Litchfield enquirer., 1857-09-17
PATENT .WEDICLvES.
COnstipatiOn-Cause-Cure.

which am often written to, and consulted from every section of the United States and called upon to prescribe for Constipation of the Bowels. It would to be the disase of the country and like most other Chronic Diseases, find has been treated under total 1nisapprehension regards the true of the Disease. 1 will ill my advertisement ot this week. give what conceive to be correct view of its causes-a view, 1 aware, that is opposed by the great mass of the profession, but which is strenuously advocated by few, and those few, from their research and close study stand at the head ot their profession, and from whom am indebted to having been converted from the old beaten track as laid down in the books. and led to embrace my pre- sent belief. With view to making the matter in- telligible to the general reader, (which is a very difficult thing to do,) shall endeavor to simplify the matter much as possible i'll the hope that may be followed without difficulty.
 Constipation is of two kinds, or perhaps 1 ought rather to say, that it arises from two and entirely dissniar states of the system viz: in those that of lean and spare habit, and in those of TO- bust and healthy appearance. We will first take into consideration the former, and the first question to be propounded and answered is,
 Why are the bowels irregular regards their ac- tiOn-why do they not with more regularity and frequency-why the delay in the focal matter being ejected
 For the very good reason that the not1dl stimulus to action. the contraction of the pareteS of the bowels upon their contents is absent they do not act. because that which sets them in motiOn-that which stimulates them to coutraction and the con sequent expolng of their contents is not present to excite or bring about this action or contraction. What is this natural stimulus or eXcitor of the action of the bowels.
 Their contents--the focal matter, and which must be of certain bulk, some or ounces in weight. before it become cxcitor of the contraction of i the bowels. The reason then, why evacuation takes place-why the bowels are irregular is be- cause there is no fncal matter there to be expelled, and of course if there is nothing to be expelled mo- thing can be expelled Focal matter cannot be sent out of the bowels, because it is not them; it is not because the bowels unable to discharge their contents, but because they have contents discharge
 l said there was nothing, no fpcal matter there : there may be a small quantity, and but small quantity not enough at any rate, from its bulk weight to excite contraction but as soon some , or ounces are present in the bowels their muscular coats will just certainly, by the weight of their contents, be stimulated and forced into contract and the eNpelling of their contents, the womb will, at the end of nine m0nthS from the weight of it's contents eXpel the tntus the bladder will cXpel its contents when ( certain quantity shall have been sccreted there It is law of the econo- my, and until their is sufficient weight bulk with in the ntestines, sufficient to stimulate them to tract, there will be evacuation, and of course no evacuation is needed.
 At this point. will take occasion to remark that under this view of the cause of inegularty of the bowels, one can very readily how perfectly ri dlculous and nonsensical and how entirely useless Is the administration of pUrgative medicines ill Con- stipation. ! Ou take purgative laxative medi- cines, and for what .--why to expel from the bow els that which is not thereto force them to con- tract and cXpcl. when there is nothing to cXpel. lurgative medicines in Constipation, are not only useless Tut very injurious shall and their administration iS the height of empyricism. Let the bowels alone until the proper time arrives for their evacuation. until they need to be evacuated, and rest assured they will perform thclr functions with out the help of any drngs. Let them alone, and when the teces shall have accumulated to the .unt of some or ounces, they will most certainly con- tract upon and eXpcl their contents
 The next question in order is
 Why is not fecal matter present-why has it not been with more regularity and with more frequency deposited so as to become excitol to contraction of the bowels and the consequent expulsion of their contents,
 For the reason that the feces rue secretion from he blood. and the patient, from his lean. lank, lantern awed appearance shows very plainly that he has but very little blood inside of him, and what there is, of the thinnest poorest and meanest qua ty it IS very easy to imagine that there will not be much secretion; it is an mpossbty that there should be much, for the tlood is not there out of which the tecal secretions can be manufactured the manufacturers ready to do the work--they are ready to manufacture the fcc matter, but they are short ot material, they have nothing to work with no material t. work into fccal matter. Like the cotton factory, where everything is ready to do the work, all the hands employed, all the machinery in
 
 is wanting-t is nt to be had and cannot be got, and the consequence is no homespun is made, and there is nothing to make it out of. Soft is with the colon and rectum the lower bowels: they are rH'fly to manufacture and deposit the ccal secreion but good rich blood, and plenty of it, being wanting, they are left without any material to work with and of course not having this all important material l- the blood, they cannot manufacture the secretion.
 Now l am aware that this doctrine of fttltication is at variance with large of the profession, and not only the proession but those out of it. and the latter. well large majority of the former, regard the fcCcS the reSidum of the food. that portion of the food which is not taken up by the cir culation and not needed for the purposes of nour- shing the body or as the re of the food after all the nutritious part of it las been extracted /; but this is entirely wrong idea for the lcccs are true q secretion from the mncus membrane of the colon, as is the gastric iu ce from the membrane of the stomach or the saliva from the muclls mcm- brane of the glands of the mouth the tears from the mucus membrane Cf the lachrymal glands and the amount of secretion from either. depends upon the quantity and quality of blood distributed to them and so of the colon the amout of secretion from its muCllS membrane that is. the quantity ot teccs that is deposited in the bowels. depends upon the quantity of blood distributed to that membrane. The books. am teach very different doc Urine, but because Dr. this or Dr. that one, says so in his book is of its being true. Other Doctors in their books say differently, and when Doctors disagree, who shall decide The books say,
 
 profession that after the food passes into the sto- mach, 1t Is by the muscular action of the stomach rolled and tumbled about until it becomes soft, homogeneous mass. and then it is passed forward in to the upper portion of ths bowels called the duo denum, where portion part is extracted or sepa- lated for purposes of nutrition, called chile. and which is taken up by the small tubular vessels call ed actas and carried into the circulation for the purposes of nourishng the body the other portion becoming useless after the chile is extracted from it. it is sent forward through the bowels and eN- pclled. Now instead of part only of this mass be- ing prepared and taken into the circulation, the | rhole of it is in health taken up. Now let us sec about this-let us if part only is taken and carried into the circulation. How much in weight does person in health eat at a meal Say two pounds-three meals day. would make six pounds that he has taken into his stomach. Now, accord ing to the books part of this, say one-half is ta ken up and carried into the circulation the other half then according to calculation would be one pound left in the bowels after each meal or three pounds day to be carried forward and expelled at the lower portion of the bowels. Now bear in mind that there is each day three pounds of dross or ,. or %I,,f Sl,{. f