Microscopical examination of the desquamated intestinal membrane and mucus from a man forty years of age, revealed the following products: crystals, mostly complete; incomplete phosphates, very numerous; mucous shreds in abundance; fat globules and granules, numerous; anal epithelia; red blood globules, few; connective tissue, scanty; pus corpuscles, very few; margaric acid and detritus (substances resulting from the destruction or wearing away of the part); undigested material, mostly cellulose; leptothrix threads, micrococci; and the bacillus coli communis. Diagnosis: foul, undigested material, due to a chronic inflammation of the lower intestinal tract. The microscopical examination of mucus and desquamated membrane from a woman sixty-five years of age, disclosed that she was suffering from proctitis and colitis. She wrote: "Please tell me how long this mucous discharge must continue. I am alarmed at the quantity of membrane, cords, casts, etc., in my excreta, and I think that if this process goes on much longer there will soon be no bowels left to purify." This letter was written some weeks after contracting a severe cold, which accounts for the unusual amount of exfoliation and mucus. The sample she sent contained a large quantity of mucus, both threads and corpuscles; with a moderate number of epithelial scales, partly anal and partly intestinal. Pus corpuscles were present in small numbers; also vegetable fibres, fat, starch, muscle fibres and cellulose—the remains of undigested material. In the membranes themselves no micro-organisms were found; in the pieces containing undigested material the bacillus coli communis was found as well as micrococci, and the bacilli of putrefaction (secondary formation) were seen.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE CAUSE OF CONSTIPATION AND HOW WE IGNORANTLY TREAT IT.
One of the best preparations for active life is a first-class intestinal canal.
"An old Scotch physician," says Sir Astley Cooper, "for whom I had a great respect and whom I frequently met in consultation, used to say to me as we were about to enter our patient's room together, 'Weel, Misther Cooper, we ha' only twa things to keep in meend, and they'll serve us for here and herea'ter; one is au'ways to hae the fear o' the Laird before our e'es, that'll do for herea'ter; and th' t'other is to keep our boo'els au'ways open, and that'll do for here.'"
A person whose mind is devoted to the realization of ideals, and whose body has a set of bowels that perform the act of defecation twice every twenty-four hours is doubly prepared for a useful life.
"If thou well observe
In what thou eat'st and drink'st, seek from thence
Due nourishment, not gluttonous delight,