he
throat and stomach" has been bountifully attended to by the owner, the
conversation usually becomes more loquacious and hilarious, and there
is no suggestion that the intemperate person had spent many hours in a
hot desert without water. The frequent flushings they give their
throats and stomachs really do not seem to wash the mucus away.

When a person consults an oculist about an affection of the eyes and
glasses are prescribed, good sense will inform him that the glasses
must be worn while the imperfect functioning of the eyes requires them.
If a limb be fractured and splints be applied, would you worry lest you
form the habit of wearing them? Certainly not; you expect in due time
to recover the proper use of the limb. So if you are compelled to use
crutches you do not worry about forming the crutch habit, for you will
use them as long as needed and discard them at the proper time.

As to its being unnatural to flush the bowels with water, I would say
that it is very unnatural to suffer from proctitis accompanied with its
annoying symptoms, such as constipation, indigestion, diarrhea,
auto-intoxication, emaciation, anemia, muddy complexion, foul breath,
blotches and pimples on the face, each and all of which indicate a
physical debasement.

It is unnatural to wear glasses, crutches, splints, wigs, artificial
teeth, artificial eyes, but many people do such unnatural things. Many
of our habits are not exactly "natural," but they are rational, none
the less; such, for example, as bathing the body night and morning;
cleansing the mouth and teeth after each meal; and the nostrils and
ears several times a day. The frequency of these practices may, with
some people, be unnecessary and useless, but no real harm is done by
their scrupulous cleanliness--physical and mental.

Proctitis is usually worse than it seems to be. This is because of the
insidious progress of the inflammation during the fifteen, twenty or
more years before the local symptoms at the anus or in the anal canal
are sufficiently annoying to compel the sufferer to seek treatment.
Such sufferers are, as a rule, born with the idea that the liver
regulates the whole alimentary canal; and if the sufferer has not this
hereditary notion, his physician will soon impart it to him with his
diagnosis and treatment. The disciple of cathartics, whether the
cathartics be in the form of pills, powders, or solutions, or contain
belladonna and opium to overcome the cr