By this name Cantani, of Naples, has introduced a method of treating cholera, which, as the title imports, is an extension of the ordinary hypodermatic injection. The syringe-ful is the maximum as a rule by subcutaneous injection, but a much larger amount is made use of by hypodermatoclysis. Hence, while a perforated needle is necessary to penetrate the skin, a reservoir much larger than the syringe is required for containing a solution that is from one to two litres (quarts) in amount. Nothing is better for this purpose than the fountain syringe with its flexible tube terminating in the perforated needle. The force with which the fluid is made to pass under the skin is regulated by the elevation at which the fountain is placed. It should not be forced at such a rate as to cause painful distention of the skin. The lump which forms by the inflow of the liquid may be dissipated by careful massage; but if a site where the areolar tissue is abundant has been selected, the ordinary rate of absorption will suffice to dispose of the solution as it is introduced. The apparatus must be sterilized in boiling water; the solution must be allowed to flow enough to displace the air, and care should be used to prevent the introduction of foreign matters. The solution employed contains common salt, about 4 grammes= 3 j; sodium carbonate, 3 grammes = 45 grains, dissolved in one litre = one quart, of sterilized water. This amount of fluid is inserted at one time, and is subsequently repeated as required. That is known as "Samuel's continuous method" in which the fluid is made to flow continuously until several litres are injected. The temperature of the fluid should be 104° to 105° Fahr., or higher if it can be borne—that is, when cholera is the disease being treated—and it should not be lower than 100° Fahr. in any case. The introduction of so large an amount of fluid must necessarily cause some local irritation, swelling, and tenderness, but it is rare that an abscess results.

It is not only in cholera that the method of hypodermatoclysis is resorted to. It has been proposed as a substitute for transfusion of blood in some of the cases requiring filling of the blood-vessels; as in haemorrhage, where the loss of blood threatens heart-failure; in acetonæmia, or diabetic coma; and in cases where rapid decline is the result of an acute septic inflammation, as in peritonitis.