posing its structure. The contraction of the anal
tissues becomes more permanent as the muscular tissues of the structure
become cohered or bound together by the process of inflammation.

The normal stimulus and sensation that should precede the act of
defecation are perverted or destroyed by the excessively irritable
contraction of the sphincter ani, which contraction is occasioned by
the presence of feces and gases just above the seat of inflammation,
that is, above the anal canal or at the lower end of the rectum. As the
bulk of feces and gases lodged at this point increases, the anal
contraction becomes firmer in grip, and as a consequence permits no
hint of the imprisoned contents until the accumulating bulk is beyond
the power of toleration by the organ. Daily a portion of the lodged
feces, or some new addition to the mass, passes the anal canal, but the
attending irritation or contraction of the muscles prevents any further
exit of the imprisoned rectal contents.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE ETIOLOGY OF THE MOST COMMON FORM OF DIARRHEA, i.e., EXCESSIVE
INTESTINAL PERISTALSIS.

If you are interested to know why a certain plant does not flourish in
the temperature and light to which it has been accustomed, you
investigate the soil--the source of nourishment--and thus determine why
the downy or velvety appearance has left the flower; why the leaves are
yellow, dry or falling; why the stems are withering. Even the most
ignorant person knows that the symptoms the plant presents did not
bring about the unsuitableness of the soil; that, on the contrary, the
condition of the soil is responsible for the plant's present state.
Would it not be unwisdom, therefore, to treat directly the symptoms of
decay, instead of treating the soil, or changing it? Just so misguided
is the judgment of the physician who prescribes physic or tonics in the
case of a person having a foul intestinal canal, a condition
destructive of the absorbent and the excretory glands. But members of
county medical societies do just such foolish things. Notwithstanding
their prescriptions, a point will be reached by the patient where the
restoration of his millions of small rootlets, or organic feeders, will
be impossible, and like a decaying plant in unfavorable soil he
gradually decays or withers, here and there, until finally he topples
over before he knows it, probably long before maturity has been
reached.

It is not generally known among laymen, n