Madame Young's Guide to Health / Her experience and practice for nearly forty years; a true family herbal, wherein is displayed the true properties and medical virtues of all the roots, herbs, &c., indigenous to the United States, and their combination in all the diseases the human body is heir to; also, an explanation of the human body, its liability to injuries through ignorance of its structure. Dedicated exclusively to her sex.

by Amelia Young

THE ABDOMEN.

This contains the intestines, and commences from the stomach; that part the ancients used to call the second stomach, is now termed duodenum; this turns downward and backward, toward the right side, there it turns again to the left, and I may say, zig-zags, until it joins the larger intestines; both ends of the large intestines, are tied to the back bone, to keep them from floating; the lower end passes through the basket of the hips, to the end of the back bone, to keep it in its right place; this forms the back passage, and the end of the back bone is called the rectum. The bowels move; and if so, how often you injure yourself by not obeying the calls of nature to evacuate them; you put it off to some more convenient time; but nature will not be baffled with impunity—you must suffer for your omission the next day, or day after; the head is afflicted, and you go to your closet, force and strain to accomplish what you refused nature at the suitable time; as the intestines float, will you not cause debility and disease? Yes, surely you will; then, of course, you have recourse to physic, and this makes you worse, as the intestines become coated. Now for the results; as I said before, the large intestines pass through the basket of the hips; they are straight along the bone, when in a healthy condition, but by this forcing and straining, they become drawn down, in a wrinkled condition, and there is no action; thence arises costiveness, constipation, piles, ulcers, fistulas, and numerous other diseases, which assail these parts, through neglecting the calls of nature. And here I would observe, in regard to your children, be watchful; I have been told by girls from six to twelve years old, how they have been so costive, that they would have to force themselves to such a degree, that every object around them appeared black. O! what poor miserable beings will they be all their lives, through a mother’s neglect. Never let a young child sit too long on a vessel or chair; it weakens the intestines, and brings on general debility. I have known many to die in fits, and to have the relaxation of the fundament, merely by sitting too long on a stool chair.