nausea, especially if the effect of
bulk be added to that of temperature. Lukewarm water seems to excite an
upward peristalsis of the intestines and thus produces sickness.

Hot water acts as a stimulant and antiseptic, as a sedative and as a
food. Water at a temperature of 110 deg. to 120 deg., or more, will
nearly always relieve a foul stomach and intestines. It should be slowly
sipped, so that the stomach may not be uncomfortably distended. After
imbibing a pint or a pint and a half, wait for fifteen or thirty
minutes to give it time to pass into the bowels, then drink more if
thought advisable. Drink it an hour before meal-time. It will excite
downward peristalsis, will dilute the foul contents of the stomach, and
will thus aid the escape of these contents into the intestines, which
latter require the washing process as well. Sometimes it is a good
thing to omit one, two or three meals while the washing process is
being continued. Commence treatment with pure hot water. To make it
appetizing, add a pinch of salt or of bicarbonate of soda; with
children add sugar. It will pay you to follow this treatment for the
cleansing of the alimentary canal.

The vitality of the body may be sustained for days and weeks on water
alone; there is therefore no hurry about food. If human beings would
only keep their bowels and stomachs clean they would avoid all the ills
that flesh is heir to, except, of course, those due to accident.

My remarks have been confined to irrigation _per orem_ (that is, by way
of the mouth), and nothing has been said of irrigation _per anum_ (by
injection), since I have treated the latter subject fully in several
previous chapters, to which the reader is referred. Be sure to follow
the counsel there given, and use the enema two or three times a day in
moderate quantities as indicated.

CHAPTER XXVI.

PROPER TREATMENT FOR DISEASES OF THE ANUS AND RECTUM VERY ESSENTIAL.

No doubt the readers of the preceding chapters on proctitis and its
numerous symptoms--noted under separate headings--would like to know
something about the home treatment for such an insidious and grave
disease. Every sufferer wants to be a self-doctor. This commendable
desire it is usually impossible to put into practice. If physicians so
often fail to cure the ailments I have described, what can be expected
of those who have no knowledge at all of diagnosis and treatment?

A skilful physician is the choicest gem of civili