PURGATION, the art of purging, scouring, or
purifying a thing, by separating, or carrying off any
impurities found therein. Thus,
In pharmacy, purgation is the cleansing of a medicine
by retrenching its superfluities. In chemistry, it is used
for the several preparations of metals and minerals in-
tended to clear them of their impurities, more usually
called purification and refining.
In medicine, purgation is an excretory motion arising
from a quick and orderly contraction of the fleshy fibres
of the stomach and intestines, whereby the chyle, cor-
rupted humours, and excrements lodged therein, are pro-
truded farther and farther, and at length quite excluded
the body by stool. See MATERIA MEDICA.