Editing Enema (section)

==== Africa ====

The first mention of the enema in medical literature is in the Ancient Egyptian [[Ebers Papyrus]] ({{circa|1550}} BCE). One of the many types of medical specialists was a Nery-Pehuyt, the Shepherd of the Anus. Enemas administered many medications.<ref>Magner, ''A History of Medicine'':31</ref> There was a Keeper of the Royal Rectum<ref>Magner, ''A History of Medicine'':30</ref> who may have primarily been the pharaoh's enema maker. According to Egyptian mythology, the god [[Thoth]] invented the enema.<ref>Magner, ''A History of Medicine'':26</ref>

[[File:Afrikanische Holzplastik.jpg|thumb|Pressure enema from an animal bladder (African wooden sculpture, 19th century)]]

In parts of Africa, the [[calabash]] gourd is used traditionally to administer enemas. On the Ivory Coast the narrow neck of the gourd filled with water is inserted the patient's rectum and the contents are then injected by means of an attendant's forcible oral inflation, or a patient may self-administer the enema by using suction to create a negative pressure in the gourd, placing a finger at the opening, and then upon anal insertion, removing the finger to allow atmospheric pressure to effect the flow. In South Africa, [[Bhaca]] people used an ox horn to administer enemas.<ref>Annals of the South African Museum, page 18</ref> Along the upper Congo River an enema apparatus is made by making a hole in one end of the gourd for filling it, and using a resin to attach a hollow cane to the gourd's neck. The cane is inserted into the anus of the patient who is in a posture that allows gravity to effect infusion of the fluid.<ref>Friedenwald & Morrison, 'Part I:75-76</ref>