Intestinal Ills / Chronic Constipation, Indigestion, Autogenetic Poisons, Diarrhea, Piles, Etc. Also Auto-Infection, Auto-Intoxication, Anemia, Emaciation, Etc. Due to Proctitis and Colitis

by Alcinous B. Jamison

Objections To the Use of Enema Answered.

The privilege of raising objections belongs to the ignorant as well as to the intelligent. But the objector is under as great obligations to state his reasons as the advocate.

The first plausible objection to the use of the enema is that it is not natural.

Admitting this charge, I should say that, inasmuch as proctitis, colitis, and constipation are unnatural, the use of a preternatural or, in other words, a rational means to overcome the consequences of these diseases is imperative. The enema is such a means.

Can any one that suffers from proctitis, etc., have a natural stool? Unnatural conditions require preternatural aids, as we all know. The injected water dilates the constricted portion of the gut and arouses a revulsive impulse to expel the invading water. In obeying this impulse the imprisoned feces, gases, etc., are ejected with the water.

It may be unnatural to put water into the rectum, etc., but once there its expulsion from healthy bowels would be quite natural. No natural action can be expected from unhealthy bowels; they do the best they can under the circumstances. Eye-glasses, false teeth, crutches, etc., are unnatural but invaluable aids, but no more so than is the enema as a means of relief from overloaded bowels. The enema, moreover, be it noted, not only aids the system by relieving it of its loads; it cleanses and soothes an organ that must be kept at work and perform its functions even when invaded by disease.

Surely it is unhygienic and irrational to ignore the valuable service of the enema in cases in which the bowels are in an unnatural condition.

The second objection is that the water will wash away the mucus from the mucous membrane of the bowels and leave them dry and parched, and thus apt to crack and break in two. I would remind the objector that, since about 75 per cent. of the normal feces is water, it seems strange that so great a quantity of water in contact with the mucous surface of the bowels should not also cause dryness.

The integument of the body and that of the mucous membrane are similar in structure, yet whoever had a fear of producing dryness of the skin by much application of water? The mucous membrane is simply the skin turned inward; and since it is much more vascular it is less apt to become dry—if, indeed, its dryness were at all possible. The objector should also remember that the body is composed of over 80 per cent. of water—an organism not to be made dry or parched by the application of water to the skin or to the mucous membrane two or three times a day.

The mucous membrane of the lower bowel is not unlike that of the mouth, throat, or stomach. Do you realize how often the upper end of the intestinal canal is washed or bathed daily with liquids, soft and hard drinks, hot and cold, especially by those who have formed the drink habit instead of the enema habit?