Dr. Beaumont, who had the privilege of watching the process of digestion in the stomach of Alexis St. Martin, tells us that “hot bread does not dissolve in the fluids of the stomach.” This is owing to the presence of carbonic acid gas in the bread, and to the fact that it is not friable, consequently becoming an insoluble, doughy mass that can not be permeated by the gastric fluid. Of course it passes in this state into the intestines, and much of it must become waste material. It is estimated that 8,000,000 lbs. of baking powder is used annually in the United States alone. What wonder is it that dyspepsia and constipation are on the increase!
Fat meats, dried and salted meats, are constipating. Fresh poultry has a like effect. There are few persons who do not remember the old time practice of arresting the action of a cathartic drug by the use of a chicken broth.
Eggs and milk are constipating to many. The latter is especially so if boiled or if the two articles are combined in custards, puddings, etc. Among the vegetables, beans (dried) are constipating. This, however, is largely the result of the mode of preparation. They may not be sufficiently cooked, and the fat incorporated with them renders them indigestible. Cheese is constipating to many, also chocolate and cocoa. Of the fruits, blackberries and raspberries are constipating, especially if the seeds are taken. More than any other articles of diet, these induce and aggravate hemorrhoids.
Any of the above mentioned foods may not prove constipating when eaten with a mixed diet.
The errors in dress conducive to torpid bowels, are lack of covering to the extremities, and excess of clothing in the abdominal region, thus favoring congestion of the vital organs. Garments that are tight and improperly supported restrict respiration, infringe upon all the digestive organs, and impede the circulation.
When women are freed from the trammels of dress, they will have taken a long stride toward freedom from invalidism. Is it Utopian to hope that it will also aid in giving them both political and social freedom?
A very common means taken to overcome constipation only increases it and renders it less amenable to common sense treatment, and that is the prevalent use of cathartic drugs. “They all depend for effect upon a certain quality they possess of exciting secretion and peristaltic activity. Of course they do this through the nervous system, few if any of them being mechanical in their action, but accomplishing their results by stimulating the nervous system to extra effort. In doing this, they necessarily exhaust the source of supply; for the tendency of all stimulation is to induce exhaustion as the consequence of unnatural exhibitions of nervous force. Persons using these so-called remedies—laxatives, cathartics, and purgatives—thus securing temporarily the movement of the bowels, find that after their use it is more difficult to secure natural passages, and that the dose must be increased to produce any effect. Meantime the continued use of these drugs not only exhausts nervous force, but often creates inflammation of mucous surfaces, disturbing digestion, and poisoning the blood.” This is more especially true of the saline cathartics.
Such cases are much more rationally, comfortably and effectively treated by the use of enemas. (Chap. IV).
Pregnancy aggravates or causes constipation, by reflex nervous action from an irritable uterus or mechanically by pressure of fetus upon the colon or rectum.
Other causes of this difficulty will be thought of—such as excessive exercise, violent emotions, as anger, grief, etc., wounds in any part of the body, irregularity in meals, late suppers, eating between meals, etc., etc. Practically it is not essential to enter into details in regard to them. No matter what the cause, all will experience benefit in adhering to the following hints upon the