Transcriber’s notes:
The text of this book has been preserved in its original form
apart from correction of two typographic errors: incidently →
incidentally, flouroscopic → fluoroscopic. Inconsistent hyphenation
has not been altered.
In this transcription italic text is denoted by _underscores_. A
caret (^) indicates that the following bracketed characters are
superscripted. Footnotes have been numbered and positioned below the
relevant paragraphs, and some illustration captions have been moved
closer to the relevant text.
Numbering and labelling of illustrations is somewhat flawed, although
it is hardly noticeable in this plain text version. Figure 20 does not
exist and figures 18–24 are not in correct numerical sequence. The text
has several references to figures 25, 26, 27 and 29 but these do not
exist as figures in their own right – the numbers actually identify
labelled items in figure 18.
[Illustration: _Hargrave_
_5^{th} Ave. & 37^{th} St._,
New York.]
INTESTINAL
IRRIGATION
OR
WHY, HOW, AND WHEN TO
FLUSH THE COLON
TREATED IN CONNECTION WITH OTHER MATTERS
OF PHYSIOLOGICAL INTEREST AND
IMPORTANCE
BY
ALCINOUS B. JAMISON, M.D.
AUTHOR OF “INTESTINAL ILLS,” “HOW TO BECOME
STRONG,” ETC.
_Published by the Author_
THIRD EDITION
NEW YORK CITY
43 West Forty-fifth Street
1914
COPYRIGHT, 1914
BY
ALCINOUS B. JAMISON
“Even from the Body’s Purity, the Mind
Receives a secret sympathetic aid.”
--_Thomson._
PREFACE.
Within the last three decades the diagnosis and treatment of bowel
troubles have been greatly changed through improved instruments,
technique, hygienic measures, and various remedial agents.
The domain of surgery of the anus, rectum, etc., has been surprisingly
limited, and that of gastro-intestinal hygiene enlarged, together with
knowledge of man’s assimilative and eliminative organs. Systemic and
local hygiene has supplanted drugs and surgery in the treatment of
diseases of the anus, rectum, sigmoid flexure, and vermiform appendix.
Indeed, the domain of surgery will be restricted to what are still
considered incurable diseases if the suggestions of this volume are
widely adopted. From a clinical experience extending over a period of
thirty-three years, however,--as a specialist in diseases of the anus,
rectum, and intestinal machinery generally,--the author feels warranted
in maintaining that, if hygio-therapic measures were taken by both
physicians and laymen, surgical clinics and hospitals for “operating”
on anal and rectal diseases and the administering of countless
medicinal remedies would enter the stage of therapeutic oblivion.
The present work is more comprehensive in its scope than its title,
_Intestinal Irrigation_, would at first thought seem to indicate. It
is a practical book on home relief for all the symptoms of that form
of internal inflammation known as proctitis and colitis. The measures
that may safely be taken by the victim himself, without consulting a
physician, are minutely explained; and, that he may understand his own
case, every chapter goes more or less extensively into anatomical,
physiological, and pathological details.
The author has kept abreast of the advancement of science in relation
to his special branch of the healing art, and as the outcome of his
large daily experience in this line he feels qualified to speak with
authority. Victims of any of the symptoms described in this book may
therefore have confidence in its statements. It conveys a message of
common sense to the world at large and to the victims of intestinal
ills in particular. It is a compilation of clinical talks to the
author’s patients, making plain a variety of symptoms arising from a
single primary cause.
As the purpose of the book is pre-eminently practical, the author
felt warranted in describing minutely his own clinics, so far as
any patient could apply the results to his individual needs. This,
therefore, is the author’s excuse for introducing his own appliances
and describing their features and uses. Certain work must be done by
the sufferer himself, and no other invention in the market will aid him
so materially in doing this work scientifically and efficiently.
Furthermore, it was found impossible for the author to describe what
he himself was doing as a rectal specialist, or to direct sufferers on
the road to relief, unless he stated how certain appliances should be
employed. In the following pages, consequently, the reader will learn
just what to do, for the work is above all things simple and direct,
and in the writer’s judgment has the sterling quality of common sense.
Some of the chapters have already appeared, in abridged form, in
the magazine _Health_, as contributed essays; but the text has been
elaborated in the following pages and much new matter added, in order
that the work should present the most mature information concerning the
subjects discussed.
A. B. J.
New York, March 2, 1914.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. PAGE
Efforts to Overcome Constipation without Seeking its Cause 1