Part 3 (1/2)
In an old comedy, which used to delight our fore-fathers, the hero, Felix O'Callaghan, defines the practice of medicine as ”the art of amusing the patient while Nature performs the cure.” In that sentence, the dramatist (unwittingly perhaps) embodied a great truth. Nature, and Nature only, can effect a cure. Fresh air, sunlight, pure water, diet and exercise are the great curative agents provided by Nature, and all that the physician can do, no matter to what school be belongs, is to remove as far as possible all existing impediments, and to see that the hygienic conditions are made as favorable as possible.
For the rest, Nature, the marvellous builder, will, in her own mysterious way, build up fresh tissue, and, slowly but surely, repair the ravages made by disease. No one would dare to say that the farmer made the corn grow. He does all that the science of agriculture tells him is needful to furnish proper conditions for growth, but there he must stop--the rest must be left to Nature. Then, since disease is a wasting of tissue, and recovery a building up, it is a palpable absurdity to credit a physician with a cure. All that he can do is to cooperate with Nature, by seeing that none of her laws are violated, and insisting that nothing whatever shall obstruct her beneficent functions.
Whether for the preservation of health, or the treatment of disease, when present, the chief thing is to cleanse the colon. It is useless to attempt to get rid of the effects while the cause is present.
If the princ.i.p.al drain in a dwelling becomes choked, what is the consequence? The noxious and pestilent gases generated by the acc.u.mulated filth having no outlet, are forced back into the building, poisoning the atmosphere, and breeding contagion among the inhabitants. Deodorizing and disinfecting will simply be a waste of time and material, until the drain is cleared. The colon is the main drain of the human body, and if it be necessary, for sanitary reasons, to keep the house drains clean, how vitally important is it to keep the main outlet of the physical system free from obstructions.
Or, to use another homely ill.u.s.tration, when your coal stove has been run continuously for a long time, as a natural result it becomes clogged with cinders and ashes, causing the fire to burn badly. You encourage it with fresh fuel, rake it and shake it but without avail--the acc.u.mulations of debris are too great. You remove a portion, but its place is taken by more substance from above. At length you resort to the measure you should have employed at first--you ”dump the grate” and start a fresh fire. The moral is obvious: dump the grate of the human system--in other words, empty the colon.
It has been previously shown that an impacted colon is neither more nor less than a prolific hot-bed for the wholesale breeding of disease germs--microbes--those infinitesimal organisms which science has demonstrated to be the cause of many phases of disease, or rather, the toxins (poisons) they produce, cause disease. Of course, there are harmless micro-organisms as well as hurtful ones; in fact, a large proportion of them are beneficial rather than otherwise; but some of them (notably the tubercle bacillus) are so intimately a.s.sociated with disease that it is next to impossible to doubt their responsibility.
The sphere of the microbe is absolutely without limit. He is equally at ease in the air, the earth, and the water. He makes himself at home in our beverages and our foods. Our mouths furnish desirable lurking places for him, our hair, and finger-nails are favorite posts of vantage; while he delights to disport himself in our blood. He is the active agent of decay, and the prime cause of disease. He is the most selfish of parasites. The world for a long time disregarded him, but now acknowledges him as one of the mightiest of conquerers; for while other devastators have slain thousands, millions have fallen beneath his insidious attacks. He is a foe to be dreaded, for he is forever lying in ambush for fresh victims.
Microbes breed in fermentation, consequently, every particle of undigested food remaining in the stomach or intestines becomes an ideal nursery for their propagation. It has been demonstrated that food that has been subjected to the action of the gastric juice decomposes far more rapidly than that which has not--hence, with imperfect digestion, fermentation quickly takes place. If microbes are now introduced into the system, either by contact with sick persons, inhaling impure air in crowded public buildings, or breathing in the dust on ill-kept streets, there is danger ahead; for if the recipient is not in a sound, physical condition, the microbes (finding congenial lodgment), multiply with the most marvellous rapidity, permeating every portion of the tissue--causing, in fact, DECOMPOSITION WHILE STILL ALIVE.
Every particle of animal or vegetable matter, even if only a single grain in weight, by exposure to the air, putrefies, breeds, and attracts to itself thousands of microbes, and becomes a center of infection. Thus, in a piece of street dirt containing organic matter, we may find upon examination, the germs of typhoid fever, diphtheria, scarlet fever, or consumption. When this piece of dirt is dried by the sun and pulverized by horses' hoofs, the particles of dirt are caught up by the wind, and sent whirling through the air, to be drawn into the lungs by those within reach, Of course, every one who breathes in the microbes of some particular disease does not catch it, or we should soon all be dead, but those who have not the resisting power of sound bodies to kill these germs, before they have time to set up their peculiar inflammation, are apt to realize the evil effects, a week, a month, or even a year afterwards.
It is evident then that to cure disease we must get rid of all fermentation in the system, and thus prevent the further breeding of microbes and to prevent disease we must get the system into such a sound, healthy condition that disease germs cannot obtain a lodgment in it.
Now, this can only be accomplished by thoroughly cleansing the colon, and keeping it absolutely clean, thus preventing further contamination of the blood current--the fountain of life.
The intelligent reader, recognizing the absolute correctness of the foregoing proposition, will naturally ask, ”Can such a thing be accomplished, and how?” We beg to a.s.sure the reader, most emphatically, that it can, but not by the means usually employed. It is perfectly plain that the cleansing process cannot be effected by cathartics, for at the best, they only afford temporary relief (witness the growth of the cathartic habit), while on an impacted ma.s.s such as is commonly present in the colon, the influence they can exert is practically nil. The common experience of those afflicted with constipation is, that they commence with a laxative, gradually increasing the quant.i.ty and frequency of the dose until it fails to act at all. Then they resort to a cathartic, with a similar experience, when it is exchanged for a more powerful one, and then for another still more powerful, until at last, it becomes impossible to move the bowels without a powerful dose.
That this is no overdrawn picture many of my readers will bear witness, and my brother pract.i.tioners can amply corroborate the statement, for they fully recognize the vital importance of removing the waste from the system. The pity of it is that they still persist in employing such a crude and ineffective method.
Do any of my readers know how a cathartic acts?
It is popularly supposed that the drug pa.s.ses from the stomach into the small intestines, rendering their contents more liquid; then pa.s.ses into the colon, producing the same effect upon its more solid contents, thus causing an evacuation. Many people have no conception, whatever, of the modus operandi of a purgative drug, simply believing that it acts in a certain mysterious manner, but the above described process is generally believed to be the correct one by those who have thought upon the matter, but lack physiological knowledge. It is a huge mistake.
Any purgative drug, whether aperient, laxative or cathartic, is dissolved in the stomach by the action of the gastric juice--in fact, goes through the same digestive process as the food that is eaten, that is, it pa.s.ses into the small intestines and is there absorbed into the circulation.
By its irritation of the nerves, the secretory and excretory processes of the system are stimulated into abnormal action, and an extra quant.i.ty of fluid is poured into the colon to dissolve the acc.u.mulated ma.s.s; which is about as scientific a proceeding as pouring a quart of water into a washbowl on the upper floor of a dwelling to clear away an obstruction in the main drain of the building. And, again, as previously stated, the action of laxatives and cathartics, especially the variety known as hydrogo-cathartics (watery), fill the ano-rectal cavity and the loculi, or folds of the colon, with a foul watery solution that is a perpetual source of irritation to the sensitive mucous surface, hastening and intensifying the process of auto-infection by absorption, that is constantly going on.
And what about the enormous drain upon the vital forces? Who is not familiar with the feeling of exhaustion when the reaction sets in after the employment of such methods of relief? How can it be otherwise? These stimulants to defecation are like the applications of the whip to the jaded horse-they excite the system to make a supreme effort in the required direction, but the reaction is disastrous in the extreme. With the repeated demands upon the delicate nervous system incidental to constant catharsis is it any wonder that we are so constantly confronted with cases of nervous collapse? The wonder would be if it were otherwise.
Nor are these the only objections to be urged against purgative medication. Its effects upon the digestive functions is, in the highest degree, destructive. It would be next to impossible to find an individual addicted to the use of cathartics whose digestion was not, practically, a wreck. It is true, that a large part of the digestive disturbance in such cases is due to the obstructed condition of the colon, and the consequent undue retention of food in the stomach, until fermentation sets in; but no inconsiderable share of the trouble is due to the action of the drugs, by repeated over- stimulation of the nervous system, and perpetual irritation of the delicate absorbent vessels.
Viewed from whatever standpoint we may choose, the employment of drugs to relieve an overcharged colon is both unsatisfactory and unscientific.
And yet there is a simple and effective method of dealing with this trouble; of removing the acc.u.mulations, no matter how large they may be; of thoroughly cleansing and purifying that important organ, the colon, without the least demand upon the vital forces, and that is by
WAs.h.i.+NG IT OUT.
In plain English, the preservation and restoration of health depends entirely upon cleanliness, especially internal cleanliness, and to attain that condition which we are told is next to G.o.dliness, there is nothing equal to water--especially ”hot water, which is the great scavenger of nature.”
Strange, that such an obviously common-sense proceeding should not be universal, is it not? I do not claim to be the discoverer of this method of internal purification, for it is in reality of ancient origin, as we have it on good authority that it was practised by the ancient Egyptians, who, it is believed, acquired their knowledge from observing a bird called the Ibis, a species of Egyptian snipe. The food of this bird, gathered on the banks of the Nile, was of a very constipating character, and it was observed, by the earliest naturalists, to suck up the water of the river and using its long bill for a syringe, inject it into its a.n.u.s, thus relieving itself. Pliny says this habit of the Ibis first suggested the use of clysters to the ancient Egyptian doctors, known to be the first medical pract.i.tioners of any nation, not excepting the Chinese. [See Naturalis Historia, Lib. VIII., Dap. 41, Hague 1518.
Another writer, viz., Christia.n.u.s Langius, says, that this bird when attacked with constipation at some distance from the river, and not able to fly from weakness, would be seen to crawl to the water's edge with drooping wings and there take its rectal treatment, when in a few minutes it would fly away in full vigor of regained strength.
Nor do I even claim to have rediscovered this system of treatment, although it is a common practice in these days to revamp old theories and discoveries, and try to foist them upon the public as entirely new propositions. The credit for the resuscitation of this ancient remedial practice belongs, without doubt, to Dr. A. Wilford Hall, of New York, who practiced the treatment on himself for forty years before giving its principles to the public, thereby fully proving its merits.
The following experience from the pen of Dr. H. T. Turner, of Was.h.i.+ngton, affords incontestable proof of the allegation made, that the colon is the seat of disease, and his testimony should be read with extreme care. It is no fanciful, theoretical statement, but the ghastly revelation of an appalling reality. While reading his statement, the reader will do well to refer to the engraving, representing the digestive apparatus, at the commencement of this book, as it will greatly facilitate his comprehension of the matter.