CHAPTER IV.
Undue Retention of Gas and Feces in the Sigmoid Flexure.

In the previous chapters attention was called especially to the lower portion of the rectum and the anus. In this chapter we will consider the sigmoid flexure, which, when diseased, is often dilated, dislocated, and depressed, a pathological condition somewhat similar to that found in the lower portion of the rectum and the anus.

The illustration on page 29 shows the normal relations of the rectum and the sigmoid flexure; also the whole colon. 7 marks the beginning of the sigmoid flexure, and 6 its upper end. The reader will note the four sharp curves or flexures of this organ,—from 6 to 7,—which forms in health a normal and most convenient receptacle for feces, and which, like the bladder, can be emptied at regular intervals.

Unless the system were able in some way to eliminate the waste and poisonous matter it had generated within six hours, it would fatally poison itself.

Those internal ventilators, the lungs, and those external ducts, the pores, are constantly at work purifying the body; and they are actively assisted by the kidneys and the bladder. Observation extending over many years of practice induces me to believe that among those who suffer from chronic con­sti­pa­tion two-thirds to three-fourths of the fecal mass is taken into the system and eliminated by the kidneys, mucous membrane, and skin. Diseases of the above organs are numerous and seemingly incurable from the fact that their common cause has not been discovered and treated properly. Were it not for these organs steadily at work, the labor of the bowels would be of little avail. But while the importance of the former cannot be ignored, it must be conceded that the most important of all the eliminating organs are the bowels, for their function is to discharge not only the waste solids but also a great amount of waste liquids and gases as well.

Fig. 6.

9. The anus. Levator ani muscle seen on each side. 8, 8. The rectum. 7. Beginning of the rectum. 6. The sigmoid flexure. 5. The descending colon. 4. The transverse colon. 3. The cæcum, or caput coli. 2. Appendicula vermiformis. 1. The end of the ileum.

Undue fermentation of the ingesta (the aliment taken into the system) generates poisons of more or less virulence; it must therefore be obvious that a clean intestinal canal is necessary after every meal to further the normal digestive process.