIntestine: So likewise aStonein the Neck of theBladder, aTumourof the adjacentParts, or seminalVessels, a frigidIntemperature, theHemorrhoides, aDysenteria,Dysuria,IschuriaorStranguria, &c. may very shrewdly occasion theTenesmus.
WHICHbindingSYMPTOMis of the same dangerousNatureand[80]Consequencewith the precedingCase; both having an equalEffectof Power, if not prevented, to expel and dislodge theInfant. WhichNotioncannot be otherways better maintain’d; for theWombbeing situated upon theIntestinum Rectum, must suffer greatCommotionsby continualNeedingsandStrainingsin both Cases.
BUTthe safestCure, in short, in my humble Opinion, is to be perform’d by properDecoctions,Fomentations, and abstergingClysters.