Part 4 (2/2)
Common sense teaches us, and experience has amply confirmed the teaching, that flus.h.i.+ng is not only the easiest, but the most effectual means of accomplis.h.i.+ng this purpose; and it is unmistakably the most harmless, inasmuch as we use Nature's most simple and effective cleansing agency in the process--pure water. Sickness is in itself unnatural, and until the system can be restored to its natural condition reason plainly shows us that we must co-operate with Nature and a.s.sist in removing these impurities from the system, a task which our disregard of her warnings has prevented her from accomplis.h.i.+ng.
Cathartics simply excite the excretory processes, and stimulate Nature to a violent effort to expel them, the unnatural exertion being followed by a feeling of languor, for all purgative action is debilitating. Flus.h.i.+ng, on the contrary, acts directly on the acc.u.mulated matter in the colon (which cathartics never do), and, instead of causing an unnatural excitation of any of the natural processes, it induces a calm, restful feeling and a sense of profound relief.
”It is a debilitating practice,” the objectors urge. Here, again, I join issue. I am in a position to prove a decided negative.
I have the evidence of thousands of people to the contrary--people who have tested the treatment, and, setting aside the weight of testimony, even the most prejudiced mind must admit, that actual, personal experience is more to be relied on than unsupported theory.
Dr. Contrary--people said that his patients who had used the treatment for months, and even years, had steadily gained in strength and flesh all the time.
Another favorite objection is that ”it causes the intestines to become weakened and dependent upon this unnatural method.” To this I reply that it is a well known fact that at least fifty per cent, of people in civilized (?) communities are slaves to the purgative habit, the system refusing to fulfil its functions without this unnatural excitation; therefore, if dependence must be placed in something, we should unhesitatingly give the preference to water, as against cathartics, but the whole weight of evidence shows that the objection has no foundation in fact.
On this subject Dr. Forrest said: ”Flus.h.i.+ng the colon does not cause a weakening of the intestines. When this procedure is no longer necessary, owing to restored health, the intestines have also been restored and improved in tone and will carry on their functions unaided.”
Dr. Stevens, who has used the treatment upon himself and patients for over twenty years, says that it in no wise interferes in his case with the normal movement of the bowels. To test it in this respect he has frequently discontinued its use for a week, with the result of a regular movement, as soon as enough faecal matter had acc.u.mulated to demand it.
He recommends flus.h.i.+ng every two or three days as a preventive of disease. For over twenty years he has practiced flus.h.i.+ng upon himself as a precaution, and, although now between seventy and eighty years old, since beginning its use he has never known a day of sickness.
It is contended by some people, including a percentage of physicians (who should know better), that the frequent use of this treatment will so stretch the colon that it will remain permanently distended. This argument is so totally opposed to physiological law, to say nothing of experience and common sense, that it is almost laughable. The veriest tyro in the matter of exercise knows that exercise develops a muscle; that repeated flexion and extension of the arm, for instance, will strengthen the muscles of that limb, not cause them to lose their contractibility. All muscle fibres are alike in structure, except that some are voluntary, others involuntary, but that difference is simply due to the difference in the source of nerve supply. There is no reason that can be shown why the muscles of the colon should lose their elasticity through exercise in contra-distinction to all the other muscles of the body, since they are not subjected to any extraordinary strain, the extreme tension only lasting for a few seconds, while as soon as the water commences to escape, relaxation follows, and, in addition, heat acts as a stimulant. The objection does not even merit serious consideration.
”It operates against peristalsis,” we are told. I deny it, for the energy evinced by the intestine in expelling the water is proof of increased peristaltic vigor, if it is proof of anything. And even if it did suspend peristalsis for a few minutes, is it not a fact that other natural functions can be suspended for a much longer period, only to be resumed with unabated vigor?
Equally absurd, and dest.i.tute of foundation, in fact, is the objection frequently advanced that the was.h.i.+ng of the interior surface of the colon is injurious; as it washes away the fluid that Nature secretes for the purpose of lubrication.
Where, in the name of common sense, do they get their authority for such a statement? Do they not know that such a contention is in direct opposition to physiological law? Does bathing the external surface of the body prevent the further excretion of perspiration; or bathing the eyes destroy the functions of the Meibomian glands? Does the drinking of water prevent any further discharge of saliva into the mouth, or of gastric juice into the stomach? If the was.h.i.+ng away of a secretion destroyed the power of the secreting gland, human existence would be brief indeed.
The truth is that not one in ten thousand has any practical knowledge of the subject. They may possess a smattering, and in the endeavor to make it show to advantage, they draw upon their imagination to supply the deficiency. On the other hand, I have been making this subject a constant study for the past twenty years, having had experience in thousands of cases, and, therefore, contend that my opinion is of more value than that of the average man--whether physician or layman--and is at least ent.i.tled to respectful consideration.
Whether the practice of the treatment is to be persisted in will, of course, depend upon the nature and habits of the patient. If the pernicious habits that caused the trouble are not abandoned, a constant resort to the treatment will be necessary. If the patient is naturally of a costive habit, and has thoroughly weakened his intestines by a reckless and indiscriminate use of cathartics, it will require a long persistence in reformed habits before the weakened bowels will have gained sufficient strength to fulfil their functions normally.
It is advisable for elderly people to use it more or less continuously throughout life, for with advancing years the bowels naturally become less active, and this simple process offers a valuable means of a.s.sistance to flagging nature at the cost of little, if any, exertion; in fact, after a, little experience no more will be thought of using the ”Cascade” than of taking a meal.
I would strictly impress on the minds of those who propose to give this treatment a trial that, like every other undertaking in life, thoroughness and persistence are absolutely indispensable to success.
No great end was ever yet achieved except by hard work, conscientiousness and perseverance, and these three factors are in the highest degree necessary to restore health to a system from which it has long been estranged:
If a chronic, deep-seated disease can be cured in a year, by a home process, so simple that a child can understand and practise it, the individual so benefited should consider himself or herself most fortunate; and few will deny that the end in view--restoration to health--is a full and ample recompense for the thorough and persistent effort necessary to attain it. If it were a question of large pecuniary profit to the patient, it is scarcely necessary to say that every nerve would be strained to its utmost tension to bring the coveted prize within his grasp; yet here the reward is of infinitely greater value, a prize compared with which riches are as dross in comparison with gold. It is Health, without which the acquisition of Wealth, is well-nigh impossible, and its possession as profitless to the possessor as Dead Sea fruit.
I write thus strongly on this point because there is a large cla.s.s of people who dabble in every new system of treatment projected, and toy with every medicinal device that is placed upon the market. They are the cla.s.s from whom the patent medicine vendor draws his enormous annual profits. Like a bee in a garden of roses, they flit from one remedy to another, but, unlike that energetic and acquisitive insect, they do not gather the golden reward they are in search of--health. It is the purveyor of the nostrum that secures whatever there is of gold.
They seem to be utterly incapable of continuity of effort, and, unless they can discern a marked improvement within a week after commencing a fresh method of treatment, get discouraged and abandon it. To this cla.s.s of people I say, in the most emphatic manner, that if they propose to give this great remedial process a trial and expect to derive benefit from it, that the cure rests entirely in their own hands.
They must persevere. They must be thorough. They must not expect miraculous results in a few days. Their diseased condition is the growth of months, perhaps years, and it is the height of unreasoning folly to expect to be cured in a few weeks. A merchant whose business has been crippled and who starts in to rebuild it, will consider himself an extremely fortunate man if, by watchful and untiring endeavor, he can restore it to a sound and healthy condition in a few years. Growth is necessarily slow--and this is especially the case with the human system. Nature will not be hurried. But of one thing they may rest a.s.sured, and that is that if they conscientiously and persistently practise this simple hygienic treatment they will find Nature a responsive and willing coadjutor.
”Heaven fights on the side of the strongest battalions,” is a military aphorism, and Nature ranges herself on the side of the individual who co-operates with her most faithfully, who, in the struggle for the regaining of health, brings the greatest amount of determination and perseverence to the encounter.
What these irresolute dabblers in ”medical fads” need most of all is to be inoculated with good, sound common sense, but until some method is discovered for the accomplishment of that psychological feat, they will continue to run hither and thither after every new remedy, dallying with all, and deriving benefit from none.
Here is the testimony of an intelligent man who realizes that the cure of a chronic disease must necessarily be a gradual process:
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