Editing Enema (section)

==== Asia ====

In Babylonia, by 600 BCE, enemas were in use. However, it appears that initially they were in use because of a belief that the demon of disease would be driven out of the body by utilizing an enema.<ref name=History_Asia_Misc>Friedenwald & Morrison, Part I:77</ref> Babylonian and Assyrian tablets c. 600 BCE bear cuneiform inscriptions referring to enemas.<ref name=Comparative_Clinical_Study>{{cite journal |last1=Page |first1=Sidney G. |title=A Comparative Clinical Study of Several Enemas |journal=Journal of the American Medical Association |date=2 April 1955 |volume=157 |issue=14 |pages=1208–1210 |doi=10.1001/jama.1955.02950310034008 |pmid=14353661 }}</ref>

In China, c. 200 CE, [[Zhang Zhongjing]]<!--->Redirected from Chang Chung-ching, the name used in the reference---> was the first to employ enemas. "Secure a large pig's bile and mix with a small quantity of vinegar. Insert a bamboo tube three or four inches long into the rectum and inject the mixture" are his directions, according to [[Wu Lien-teh]].<ref>Friedenwald & Morrison, 'Part I:77–80</ref>

In India, in the fifth century BCE, [[Sushruta]] enumerates the enema syringe among 121 surgical instruments described. Early Indian physicians' enema apparatus consisted of a tube of bamboo, ivory, or horn attached to the scrotum of a deer, goat, or ox.<ref name=History_Asia_Misc/>

In Persia, [[Avicenna]] (980–1037 A. D.) is credited with the introduction of the "clyster-purse" or collapsible portion of an enema outfit made from ox skin or silk cloth and emptied by squeezing with the hands.<ref name=Comparative_Clinical_Study/>