Fig. 13.
Segment of large intestine, showing the characteristic features of its structure. (Gerrish.)
I have given this somewhat lengthy résumé in order to enable the reader to appreciate a most pertinent question.
Let us see what we have found: The small intestine, with its manifold folds and its numerous pockets, made by the forty feet of mucous membrane; the bends and curves in the five feet of the large intestine, with its numerous dams and pools; and, lastly, the abnormal reservoirs for feces, liquids, and gases.
Finding this, the question inevitably is, What is the best agent for cleansing this marvelously sensitive canal, twenty-five feet long, whose mucous membrane extends forty-five feet? No one would think of taking, if he could, the foul sewer in his hands, and shaking it, fold upon fold, with the faint yet fond hope of sterilizing it. How can any mode of physical culture meet the requirements for effecting a cure of ulcerative proctitis and colitis, to say nothing about keeping the bowels sweet and clean? Chronic, subacute, and acute inflammation, accompanied with ulceration, located in any part of the body, requires rest to overcome the fever and congestion. Muscular exercise irritates and inflames the diseased parts.
Another form of “physical culture” would put into the bowels all sorts of stuff that cannot be digested, such as bran, crushed seeds, shells, raw food, etc., that set up excessive muscular action and secretion of mucus as the improper stuff passes down and out. In the sacred name of hygiene, this new cathartic remedy is prescribed and taken. Seeking relief from the painful effects, the patient finds that these “remedies” make the disease and its symptoms worse. Hygienic fool-killers are, like the poor, always with us.
